This fact was the cause of some displeasure in the PNGDF which was looking for larger patrol boats and hoped that Australia would provide the Fremantle-class vessels then being built for the RAN as the replacements for its Attack-Class boats. With a length of 31.5 metres and a top speed of 20 knots, these vessels were slightly smaller and slower than the Attack-class vessels. The PPBs were constructed between 19, although the four PNG boats were among the earlier ones to enter service and were all in service by 1989. The Attack-class boats were progressively paid off-my old vessel Aitape was sunk as a dive site inside the reef south-east of Port Moresby, while rumour has it that sister-ship Samarai served for a period, ingloriously, after being paid off as a floating brothel in Port Moresby. The first major development post-Independence occurred in the 1980s when the five Attack-Class patrol boats were progressively replaced by four Pacific Patrol Boats (PPBs), members of a class of twenty-two patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. Most recently it was during 2017 to undertake a study for the Australian and PNG governments of border and maritime security in PNG. My last posting to PNG ended in late 1974 but I have returned several times over the years mainly for projects related to Australian assistance for the PNGDF, particularly the Maritime Element. Sam Bateman on the right with colleague, Dr Anthony Bergin, and the Commanding Officer of PNGS Tarangau on Lombrum wharf April 2017
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