2005: After More than Two Decades of Service, a Royal Australian Navy Patrol Boat is Decommissioned

June 23, 2005

HMAS Cessnock (FCPB 210), a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Fremantle-class patrol boat, was decommissioned following more than two decades of service. This vessel was named after the city of Cessnock in the Hunter Region of the Australian state of New South Wales. She was the second RAN vessel to bear the name of that city. The first vessel, HMAS Cessnock (J175/B240/A114), was a Bathurst-class corvette that served during World War II. She was decommissioned in 1946 and sold for scrap the following year.

The newer version of HMAS Cessnock was launched on January 15, 1983, in the city of Cairns in the Australian state of Queensland. The christening duties for this ceremony were performed by Lady Joan McNamara. She was the wife of Sir Neville McNamara, who was Chief of the Defence Force Staff — Australia’s top military role at that time — from 1982 to 1984.

Cessnock was commissioned into the RAN on March 5, 1983, under the command of Lieutenant M.J. Taylor. He was promoted to lieutenant commander the following month and remained in charge of Cessnock until November 14, 1984.  

Over the next couple of decades, the wide-ranging responsibilities of Cessnock and her crew included various fisheries patrols, disaster relief efforts, and search-and-rescue operations. One of the boat’s more notable missions occurred in the aftermath of Cyclone Bola in 1988. That cyclone plowed its way through several of the islands of the Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, resulting in extensive damage within the archipelago (located about 1,090 miles [1,750 kilometers] east of northern Australia.

Cessnock was deployed to Vanuatu to help provide urgently needed disaster relief. The vessel traveled to 30 villages on a total of 11 islands and made more than 200 beach landings to deliver emergency supplies and personnel. For these lifesaving efforts, Cessnock was awarded the Navy League of Australia Award for Aid to the Civil Community.

The decommissioning of Cessnock took place at HMAS Coonawarra, an RAN base in the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. Approximately 280 guests attended this ceremony. During her career, Cessnock traveled 589,418 nautical miles (1,091,602.1 kilometers) altogether; undertook 28 overseas deployments; and visited a total of 19 countries. This vessel was scrapped in Darwin in 2006.

Photo Credit: Rae Allen (https://www.flickr.com/people/30628871@N00) – licensed under the Creative Commons 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

For more information on HMAS Cessnock (FCPB 210), please check out  https://seapower.navy.gov.au/history/units/hmas-cessnock-ii and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Cessnock_(FCPB_210)