HMAS Fremantle
Contents
Description
Launched in February 1979, HMAS Fremantle was the lead ship of a new class of large patrol craft purchased by the Australian government, initially designated the PCF 420 Class. Designed by Brooke Marine Ltd of Lowestoft in the United Kingdom, Fremantle was uniquely delivered under her own power, sailing from Lowestoft through the Suez Canal to Sydney, a journey of 26,871 km that was claimed to be the longest voyage ever made by an individual patrol vessel at the time. After commissioning in March 1980, she was based off Sydney and was initially joined by her sister ships Wollongong, Launceston, and Whyalla, which were later redeployed, leaving Fremantle as the sole vessel of her class in Sydney and eventually assigned to training duties. In 1993, she underwent modernisation with the addition of a domestically designed Type 133 PRISM ESM, enhancing her capabilities in radar warning and electronic signal intelligence. Throughout her 26-year service, Fremantle played a vital role in fisheries protection, immigration control, customs enforcement, and drug law enforcement, before being decommissioned in August 2006 and subsequently scrapped.
The Fremantle-class, HMAS Fremantle (P203) is a British motor gun boat introduced in Update "Dance of Dragons". Compared to her predecessor, HMAS Arrow, she has a very similar armament but a significantly higher speed (though still not high enough to be among the first to capture points), a more stable hull, and significantly improved survivability. The British 40 mm Bofors is the vessel's primary gun, with good stopping power against aircraft and lower BR vessels, though it struggles to deal with higher BR gunboats and especially frigates. While the Mk 2 mortar is an interesting addition over most other comparable vessels, and in theory can do a surprisingly good amount of damage—especially to motor torpedo boats—its low muzzle velocity makes it extremely tricky to hit targets at anything but point-blank range. Overall, Fremantle must choose its battles; knowing its enemies will be essential, and deciding when to commit and when to fall back can make or break a match.
General info
Survivability and armour
Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.
Mobility
Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 75 | 35 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 56 | 26 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
Provide information about the characteristics of the primary armament. Evaluate their efficacy in battle based on their reload speed, ballistics and the capacity of their shells. Add a link to the main article about the weapon: {{main|Weapon name (calibre)}}. Broadly describe the ammunition available for the primary armament, and provide recommendations on how to use it and which ammunition to choose.
- Universal: AP-T · HEFI-T
- 40 mm HE clips: HEFI-T · HEFI-T · HEFI-T · AP-T
- 40 mm AP clips: AP-T · AP-T · AP-T · HEFI-T
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| HEFI-T | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| AP-T | 81 | 78 | 68 | 58 | 49 | 41 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| HEFI-T | 874 | 0.9 | 0 | 0.1 | 67.13 | 79° | 80° | 81° | ||||
| AP-T | 874 | 0.89 | - | - | - | 47° | 60° | 65° | ||||
Secondary armament
Some ships are fitted with weapons of various calibres. Secondary armaments are defined as weapons chosen with the control Select secondary weapon. Evaluate the secondary armaments and give advice on how to use them. Describe the ammunition available for the secondary armament. Provide recommendations on how to use them and which ammunition to choose. Remember that any anti-air armament, even heavy calibre weapons, belong in the next section. If there is no secondary armament, remove this section.
- Universal: API-T · AP · HEI · AP
- .50 AP belt: API-T · AP · AP · AP
- .50 APIT belt: API-T · API-T · API-T · HEI
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| API-T | 28 | 27 | 23 | 19 | 15 | 11 | |
| AP | 29 | 28 | 25 | 20 | 17 | 14 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| API-T | 887 | 0.04 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
| AP | 856 | 0.05 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
Anti-aircraft armament
An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control Select anti-aircraft weapons. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.
- Universal: API-T · AP · HEI · AP
- .50 AP belt: API-T · AP · AP · AP
- .50 APIT belt: API-T · API-T · API-T · HEI
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| API-T | 28 | 27 | 23 | 19 | 15 | 11 | |
| AP | 29 | 28 | 25 | 20 | 17 | 14 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| API-T | 887 | 0.04 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
| AP | 856 | 0.05 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
Usage in battles
Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".
Pros:
Cons:
History
In September 1977 Australian government decided to purchase a new class of large patrol craft, initially designated PCF 420 Class. The design was purchased from Brooke Marine Ltd, a relatively small shipbuilder from Lowestoft in United Kingdom who designed the class and built the HMAS Fremantle herself, passing on the production rights to the North Queensland Engineers and Agents Pty Ltd, Cairns, which made all the remaining vessels of the class.
HMAS Fremantle herself was launched on 15 February 1979 and instead of shipping her with the use of heavy lift ship, as was customary for such a small vessel to be delivered to the purchaser, the Royal Australian Navy made a decision to sail her on her own power all the way from Lowestoft through Suez Canal to Sydney, overcoming the 3m-tall waves, and clocking 26,871 km - at the time claimed to be the longest voyage made by an individual patrol vessel.
Names of the vessels of the class were derived from the World War Two-era Bathurst-class corvettes, with Fremantle being names after HMAS Fremantle J246 launched March 1942, commissioned March 1943, scrapped January 1961.
During the sea trials the actual tonnage of Fremantle and the first three ships of her class appeared to be 20 tonnes (~10%) more than designed. Problems of flooding-back through the engine exhaust have been rectified and successive ships were gradually reduced in displacement.
Since her commissioning in March 1980 Fremantle was based off Sydney, by 1982 joined by P 206 Wollongong, P 207 Launceston and P 208 Whyalla, which later were rebased, leaving Fremantle the only vessel of the class left in Sydney, eventually being reassigned to the training duty.
In 1993 she received a modernisation which included ESM system Type 133 PRISM built and designed domestically by AWA Defence Industries. It functioned as a Radar Warning Receiver with passive direction finding and an additional functionalities around electronic signal intelligence.
Through her career she served in a role typical for a patrol vessel, ensuring fisheries protection, immigration, customs and drug law enforcement. After 26 years in service she was decommissioned on 11 August 2006, after 26 years in active service.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the ship;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
- [Wikipedia] HMAS Fremantle (FCPB 203)
- [The Sea Power Centre] HMAS Fremantle (II)
- Jane's Fighting Ships 1979-1980
- Jane's Fighting Ships 1982-1983
- Jane's Fighting Ships 1994-1995
| Brooke Marine | |
|---|---|
| Patrol Boats | |
| Fremantle-class | HMAS Fremantle |
| Britain boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | Brave Borderer · Dark Aggressor · Dark Aggressor TD · Fairmile D (617) · Fairmile D (697) · Fairmile D (5001) · HMS Gay Archer |
| MTB-1(1) · MTB-1(2) · MTB Vosper · MTB Vosper(2) · MTB-422 | |
| Motor gun boats | Dark Adventurer · Fairmile A (ML100) · Fairmile B (ML345) · Fairmile C (312) · Fairmile C (332) · Fairmile D (601) · Fairmile H LCS(L)(2) |
| HMAS Arrow · HMAS Fremantle · MGB-61 · MGB-75 · ML 1383 · SGB Grey Fox · SGB Grey Goose | |
| Gunboats | HMS Spey |
