Historical information
Bayonet was one of 20 Attack class patrol boats built for the Royal Australian Navy between 1967 and 1969 by Walkers Ltd of Maryborough Qld . In the 1960s, Australia became more closely involved in events in the Asia-Pacific region. This led to improved surveillance and control of our enormous coastline, especially the northern approaches. Patrol boats controlled illegal fishing, smuggling and immigration, search and rescue, and occasional inshore survey work.
Her hull is steel and the superstructure is aluminium. It is armed for small-scale encounters, with one 40-mm Bofors gun and two 0.5-inch Browning machine guns to fire warning shots across the bow of a suspect vessel. She was 32.6 m long and 6.1 m wide, 150 tons, powered by two paxman diesel engines and capable of about 24 knots. . A sister ship featured in the popular ABC-TV series Patrol Boat.
The Bayonet conducted patrol duties around Australian waters until her scuttling by defence maritime services on 21 September 1999 in 82 m of water off Torquay in Victoria.
