Description
Description: RAN Tally Band – HMAS Ardent – circa 1970s
Maker’s Name: N/A
Condition: Very Good
Comments: Royal Australian Navy – Tally Band – HMAS Ardent – circa 1970s.
HMAS Ardent (P 87) was an Attack class patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
The Attack class was ordered in 1964 to operate in Australian waters as patrol boats (based on lessons learned through using the Ton class minesweepers on patrols of Borneo during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, and to replace a variety of old patrol, search-and-rescue, and general-purpose craft.
Ardent was laid down by Evans Deakin and Company at Brisbane, Queensland in October 1967, launched on 27 April 1968, and commissioned on 26 October 1968.
Ardent was transferred to the Hobart Port Division of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve on 18 June 1982.
The patrol boat was paid off on 6 January 1994. She was later recommissioned with the pennant number A243 and used as a navigation training ship for junior warfare officers based in Sydney. Ardent was replaced by the Defence Maritime Services vessel Seahorse Mercator in December 1994, and was later decommissioned from service.
