According to information published by the Facebook account of Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister of Australia, on May 6, 2021, the Australian government decided to upgrade the HMAS Cairns with a $155m investment.
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HMAS Cairns naval base (Picture source: Royal Australian Navy)
HMAS Cairns is a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base located adjacent to the Trinity Inlet on the shore of Trinity Bay in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
HMAS Cairns is currently responsible for all Australian naval activity from Rockhampton to Thursday Island and serves as a home base for one of the navy's thirteen Armidale class patrol boats and two Cape class patrol boats. The base also berths the RAN's entire hydrographic fleet, consisting of two Leeuwin class survey vessels and four Paluma class survey motor launches.
The Armidale class is a class of patrol boats built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Each patrol boat has a length of 56.8 metres (186 ft), a beam of 9.7 metres (32 ft), a draught of 2.7 metres, and a standard displacement of 300 tons. Each Armidale-class patrol boat has a standard ship's company of 21 personnel, with a maximum of 29.
The main armament of the Armidale class is a Rafael Typhoon stabilised 25-millimetre (0.98 in) gun mount fitted with an M242 Bushmaster autocannon. This cannon has a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute, and is controlled remotely from the bridge. Two 12.7-millimetre (0.50 in) machine guns are also carried.
