HMAS Maitland conducts a passage exercise with USCGC Kimball during Operation Solania. Photo: Seaman Isaiah Appleton
Baird Maritime reports, the Australian Navy is retiring one of their Amidale class patrol boats, HMAS Maitland. The vessel is relatively young by USCG standards, having been commissioned in 2006. It seems the class was stressed by high tempo, long distance, alien migrant interdiction deployments. This is the third of the original 14 vessels of the class to be decommissioned. One was as a result of a fire in 2014. The second was decommissioned March 2021.
These vessels are to be replaced by a class of 12 much larger OPVs, but in the meantime, the Australian Navy is also procuring, in many ways similar, 190 foot Cape Class patrol boats. The decommissioning follows closely on the delivery of the first of these “evolved” Cape class.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
Another Armidale class patrol boat, HMAS Ararat, decommissioned. This one 16 years old. https://seawaves.com/?p=22851
Fantastic boats but too small for what the RAN needed.
As I have said before here the RAN have gone from the Attack class to procuring OPV’s in 50 years. Changing threats and needs.
Yes, I was kind of amazed when I learned how long these boats would be on migrant interdiction patrols. As we say, “rode hard and put up wet.”
There northern and eastern coast are very open. Huge area of ocean. And then there is China.