Video Review - "Sea Patrol"

ComNavOps occasionally offers a book review on particularly informative and noteworthy writings.  Today, we’ll expand into a video review of the Australian television series “Sea Patrol” which ran five seasons from 2007-2011.  It seems to be readily available on the various video streaming services.

The series follows the exploits and personal lives of the crew of the fictional Australian patrol boat HMAS Hammersley.  On the very positive side, the boat is represented by real Freemantle class patrol boats in the first season and Armidale class boats in the subsequent seasons.  The degree of video detail about the boats is stunning and the series is well worth watching for that alone.  Viewers get what appears to be a very good grasp of the appearance and capabilities of the boats.  Even with no acting, I could thoroughly enjoy simply watching the video of the boats sailing, launching RHIBs, conducting boardings, exercising and firing the Rafael Typhoon remote 25 mm gun, etc.  This is easily the most impressive aspect of the series.

Armidale Class Patrol Boat

Less impressive is the interpersonal relationships among the crew.  They seem a bit contrived and cartoonish but, hey, it’s TV so you know what you’re getting going in.  I would rather have seen more focus on action situations and less on soap opera relationships but that’s just me.

The main frustration watching the series came from the constant and pervasive atmosphere of appeasement and passivity.  Almost every episode involves threats to ‘heave to or I will open fire’ after which the target refuses and the patrol boat backs off without taking action.  Never threaten – just do!  Again, I have no idea whether this reflects actual Australian maritime/naval practice but I suspect it does.

Closely related, in terms of educational frustration, was the constant micro-managing by the fictional ‘NAVCOM’ headquarters.  Every minor action had to be relayed to HQ and approved.  Again, how realistic this is, I don’t know, but from what I’ve seen of US naval practice it’s quite likely realistic.  The show clearly demonstrates the inefficiency and folly of this degree of micro-management.

Armidale Class Patrol Boat

The micro-managing extended even to the boat’s Captain managing his boarding parties.  The boarding party leader constantly had to provide updates and receive approval for every little action.  In real life, if you’ve trained your boarding party properly, have some confidence and step back and let the on-scene leader do his job.  To do otherwise is inefficient and, potentially, problematic as it leads to slow reactions.

Boarding Action Using RHIB

The main motivation for writing this review is the intense conceptual reaction it produced as I watched (full disclosure, I’ve only seen the first three seasons, so far).  I was particularly struck with the realization that the boats were nearly ideal for peacetime, Coast Guard type duties (fishery enforcement, anti-smuggling, small boat piracy, and the like) but completely unsuited for anything approaching combat.  I have no idea how Australia actually uses their boats so the series portrayal may or may not reflect actual practice.  Regardless, the boats are NOT combat vessels in any way, shape, or form.

On the other hand, with a few additions, they would be ideal for the peacetime Coast Guard type duties shown.  The boats cry out for a small UAV and the episodes graphically demonstrate the tactical need for extended range, aerial surveillance - as long as the tactical environment is completely permissive and unopposed.  The other capability that was sorely lacking was a sniper.  So many of the episodes could have been quickly resolved by a sniper.  Of course, that would have defeated the purpose of building tension throughout the episode!

All of this should lead the viewer to a serious contemplation of the type and need for a low end, peacetime patrol boat as well as recognition of the limitations of such a boat.  The series also offers a splendid opportunity to ponder larger issues such as command micro-management and a default attitude of appeasement.  All in all, this is an entertaining series that offers an in-depth look at some naval technology and practices and should prompt some deeper thinking about naval and Coast Guard activities.  In short, the series is well worth seeing and I highly recommend it.