Commissioned on 13 November 1982, HMAS Ipswich was one of 15 highly capable and versatile Fremantle Class Patrol Boats in service with the Royal Australian Navy. She was one of five such vessels based at Cairns Naval Base in Far North Queensland.
Ipswich and her 14 sister FCPBs were the Navy's principal contribution to the nation's fisheries protection, immigration, customs and drug law enforcement operations.
