primarily in northern Australian waters, and were tasked with fisheries protection, border protection, immigration and customs duties, law enforcement operations, and maritime surveillance. The ship's company of Gladstone were granted Freedom of the City of Gladstone for the first time in 1988. In April 1990, Gladstone apprehended the Taiwanese fishing vessel Hai Chang 11, which had been detected fishing inside the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone, but failed to stop when approached by the patrol boat. Hai Chang 11 was taken to Darwin, where the fishing vessel's captain was prosecuted. During 2006, Gladstone intercepted ten illegal fishing boats. One of the vessels had a cargo of of reef fish. Freedom of Entry to the patrol boat's namesake city was granted for the second time in July 2000. The ship's company were granted Freedom of the city for the third and final time on Australia Day (26 January) 2007, in the leadup to the ship's decommissioning. Gladstone was originally planned to decommission on 16 February 2007, but was deployed at the start of the month as part of Operation Resolute, to replace several Armidale-class patrol boats pulled from duty over safety concerns and water contamination of fuel systems. Fate Gladstone was decommissioned in Cairns on 13 March 2007. During the ship's career, it sailed over . Gladstone was to be preserved as a museum ship and attached to the Gladstone Maritime Museum during the latter's redevelopment, and was gifted on the same day to the Gladstone Maritime History Society. After sailing from Cairns to Gladstone, the patrol boat was formally presented to the city mayor, who then handed the ship over to the Society. The financial crisis of 2007-2008 resulted in postponement of plans to preserve the vessel, and it was stored at the Gladstone Marina. In late 2009, plans were announced to move Gladstone to a more prominent location, before mounting the vessel out of the water on a plinth when the museum upgrade is complete. The patrol boat was relocated to a wet dock at East Shores in November 2014. Gladstone is mounted on support cradles, and has undergone refurbishment and repainting before it was opened to the public. At the start of 2015, opening to the public was predicted for around Easter 2015, although as of October, further work in making the ship safe and accessible was required. In October 2015, $116,000 was allocated to the project by the