Sea trials were overseen by
Teekay Shipping. during the search for the missing
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in April 2014. In March 2014,
Ocean Shield was sent to participate in the search for the missing
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, off the west coast of Australia. The vessel, fitted with a
towed pinger locator on loan from the United States Navy, sailed from Perth on 31 March, expecting to begin searching on 3 April for the
underwater locator beacon attached to the aircraft's
flight recorders. Starting on 14 April 2014,
Ocean Shield stopped towing the pinger locator and instead deployed the
autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)
Bluefin-21, a
sidescan sonar robotic submarine, to map the area. The naval service of
Ocean Shield was only intended to cover the drop in capability after the
Kanimblas were decommissioned until the
Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ships entered service. Once achieved,
Ocean Shield would be transferred to the
Customs Marine Unit of the
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, as a replacement for
Ocean Protector, a
sister ship operating under charter. However, in 2016 Australia re-purchased
Ocean Protector. After being transferred to Customs,
Ocean Shield received modifications in Singapore and Hobart to improve its suitability for patrol tasks. The ship entered operational service in November 2014. It is funded to spend 300 days conducting patrols each year. In Customs service,
Ocean Shield is armed with two machine guns, and received the ship prefix "ACV" (Australian Customs Vessel). Although primarily tasked to Australia's northern waters as part of
Operation Sovereign Borders,
Ocean Shield is capable of operating in the
Southern Ocean. On 16 April 2015,
Ocean Shield commenced a 42-day deployment to the Southern Ocean: the first Customs patrol of the region since 2012. Following the creation of the
Australian Border Force in July 2015,
Ocean Shields prefix was changed to "ABFC" (Australian Border Force Cutter). ==Citations==