 Despite these restrictions, by the end of 1996, the two minehunters had been deployed to locations around Australia, with "Rushcutter" leaving the Sydney operational area on 15 occasions, and "Shoalwater" on 23 occasions.Both ships in the class were decommissioned on 14 August 2001.Four additional ships, to be named "Westernport", "Discovery", "Esperance", and "Melville", were planned but never constructed.