There has bee siginificant discussion on what "patrol" really means since there is no official documentation for this feature.
The following is based on many people posting high success rates with this technique through trial and error:
1) Draw a 50 mile radius circle centered on the patrol area icon.
2) Cruise around inside this circle for 24 to 72 hours until the icon turns grey AND your orders list (F12) indicates the mission is complete. Note: Patch 1.4 supposedly fixes the mission icon not refreshing to its grey (success) state, but I have found it still fails to update sometimes until you change screens or refresh the map by zooming or scrolling. The Orders screen is more reliable.
Returning to BASE (not just any port) with any incomplete red indicators in the orders list is a nono.
-Pv-
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