HMAS ''Huon'' (M 82), named for the

Huon River The Huon River is a perennial river located in the south-west and south-east regions of Tasmania, Australia. At in length, the Huon River is the fifth-longest in the state, with its course flowing east through the fertile Huon Valley and empt ...

, is the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the ''Huon'' class of minehunters operated by the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN). The first of six ships built by a joint partnership of

Australian Defence Industries Thales Australia (formerly Australian Defence Industries and ADI Limited) is a defence contractor based in Australia. It is a subsidiary of the French defence technology conglomerate Thales Group. Thales Australia had been engaged in numerous pr ...

(ADI) and Intermarine SpA, ''Huon''s hull was fabricated at Intermarine's Italian shipyard, then freighted to ADI facilities at Newcastle for completion. She entered service in 1999. The minehunter was temporarily deactivated for half of 2006, but reactivated for use as a

border protection Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...

patrol boat, a role alternated with other members of the class. In 2011, ''Huon'' surveyed the waters around Brisbane following the

2010–11 Queensland floods 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. In 2013, ''Huon'' participated in the International Fleet Review, and became the first minor war vessel to receive the

Gloucester Cup The Gloucester Cup is the common name for three awards of the Australian Defence Force officially called the Duke of Gloucester's Cup, the three awards are presented to the most proficient ship of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), infantry battali ...

Design and construction

In 1993, the Department of Defence issued a request for tender for six coastal minehunters to replace the problematic Bay-class minehunters. The tender was awarded in August 1994 to

(ADI) and Intermarine SpA, which proposed a modified ''Gaeta''-class minehunter. ''Huon'' has a full load displacement of 732 tons, is long, has a beam of , and a draught of .Saunders (ed.), ''IHS Jane's Fighting Ships 2012–2013'', p. 33 Main propulsion is a single Fincantieri GMT BL230-BN diesel motor, which provides to a single controllable-pitch propeller, allowing the ship to reach .Wertheim (ed.), ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World'', p. 23 Maximum range is at , and endurance is 19 days. The standard ship's company consists of 6 officers and 34 sailors, with accommodation for 9 additional (typically trainees or

clearance divers A clearance diver was originally a specialist naval diver who used explosives underwater to remove obstructions to make harbours and shipping channels safe to navigate, but the term "clearance diver" was later used to include other naval und ...

). The main armament is a MSI DS30B 30 mm cannon, supplemented by two 0.50 calibre machine guns. The sensor suite includes a Kelvin-Hughes Type 1007 navigational radar, a GEC-Marconi Type 2093M variable-depth minehunting sonar, an AWADI PRISM radar warning and direction-finding system, and a Radamec 1400N surveillance system. Two Wallop

Super Barricade Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butt ...

decoy launchers are also fitted. For minehunting operations, ''Huon'' uses three Riva Calzoni

azimuth thruster An azimuth thruster is a configuration of marine propellers placed in pods that can be rotated to any horizontal angle (azimuth), making a rudder unnecessary. These give ships better maneuverability than a fixed propeller and rudder system. Ty ...

s to provide a maximum speed of : two are located at the stern, while the third is sited behind the variable-depth sonar. Mines are located with the minehunting sonar, and can be disposed of by the vessel's two Double Eagle mine disposal vehicles, the Oropesa mechanical sweep, the Mini-Dyad magnetic influence sweep, or the towed AMASS influence sweep (which is not always carried). To prevent damage if a mine is detonated nearby, the ships were built with a

glass-reinforced plastic Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

, moulded in a single

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

skin with no ribs or framework. As the ships often work with clearance divers, they are fitted with a small

recompression chamber A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of ...

. ''Huon''s hull was laid down during September 1994 at the Intermarine SpA Sarzana shipyard in Italy, and was transferred out to ADI's Newcastle facility as deck cargo, arriving on 31 August 1995. Completed in Newcastle, the ship was launched on 25 July 1997 and commissioned on 15 May 1999.

Operational history

Following the 2003 Defence Capability Review, HMAS ''Huon'' and sister ship were slated for deactivation. ''Huon'' was deactivated on 23 March 2006, with plans to preserve the minehunter for four years should the need to reactivate the vessel become apparent. ''Huon'' was reactivated in the second half of 2006 for use as a patrol boat. As of 2008, ''Huon'' and ''Hawkesbury'' were taking turns supporting border security operations. In January 2011, ''Huon'' was one of three RAN vessels deployed to survey

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

and the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Go ...

for submerged debris as part of

Operation Queensland Flood Assist Operation Queensland Flood Assist was a complex, multi-Service activity by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) as a contribution to the response to the 2010–2011 Queensland floods. Coordinated to aid civilian emergency response efforts, at Fed ...

, the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

response to the

. In October 2013, ''Huon'' participated in the

International Fleet Review 2013 The International Fleet Review 2013 was a review that took place on the week 3 to 11 October 2013, as part of the celebrations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the entry of the first Royal Australian Navy fleet in Sydney Harbour, on 4 Octob ...

in Sydney. The ship was presented the

for "excelling above all others AN warshipsthroughout 2013 in operations, safety, seamanship, reliability and training" on 30 April 2014, becoming the first minor warship to receive this award.

Citations

References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huon (M 82) Huon-class minehunters Ships built in New South Wales 1997 ships Minehunters of Australia