HMAS ''Leeuwin'' (HS 01/A 245) is the lead ship of the ''Leeuwin''-class of hydrographic survey vessels 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).

Design and construction

''Leeuwin'' has a displacement of 2,170 tons at full load.Saunders (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 2008–2009'', p. 33 She is long, with a beam of , and a draught of . Main propulsion machinery consists of four GEC Alsthom 6RK 215 diesel generators, which supply two Alsthom electric motors, each driving a propeller shaft. A Schottel bow thruster is fitted for additional manoeuvrability. Maximum speed is , with a range of at . The sensor suite consists of a STN Atlas 9600 APRA I-band navigational radar, a C-Tech CMAS 36/39 hull-mounted sonar, an Atlas Fansweep-20 multibeam echo sounder, an Atlas Hydrographic Deso single-beam echo sounder, and a Klein 2000 towed sonar. The sonars and echo sounders allow the vessels to chart waters up to deep.Wertheim (ed.), ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World'', p. 26 There are three sets of

davit Boat suspended from radial davits; the boat is mechanically lowered Gravity multi-pivot on Scandinavia'' file:Bossoir a gravité.jpg, Gravity Roller Davit file:Davits-starbrd.png, Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on North Sea ferr ...

s fitted to carry ''Fantome''-class survey boats. The ship is fitted with a helicopter deck for an AS 350B Squirrel helicopter (detached from 723 Squadron), although there are no long-term hosting facilities. She is armed with two single 12.7 mm machine guns. The ship's company consists of 10 officers and 46 sailors, plus up to 5 trainees. The ''Leeuwin'' class were the first RAN ships to use a multi-crewing concept, with three complements used to operate the two vessels. ''Leeuwin'' was ordered from

NQEA Australia NQEA Pty Ltd is an engineering and shipbuilding company based in Cairns, Australia. The company was founded in 1948 as an engineering supply company named North Queensland Engineers & Agents, then expanded in 1966 into shipbuilding and was renam ...

on 2 April 1996, and built at the company's shipyard in

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

. She was laid down on 9 May 1997 and launched on 23 June 1998. ''Leeuwin'' and sister ship ''Melville'' underwent a joint commissioning ceremony on 27 May 2000. ''Leeuwin'' initially carried the pennant number "HS 01", but this was changed to "A 245" in 2004. She is named after

Cape Leeuwin Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia. Description A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders Ba ...

, the south-west-most point of the Australian continent.

Operational history

In late 2001, ''Leeuwin'' began to operate in support of border protection operations in addition to her normal hydrographic duties.Bateman et al., in Rothwell & VanderZwaag (eds.), ''Towards principled ocean governance'', p. 130 In January 2002, ''Leeuwin'' was repainted from white to grey. RAN-IFR 2013 D3 185

In October 2013, ''Leeuwin'' participated in the International Fleet Review 2013 in Sydney. The fleet was reviewed by Governor-General Quentin Bryce on 5 October from ''Leeuwin''s helicopter deck, with Bryce accompanied by Prince Harry. ''Leeuwin'' sailed to Fiji in July 2015 for a seabed-mapping operation around

Rotuma Island Rotuma is a Fijian dependency, consisting of Rotuma Island and nearby islets. The island group is home to a large and unique Polynesian indigenous ethnic group which constitutes a recognisable minority within the population of Fiji, known as ...

. This was the first RAN deployment to the region in eight years, since the deterioration of ties between the nations after the

2006 Fijian coup d'état The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 was a coup d'état carried out by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, against the government of President Josefa Iloilo. Iloilo was removed as president, but ...

Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leeuwin (A 245), HMAS Naval ships of Australia Leeuwin-class survey vessels Survey ships of the Royal Australian Navy 1997 ships