HMAS Melville (A 246)

HMAS ''Melville'' (HS 02/A 246) is the second ship of the ''Leeuwin'' class of hydrographic survey vessels operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Design and construction

''Melville'' 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 davits 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.

''Melville'' was ordered from NQEA Australia on 2 April 1996, and built at the company's shipyard in Cairns. She was laid down on 9 May 1997 and launched on 23 June 1998. ''Melville'' and sister ship ''Leeuwin'' underwent a joint commissioning ceremony on 27 May 2000. ''Melville'' initially carried the pennant number "HS 02", but this was changed to "A 246" in 2004. She is named after Melville Island, located to the north of Darwin.

Operational history

In late 2001, ''Melville'' 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, ''Melville'' was repainted from white to grey.

In June 2003, ''Melville'' was sent to south Queensland to inspect the believed wreck location of the Australian Hospital Ship ''Centaur'', which had been torpedoed off Moreton Island during World War II. This had been prompted by several media reports that the wreck was unlikely to be ''Centaur'', and had been wrongly classified since its discovery in 1995. Following up on surveys conducted by the minehunters and a month previous, the efforts of ''Melville'' confirmed that the shipwreck was not the hospital ship.

In March 2017, ''Melville'' was sent to North Queensland after tropical cyclone Debbie. Its task was to assist in humanitarian operations consisting of clean up, community assistance and to provide basic provisions such as food and water.

In August 2017, ''Melville'' was deployed to Shoalwater Bay, approximately 30 kilometres off the coast of Queensland, tasked with assisting the search for a crashed United States Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. A Royal Australian Navy clearance diving team was also utilised to search the wreck for three missing members of the aircrew and United States marines from the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF), and to assist in the US led operation to recover the aircraft. On 29 January 2018, HMAS Melville was awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation by the United States Marine Corps.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Melville (A 246), HMAS
Naval ships of Australia
Leeuwin-class survey vessels
Survey ships of the Royal Australian Navy
1998 ships