The ''Leeuwin'' class is a two-ship class of

hydrographic survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/offshore oil drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed ...

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). and were 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 rena ...

in 1996, and were commissioned in 2000. The ships are capable of charting waters up to deep, carry three survey boats, and can operate an AS 350B Squirrel helicopter. In addition to surveying duties, since 2001 both vessels have been used to supplement the RAN patrol force. ''Leeuwin'' and ''Melville'' are based at , and are active as of 2023.

Design and construction

Rear three quarter view of HMAS Melville in 2017

The ships have a displacement of 2,170 tons at full load.Saunders (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 2008–2009'', p. 33 They are 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 . Each ship was originally fitted with a STN Atlas 9600 APRA I-band navigational radar, now updated to Sperry Vision-Master FT dual X-band and S-Band radar system. The vessels are fitted with a Nautel C-Tech CMAS 36/39 hull-mounted omni-directional active sonar, updated to CMAS 30D configuration. In addition, the ships were originally fitted with an Atlas Fansweep-20 multibeam

echo sounder Echo sounding or depth sounding is the use of sonar for ranging, normally to determine the depth of water (bathymetry). It involves transmitting acoustic waves into water and recording the time interval between emission and return of a pulse; ...

and an Atlas Hydrographic Deso single-beam echo sounder, and a Klein 2000 towed sidescan sonar array. These have been updated to a Teledyne Seabat T50 IDH Multi-Beam Echo-Sounder, ship specific Single-Beam Echo-Sounders, and an EdgeTech towed sidescan sonar. The sonars and echo sounders allow the vessels to chart waters up to deep. 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; although normally used to carry the survey boats, they can be configured for other small craft. In addition, they carry a

RHIB A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are i ...

and two utility boats. The ''Leeuwin''s are fitted with a helicopter deck for an AS 350B Squirrel helicopter, although lack long-term hosting facilities. They are armed with two single 12.7 mm machine guns. The ship's company consists of 10 officers and 46 sailors. In addition, up to 5 trainees can be accommodated. The ''Leeuwin''s were the first RAN ships to use a multi-crewing concept, with three complements used to operate the two vessels. Both vessels currently operate with a permanent single complement each. The two ships were ordered from

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

Cairns, Queensland 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 ...

. Construction of commenced in August 1996, and she was launched in July 1997, while was laid down in May 1997 and launched in June 1998. The vessels underwent a joint commissioning ceremony on 27 May 2000. The ships initially bore the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

s "HS 01" and "HS 02" respectively, but these were changed in 2004 to "A 245" and "A 246".

Operational history

Both ''Leeuwin'' and ''Melville'' are based at . They operate in support of the

Australian Hydrographic Office The Australian Hydrographic Service (formerly known as the Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Service) is the Australian Commonwealth Government agency responsible for providing hydrographic services that meet Australia's obligations under the SO ...

. In late 2001, both ships began operations to supplement patrol forces and counter illegal immigration as part of

Operation Relex Operation Relex is the name given to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) border protection operation in the country's northern approaches conducted between 2001 and 2006. The operation was instigated following the Tampa affair in September 2001 ...

, in addition to normal surveying duties.Bateman et al., in Rothwell & VanderZwaag (eds.), ''Towards principled ocean governance'', p. 130 The survey ships were selected as they had greater range and seakeeping capabilities that the s. In January 2002, ''Leeuwin'' and ''Melville'' were repainted from white to grey.

Ships

Citations

References

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External links

* {{Leeuwin class survey vessel Leeuwin class survey vessels Auxiliary research ship classes