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The ''Leeuwin'' class is a two-ship class of hydrographic survey vessels operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). and were ordered from NQEA Australia in 1996, and were commissioned in 2000. The ships are capable of charting waters up to deep, carry three ''Fantome'' class 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 2012. ==Design and construction== 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 is fitted with a STN Atlas 9600 APRA I-band navigational radar.〔 The vessels are fitted with a C-Tech CMAS 36/39 hull-mounted high-frequency active sonar.〔 In addition, the ships carry an Atlas Fansweep-20 multibeam echo sounder and an Atlas Hydrographic Deso single-beam echo sounder, and a Klein 2000 towed sidescan sonar array.〔 The sonars and echo sounders allow the vessels to chart waters up to deep.〔 There are three sets of davits fitted; although normally used to carry the ''Fantome'' class survey boats, they can be configured for other small craft.〔 In addition, they carry a RHIB and two utility boats.〔 The ''Leeuwin''s are fitted with a helicopter deck for an AS 350B Squirrel helicopter (detached from 723 Squadron), 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.〔 The two ships were ordered from NQEA Australia on 2 April 1996, and built at the company's shipyard in Cairns, Queensland.〔 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 numbers "HS 01" and "HS 02" respectively, but these were changed in 2004 to "A 245" and "A 246".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Leeuwin-class survey vessel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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