Huon-class minehunter

HMAS Yarra in 2013
Class overview
Builders	Australian Defence Industries
Operators	Royal Australian Navy
Preceded by	Ton-class minesweeper Bay class
Built	1994–2003
In commission	1999–present
Completed	6
Active	3
Retired	3
General characteristics
Type	Minehunter Coastal
Displacement	732 tons at full load
Length	52.5 m (172 ft)
Beam	9.9 m (32 ft)
Draught	3 m (9.8 ft)
Propulsion	1 × Fincantieri GMT BL230-BN diesel motor, 1,985 bhp (1,480 kW), 1 x controllable-pitch propeller 3 × 120 hp (89 kW) Riva Calzoni azimuth thrusters with Combimac low magnetic electric motors
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) on diesel 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) on thrusters
Range	1,600 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Endurance	19 days
Complement	6 officers and 34 sailors, plus up to 9 additional
Sensors and processing systems	Kelvin-Hughes Type 1007 navigational radar GEC-Marconi Type 2093M variable-depth minehunting sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys	AWADI PRISM radar warning and direction-finding system Radamec 1400N surveillance system 2 × Wallop Super Barricade decoy launchers
Armament	1 × 30 mm DS30B rapid fire cannon 2 × 0.50 calibre machine guns 2 × SUTEC Double Eagle mine disposal vehicles

The Huon-class minehunter coastal (MHC) ships are a group of minehunters built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Following problems with the Bay-class minehunters, a request for tender was issued in 1993 for a class of six coastal minehunters under the project designation SEA 1555. The tender was awarded in 1994 to the partnership of Australian Defence Industries (ADI) and Intermarine SpA, which was offering a variant of the Italian Gaeta-class minehunter.

Five of the six ships were constructed completely in Newcastle, New South Wales, while the hull of the first ship was built in Italy, then transported to Australia for fitting out. Construction ran from 1994 to 2003, with lead ship HMAS Huon entering service in 1999. All six vessels are based at HMAS Waterhen, in Sydney. In 2006, following a capability review three years prior, one minehunter was placed in reserve, while another was marked for transfer to reserve status; this instruction was reversed prior to 2008, and the two vessels were tasked with supporting border protection operations. Two of the minehunters were decommissioned in 2018.