Ships in the Bay.

HMAS Yarra.

Taken before sunrise with her running light on.

It was fairly early with dim light so please excuse the fuzziness at full size.

Today we have HMAS Yarra (IV), the sixth of six Huon Class minehunters in the bay. She isn’t a big ship at only 52 meters long but has some very unique features. Her hull design is shock resistant with a low magnetic and acoustic signature.  This allows the ship to operate in hostile mine environments.   When mine hunting,  propolsion and precision manoeuvrability is achieved using retractable thrusters. Puzzled solved - This explains how this morning she was doing tight pivitol circles while at anchor. I was wondering how she was able to do this as I couldn’t see any sign of her engines working .  The Ship uses variable depth sonar to search for and prosecute mines.  Upon detection, the ship deploys the remotely operated Mine Disposal Vehicle (MDV) or clearance divers to identify and neutralise mines. The MDV, equipped with a searchlight, camera, sonar and disposal charge, is controlled from Ship's operations room. She is the sixth Huon-class minehunter to have been built for the Royal Australian Navy and the fourth warship to be named after the Yarra River in Victoria.  Built in Newcastle, she was commissioned in March 2003.