RAN's Gascoyne minehunter undergoes refit

The Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) Huon (Gaeta)-class minehunter HMAS Gascoyne is undergoing a refit at the Captain Cook Graving Dock on Sydney’s Garden Island following an overseas deployment.

The service said on 20 April that as part of the refit, which takes place every five years, the ship’s propeller has been removed and its hull repainted while all its other major systems are also being removed, refurbished, and overhauled.

Huon-class minehunter HMAS Gascoyne undergoing a refit in the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island, Sydney following a recent deployment. (Royal Australian Navy )

Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Sean Aitken was quoted by the RAN as saying that the refit is also meant to improve how the 52 m-long ship sails. “Cleaning the hull and replacement of Gascoyne’s anti-fouling fittings will have a significant impact on Gascoyne’s performance once back at sea,” he said.

“We found that during our last deployment with our sister ship HMAS Diamantina , we were roughly one knot slower and had a higher rate of fuel consumption. This refit will make us a faster and more efficient vessel,” he stated, adding, “We’ve also inspected the rudder and shaft, replaced or overhauled our cranes, fire pumps, and replaced multiple valves throughout the ship.”

The refit comes after the ship, which has a full-load displacement of 732 tonnes, sailed more than 22,000 n miles in 2019 over two major deployments to the southwestern Pacific and Northeast Asia.

Commissioned in 2001, HMAS Gascoyne is homeported at HMAS Waterhen in Sydney along with the three other ships of the class: Diamantina , Huon, and Yarra .