ENGINEERING - Royal Australian Navy

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N AVY E N G I N E E R I N G B U LL E TI N F EB R U A RY 2 0 02 4 5 What is a Hydrographic Ship? BY LIEUTENANT COMMANDER DAVE ROBERTSON Since joining HS Red Crew (formerly posted as NUSHIP LEEUWIN) in March 1999 I have been asked the question many times: What is a HS? Sometimes it is asked in a different way; “HS – aren’t they those catamarans?” or “LEEUWIN – that’s a bit like FLINDERS isn’t it?” It seems clear to me that most people in the fleet really don’t have a clue who we are and what we do. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief introduction to the HS. Af ter all, I intend to re-join the ‘grey’ <strong>Navy</strong> some and I am sick of explaining what HS Red Crew is. HMA Ships LEEUWIN and MELVILLE were constructed to replace the aging Moresby and Flinders. Those who have seen Moresby and Flinders will know that they were substantially different in size. In many aspects, the HS are similar to Moresby, the HS being only slightly smaller (HS approx 2200 tonnes although much shorter), diesel electric (although a completely different system is employed in the HS), air capable, carry three Survey Motor Boats (SMBs – although these have been upgraded) and are painted white. The similarities with Flinders are fewer; a similar profile (standfast the flight deck), similar crew size (48 vice 46) and painted white. All in all, it is easy to see why people are confused! days/year within the current personnel tempo restrictions (which limit each crew to approximately 150 days per year). Each ship theoretically does 225 days at sea per year. So if you ask me today where am I posted to I will answer “HS Red Crew currently borne in HMAS MELVILLE”. The CO HS Red is the Leeuwin Class Coordinator as the senior CO will always be in that crew. THE HS TECH N I CA L D E PA RT M E N T The HS has a Technical Department of 14. It is headed by the Engineer Of ficer (LEUT ME Q) (although there has always been a WEEO in HS White crew), a CPOMT (M or E) as DMEO, a POET (AUXSENS) (CPOET in HS Red) as I/C Systems, a POMT (E or M) (opposite stream to DMEO), four LS (a MT(M), MT(E), ET(AUXSENS) and ET(GENCOM)) and six ABs (3 x MT(M), an MT(E), ET(AUXSENS) and ET(GENCOM)). The technical department can be reduced by up to three sailors for long periods if the SMBs are deployed to a boat camp, leaving a relatively large ship being operated and maintained by a technical department of only 11 personnel. How do we do it? Well for a start we utilise the technology inherent in the ship, and only have one BELOW HMAS LEEUWIN AT CAIRNS The other aspect of the HS that causes confusion (even for us) is the fact that there are three crews for the two ships. The crews are HS Red, White and Blue. We rotate between the ships and ashore; approximately six months on a ship, 3 months off watch (working in the HS Crew Facility in Cairns). The reason for this is to utilise the ship’s availability for sea of 300
4 6 N AV Y EN G I N E E R I N G B U L L ET IN F E B RU A RY 20 0 2 watch keeper on watch at any one time. All machinery can be monitored from the bridge via the Integrated Control System (ICS), which leaves the watch keeper to conduct compartment rounds knowing the bridge staff (and ICS) are watching over the machinery whilst he is away. The reduction in watch keeping personnel leaves the rest of the department as day workers to complete preventative and corrective maintenance. an auxiliary propulsion unit should the main moto rs be u n ava i l a b l e . The ICS is capable of monito ri n g and controlling the main p ropulsion system and most a u x i l i a ry systems re m o te ly. This includes systems such as; ventilation, fi re main, closure of wa te rtight doors and hatch e s , toxic hazard sensors, bilge s e n s o rs, the perfo rmance of all DGs etc. The ICS will ensure th a t s u fficient ge n e ra to rs are on load, O rganisation (IHO) guidelines (when used in conjunction with the TLWSSS for fe a t u re detection). The three primary and numerous other sensors (such as positioning, platform motion and water conductivity and temperature) are fed into a system known as the Hydrographic Survey System which allows the raw data collected to be processed into a format that can be exported to the Hydrographic Office. The ICS is capable of m o n i to ring and contro l l i n g the main propulsion syste m and most auxiliary syste m s re m o te ly. P RO P U LSION AND INTEGRAT E D CO N T ROL SY ST E M S The HS has a fully integrated electric propulsion system. It has six generators; four Main DGs (Ruston 6RK215 800kW/ 1000kVA/660v/50Hz), a Harbour DG (Caterpillar 3412, 350kW/ 440kVA/415v/50 Hz) and an Emergency DG (Caterpillar 3306, 160kW/200kVA//415v/50 Hz). At sea only the Main DGs are used, ships services being supplied by transformers off the main switchboard. The Harbour or Emergency DGs do not supply the main propulsion motors or bow thruster. The main moto rs are opera te d by a va riable speed dri ve (VS D ) w h i ch is able to va ry main m o tor speed from 0 to 12 0 0 rpm (0 to 209 shaft rpm). The main moto rs are each coupled to a single reduction ge a r b ox , w h i ch dri ve the port and sta r b o a rd shafts re s p e c t i ve ly. The ships are also fi t ted with a p u mp-jet bow th ru ster which also has a va riable fre qu e n c y d ri ve (VFD). The bow th ru ste r ’ s th ru st can be slewed in any d i rection, so it could be used as and all mach i n e ry is opera t i n g w i thin pre - d e te rmined guidelines. Think of the ICS as a ve ry reliable wa tch ke e p e r. There are t wo consoles located on th e b ri d ge, which are consoles p ri m a ri ly used at sea, and two consoles in the MCR (DCC), w h i ch are used pri m a ri ly fo r E m e rgency Station, SSD and d u ring engineering casualties. S U RVEY SY ST E M The survey system has three primary sensors, these are; an Atlas Fansweep 20 Multibeam Echo Sounder (MBES), an Atlas DESO 25 Single Beam Echo Sounder (SBES) and a Klein T2000 Towed Light Weight Side Scan Sonar (TLWSSS). W h i l st the SBES and TLWSSS do not re p resent any great leap fo rwa rd in survey te ch n o l o g y, th e MBES does. The MBES allows th e ship to sound not only dire c t ly b e l ow the ship, but also to sound p e rpendicular to the direction of the ship, out to a maximum of 12 times wa ter depth. This allows for full cove ra ge of bottom and meets incre a s i n gly st ri n ge n t I n te rnational Hydro gra p h i c The three SMBs also have a similar but ‘lite’ version of the survey system fitted to the ship, unfortunately this system has not met contracted (and IHO) requirements so is currently not being used for the gathering of bathometric data used in charts. AV I ATION FAC I L I T I E S The HS has similar aviation facilities to the majority of air capable fleet units. To date FOCFT have been conducted and SHOL developed for the AS 350 (Squirrel) and Bell 206 (Kio wa). The flight deck is capable of accommodating up to medium sized helicopters. SO WHAT IS A HS? I hope I have given a suffi c i e n t d e s c ription of the HS so that yo u can answer that qu e stion. More ‘in depth’ articles will fo l l ow on th e s p e c i fics of the va rious syste m s . About the author LCDR David Robertson joined the RAN as an undergraduate in 1991, graduating from Queensland University in 1992. He completed his AMEO time in HMAS TORRENS befor e being posted as PNR-Cairns. He ser ved as DMEO HMAS PERTH gaining his Char ge Qualification in Nov 1998. He was then posted as EO in NUSHIP LEEUWIN/HS RED CREW. Following a posting as the Anzac Class Certification Manager at DNCS-SS, he is now Staff Officer to DGNAVSYS.
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