HMAS Gascoyne (M 85), named for the Gascoyne River, is the fourth of six Huon-class minehunters constructed for and currently in service with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Built by a joint partnership between Australian Defence Industries (ADI) and Intermarine SpA, Gascoyne was constructed at ADI's Newcastle shipyard, and entered service in 2000. Design and construction In 1993, the Department of Defence issued a request for tender for six coastal minehunters to replace the problematic Bay-class minehunters. The tender was awarded in August 1994 to Australian Defence Industries (ADI) and Intermarine SpA, which proposed a modified Gaeta-class minehunter. Gascoyne has a full load displacement of 732 tons, is long, has a beam of , and a draught of . Main propulsion is a single Fincantieri GMT BL230-BN diesel motor, which provides to a single controllable-pitch propeller, allowing the ship to reach . Maximum range is at , and endurance is 19 days. The standard ship's company consists of 6 officers and 34 sailors, with accommodation for 9 additional (typically trainees or clearance divers). The main armament is a MSI DS30B 30 mm cannon, supplemented by two 0.50 calibre machine guns. The sensor suite includes a Kelvin-Hughes Type 1007 navigational radar, a GEC-Marconi Type 2093M variable-depth minehunting sonar, an AWADI PRISM radar warning and direction-finding system, and a Radamec 1400N surveillance system. Two Wallop Super Barricade decoy launchers are also fitted. For minehunting operations, Gascoyne uses three Riva Calzoni azimuth thrusters to provide a maximum speed of : two are located at the stern, while the third is sited behind the variable-depth sonar. Mines are located with the minehunting sonar, and can be disposed of by the vessel's two Double Eagle mine disposal vehicles, the Oropesa mechanical sweep, the Mini-Dyad magnetic influence sweep, or the towed AMASS influence sweep (which is not always carried). To prevent damage if a mine is detonated nearby, the ships were built with a glass-reinforced plastic, moulded in a single monocoque skin with no ribs or framework. As the ships often work with clearance divers, they are fitted with a small recompression chamber. Constructed by Australian Defence Industries, Gascoyne was launched on 11 March 2000, and commissioned on 2 June 2001. Gascoyne operates out of HMAS Waterhen. Operational history On the morning of 13 March 2009, Gascoyne was one of seventeen warships involved in a ceremonial fleet entry and fleet review in Sydney Harbour, the largest