HMAS Paluma (A 01) is the lead ship

Lead ship

The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...

 of the Paluma class

Paluma class survey motor launch

The Paluma class survey motor launch is a class of four hydrographic survey launches operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Built in Port Adelaide between 1988 and 1990, the four catamarans are primarily based at in Cairns, Queensland, and operate in pairs to survey the waters of northern...

 survey motor launches in the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN).

She is a twin-hulled hydrographic survey ship designed to operate in the shallow territorial waters of Northern Australia

Northern Australia

The term northern Australia is generally known to include two State and Territories, being Queensland and the Northern Territory . The part of Western Australia north of latitude 26° south—a definition widely used in law and State government policy—is also usually included...

 and the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

.

She was laid down by Eglo Engineering on 21 February 1988, launched on 6 February 1989 and commissioned into the RAN on 27 February 1989. The ship was named for Paluma, Queensland

Paluma, Queensland

Paluma is a township of around 25 permanent residents in the Mount Spec ranges of Townsville's heritage-listed Wet Tropics. Paluma developed from a mining and forestry background. The first people to arrive here were tin prospectors in the 1870s after an abundance of tin in the mountains. The area...

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Survey equipment

Paluma employs Wide Area GPS Enhancement

Wide Area GPS Enhancement

Wide Area GPS Enhancement is a method to increase the horizontal accuracy of the GPS encrypted P Code by adding additional range correction data to the satellite broadcast navigation message....

 and Differential GPS

Differential GPS

Differential Global Positioning System is an enhancement to Global Positioning System that provides improved location accuracy, from the 15-meter nominal GPS accuracy to about 10 cm in case of the best implementations....

 to maintain precise positioning. The two catamaran hulls are each equipped with both echo sounders

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

 and side-scan sonar

Side-scan sonar

Side-scan sonar is a category of sonar system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea floor...

 to ensure accuracy when scanning the sea floor. Both hulls also have heave compensators

Motion compensator

A motion compensator is a device that decreases the undesirable effects of the relative motion between two connected objects. Motion compensators are usually placed between a floating object and a more stationary object, such as a vessel or a structure fixed to the seabed. The motion compensator...

 to provide corrected depth information. Additionally the ship's Officer of the Watch has a Skipper searchlight sonar to provide early warning on shallows and unexpected dangers.

Operational history

In January 2011, Paluma was one of three RAN vessels deployed to survey Moreton Bay

Moreton Bay

Moreton Bay is a bay on the eastern coast of Australia 45 km from Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources...

 and the Brisbane River

Brisbane River

The Brisbane River is the longest river in south east Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay. John Oxley was the first European to explore the river who named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane in 1823...

 for submerged debris as part of Operation Queensland Flood Assist

Operation Queensland Flood Assist

Operation Queensland Flood Assist is a complex, multi-Service activity by the Australian Defence Force as a contribution to the response to the 2010–2011 Queensland floods. Coordinated to aid civilian emergency response efforts, at Federal inter-departmental level it is managed by Emergency...

, the Australian Defence Force

Australian Defence Force

The Australian Defence Force is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy , Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and a number of 'tri-service' units...

 response to the 2010–2011 Queensland floods

2010–2011 Queensland floods

A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state of Queensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least seventy towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was...

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