The Fantome class is a class of eight small survey motor boats (SMBs) operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and DMS Maritime. The four-man boats are designed to operate from the Leeuwin-classsurvey vessels, with three assigned to each ship, while the seventh and eighth were attached to the RAN Hydrographic School at HMAS Penguin. They are fitted with navigational and survey equipment and are unarmed.
Each Fantome-class vessel displaces 7.48 tons, is 10.7 metres (35 ft) long, has a beam of 2.9 metres (9.5 ft), and a draught of 0.6 metres (2.0 ft).[1] They are fitted with two Volvo Penta AQAD 41D/SP290 diesels, connected to two outdrives, which allow the vessels to reach 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph).[1] They are fitted with a JRC JMA-2141 navigation radar and SMBs on the Hydrographic Ships have Atlas Deso 30 single beam echo sounders, MBES Fansweep 20 multibeam echosounders and CMAX TLW Side Scan Sonar. They are also fitted with Fugro Seastar 3100 WAdGPS for horizontal positioning and POSMV as the position monitoring system. Four personnel crew each vessel; one officer/senior sailor and three sailors.[1] The Fantome SMBs are unarmed.[1]
All eight vessels were constructed by Pro Marine at Seaford, Victoria.[1] They entered service between October 1992 and July 1993.[1]
The Fantome design was used as the basis for the Antarctic survey launch ASV Wyatt Earp.[1]
Operations
[edit]Duyfken embarked on HMAS Leeuwin in October 2013
Six of the RAN's Fantome-class boats are carried on board its two Leeuwin-classsurvey vessels.[1] Each of these ships can carry three survey motor boats.[2][3] The other two boats were originally operated[citation needed] by DMS Marine under contract to the RAN and are stationed at the Navy's Hydrographic School at HMAS Penguin in Sydney,[1] but by 2010, these vessels were under direct RAN control.[citation needed] DMS Maritime maintains all eight boats.[1]
