Ladies of the sea become chameleons

HMA ships Paluma, Mermaid, Benalla and Shepparton.

Our Survey Motor Launches celebrated an historic day last month when they left Trinity Inlet, off Cairns, all painted regulation Navy grey.

HMA ships Paluma, Mermaid, Benalla and Shepparton, all catamaran-hulled, were previously painted white in accordance with long-standing tradition for hydrographic ships and launches of this type.

Smaller boats deployed for survey work during the day could then easily find their way back to the ship at dusk. Improvements in technology, such as modern communications and GPS, have made the white scheme redundant.

The change has brought the Survey Motor Launches into line with all other RAN ships.
FIMA Cairns, with the help of personnel from FIMA Sydney, completed the work on Shepparton and Benalla in just three weeks, while contractors transformed Paluma and Mermaid.

.