HMAS Norman (M 84)

HMAS Norman (M 84), named for the Norman River in Queensland, is the third Huon class minehunter to serve in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Norman was built by Australian Defence Industries in Newcastle, New South Wales. She was launched 3 May 1999, and commissioned into the RAN on 26 August 2000.

Norman is based at HMAS Waterhen (naval base) in Sydney with the majority of the RAN's mine warfare assets.

Operational history
On the morning of 13 March 2009, Norman was one of seventeen warships involved in a ceremonial fleet entry and fleet review in Sydney Harbour, the largest collection of RAN ships since the Australian Bicentenary in 1988. The minehunter was one of the thirteen ships involved in the ceremonial entry through Sydney Heads, and anchored in the harbour for the review.

By October 2011, Norman and sister ship HMAS Hawkesbury (M 83) had been placed into reserve; the Department of Defence predicted that it would take five years to bring both back to operational status and train enough personnel to run all six vessels.