HMNZS ''Aotearoa'' (), formerly the Maritime Sustainment Capability project, is an

auxiliary ship An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense. Auxil ...

of the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

. Builder

Hyundai Heavy Industries Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI; ) is the world's largest shipbuilding company and a major heavy equipment manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Ulsan, South Korea. History HHI was founded in 1972 by Chung Ju-yung as a division of the ...

delivered the ship to the Navy in June 2020, and she was commissioned into service on 29 July 2020. Full operational capability was expected to be achieved in 2021. The vessel will serve as a

replenishment oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. The ...

, and has replaced , the Navy’s last fleet oiler, which was decommissioned in December 2017. ''Aotearoa'' is the largest ship the Royal New Zealand Navy has operated.

Name

HMNZS ''Aotearoa'' bears the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

name for New Zealand. Aotearoa is commonly translated "the land of the long white cloud". The ship has been assigned the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

A11.

Design and description

The ship is ice-strengthened and winterised to facilitate operations in Antarctica's extreme weather conditions. In addition to the wave-piercing hull design, this was Rolls-Royce's first naval hybrid electrical system. Rolls-Royce designed a hybrid-electric propulsion system solution that provides the ship with an optimised and flexible power plant with several fuel-saving operating modes. The ability to propel the ship using the electrical power through the MTU diesel generators whilst also providing electrical power for the ship’s hotel services and mission systems means that the vessel's fuel consumption is significantly reduced and emissions are minimised. The Rolls-Royce Power & Propulsion System arrangement consists of two Bergen main propulsion engines and four MTU4000 diesel generator sets. ''Aotearoa'' is a Polar-class Logistics Support ship designed and built with specialised winterisation capabilities for her operations in Antarctica. The electrical sub-systems were designed to support the high power generation capacity required for an ice-class ship. ''Aotearoa'' is intended to support other navy warships by enabling re-fueling (diesel) and re-supplying (food and ammunition) during operations. The ship will provide

marine diesel oil Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) is a type of fuel oil and is a blend of gasoil and heavy fuel oil, with more gasoil than intermediate fuel oil used in the maritime field. Marine Diesel Oil is also called "Distillate Marine Diesel". MDO is widely used by med ...

and

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are petroleum-based fuels, or petroleum and synthetic fuel blends, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground use, such as heating and road transport, and contain additives to enhanc ...

. It stores food and ammunition in

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

. ''Aotearoa'' has a

Kelvin Hughes Hensoldt UK, formerly Kelvin Hughes, is a British company specialising in the design and manufacture of navigation and surveillance systems and a supplier of navigational data to both the commercial marine and government marketplace. The company ...

Integrated Naval Bridge System and is equipped with Farsounder-1000

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

. For navigation

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

sensors it uses SharpEye S and X-Band with an S-Band SharpEye sensor optimised for helicopter approach and control. It is armed with a

Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS (often spoken as "sea-wiz") is a gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the Gene ...

and two

Mini Typhoon The Typhoon is a type of remote weapon station manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Israel, and it shares similar design principles and common technologies with Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station (Samson RCWS), a land-based sys ...

mounts and has a

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

and

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

for helicopter operations.

Construction

The contract was awarded to

using a Rolls-Royce Environship concept design, beating competition from

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd ( ko, 대우조선해양; abbreviated DSME) is one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea, along with Hyundai and Samsung. History On 21 February 2011, the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group (M ...

offering a variant of the BMT designed

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by ...

tanker. The ship was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 13 August 2018. It was launched in April 2019, began builder's

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s in December of that year and was formally delivered in June 2020. It was originally intended to be delivered in January 2020, but its departure from the shipyard in South Korea was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Operational history

''Aotearoa'' conducted her first 'replenishment at sea' (RAS) trials on 3 March 2021 with and as part of her sea trials and bring the vessel up to operational standard off Australia’s east coast. ''Aotearoa'' and participated in an international defence exercise in South East Asia in 2021 and also interacted with the United Kingdom’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) as it conducted engagement activities in the Indo-Pacific region. In response to the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami, ''Aotearoa'' and were deployed to provide water supplies, survey teams, and helicopter support. In early 2022 ''Aotearoa'' made a successful resupply mission to McMurdo and Scott base Antarctica. On 15 June ''Aotearoa'' set sail for

RIMPAC RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exception of 2020 where it was held i ...

2022, where the vessel took part in the month-long

exercise Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic ...

. ''Aotearoa'' remained in the Asia-Pacific region for nearly six months for various engagements that were not specified.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aotearoa 2019 ships Ships built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Group Auxiliary ships of the Royal New Zealand Navy