Pacific Forum patrol vessel
The Pacific class (also known as the Pacific Forum classToppan & Walsh, ''World Navies Today: Other Asia-Pacific Navies'' and the ASI 315 class) is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. Th ...
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
designed and delivered twenty-two Pacific Forum vessels to twelve of her maritime neighbours, between 1987 and 1997.
Australia provided these vessels to
Papua New-Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, and eleven other of its
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
neighbours so they could police their exclusive economic zones, because that improves its own security. The
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
regularly participates in joint exercises with their Papuan New-Guinea opposite numbers.
The duties of ''Seeadler'', and her
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
s, include fishery patrol.
In 2013 ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' described Papua New Guinea's fleet of Pacific Forum vessels as "a neglected component of the PNGDF"—one rarely visited by Australian liaison officers.
In 2014 James Movick, Director-General of the
Forum Fisheries Agency The Forum Fisheries Agency is an organization run by the Pacific Islands Forum.
It operates the Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre, headquartered in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major i ...
, noted that five of the six boarding operations executed by ''Seeadler'' during the 2014 iteration of
Operation Kurukuru
Operation Kurukuru is an annual joint exercise of Pacific Islands Forum nations, intended to combat illegal fishing. The first exercise took place in 2005.
The nations of the Pacific Forum run a Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA). The FFA uses the re ...
, found potential infringements of the Pacific Forum's fisheries agreements. He called ''Seeadler''s performance "outstanding". In 2014 ''
EMTV
EMTV is a commercial television station in Papua New Guinea. Until the launch of the National Television Service in September 2008, it was the country's only free to air television service.Australian Maritime Border Command when she fired upon a
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
ese fishing vessel that had been poaching
sea cucumber
Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuria ...
s. According to ''The National'' ''Seeadler'' fired "explosive bullets" at one of three poaching vessels, which then exploded, killing her
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, sinking the vessel, and inflicting serious burns on other crew members. The incident took place near
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range to t ...
.
Papua New Guinea is scheduled to start replacing her Pacific Forum ships, with larger and more capable Guardian-class patrol boats, starting in late 2018.
On 18 April 2021 Papua New-Guinea Defence Force decommissioned its last three ships of the class, including ''Seeadler''.