HMPNGS ''Ted Diro'' (P401) is the first to be completed. Australia designed and provided four s 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 ...

in 1987 and 1988, and in 2015 confirmed she would be replacing those vessels with four larger, and more capable, Guardian-class vessels. ''Ted Diro'' replaced . Australia transferred the vessel to Papua New Guinea on 30 November 2018.

Background

Following the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 c ...

extension of maritime nations' exclusive economic zones to Australia agreed to provide twelve of its neighbours with twenty-two Pacific Forum-class patrol vessels, so they could exercise sovereignty over their own territory, using their own resources. The first vessel was delivered in 1987, and in 2015 Australia announced plans to replace the original patrol boats with larger and more capable vessels.

Design

Australian ship builder Austal won the $335 million

Australian dollar The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island s ...

contract for the project, and built the vessels at its

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *He ...

shipyard, near Perth. Guardian class vessels were designed to use

commercial off-the-shelf Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...

components, not cutting edge, military grade equipment, to make them easier to maintain in small isolated shipyards. The vessels are long, can travel at . Their maximum speed is . Their design allows the recipient nations to mount a pair of heavy machine guns, on either flank, and possibly an autocannon of up to 30mm, on the foredeck.

Operational history

''Ted Diro'' was the first Guardian-class vessel to have her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

laid in July 2017. She was the first to be launched, in May 2018. She began her formal

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 on 9 August 2018. The patrol vessel is scheduled to be commissioned in late October, when her acceptance trials are completed. On 22 October 2018 the ''

Post Courier The ''Papua New Guinea Post-Courier'' is a newspaper based in Konedobu, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It was established on 30 June 1969. Its parent company, The Herald and Weekly Times (later purchased by News Corp Australia), had acquired w ...

'' reported that delivery was scheduled for December. Diro, head of the PNGDF

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Gilbert Toropo Major General Gilbert Toropo CBE is a Papua New Guinean Army officer who is the current Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). Toropo was born in the Southern Highlands Province. During his career in the PNGDF's Land Element, he ...

and Angus Campbell, Chief of the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

, attended the vessel's commissioning, on 1 February 2019. In August 2019 two warships of the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

visited

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

. The Japanese vessels hosted the crew of ''Ted Diro'', together with local VIPs, and her crew hosted visiting Japanese personnel on tours of ''Ted Diro''. On 17 October 2019 ''

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 ...

'' reported that ''Ted Diro''s engines had broken down, and she had to be towed back to

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, for repairs.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ted Diro 2018 ships Patrol vessels of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force

Ted Diro Edward Ramu (Ted) Diro GCL CBE (born 14 December 1943) is a Papua New Guinean politician and soldier. Diro was born in Boku village in the Rigo District of Central Province, the son of a plantation labourer. He was educated at the Boku mission s ...