HMNZS Aotearoa


HMNZS Aotearoa, formerly the Maritime Sustainment Capability project, is an auxiliary ship of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Builder Hyundai Heavy Industries delivered the ship to the Navy in June 2020, and she was commissioned into service on 29 July 2020. Full operational capability is expected to be achieved in 2021. It will serve as a replenishment oiler, and will replace HMNZS Endeavour, the Navy’s last fleet oiler, decommissioned in December 2017.
Aotearoa is the largest ship the Royal New Zealand Navy has ever operated.

Name

HMNZS Aotearoa bears New Zealand's Māori name. Aotearoa is commonly translated "the land of the long white cloud".

Design and description

Aotearoa is the world’s first naval ship to adopt Rolls-Royce’s Environship concept design, which includes a new wave-piercing hull for reduced resistance and fuel consumption. The ship is also ice-strengthened and winterised to facilitate operations in Antarctica’s extreme weather conditions.
Aotearoa is intended to support other navy warships by enabling re-fueling and re-supplying during operations. The 26,000 tonne ship will provide marine diesel and aviation fuel along with limited food and ammunition stored in 20 ft containers.
Aotearoa will be equipped with the Farsounder-1000 sonar. The Aotearoa will be equipped with a Kelvin Hughes Integrated Naval Bridge System, The navigation radar sensors selected are to be SharpEye S and X-Band and one S-Band SharpEye sensor optimised for helicopter approach and control.
Aotearoa is armed with a single Phalanx CIWS and two Mini Typhoon mounts. The ship also has a flight deck and a hangar for helicopter operations.

Construction

The contract was awarded to Hyundai Heavy Industries using a Rolls Royce Environship concept design, which won over competition from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering offering a variant of the BMT designed Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tide class tanker. The ship was laid down on 13 August 2018. It was launched in April 2019, began builders sea trials 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 coronavirus pandemic.