Republic of Fiji Navy | |
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Country | ![]() |
Part of | Republic of Fiji Military Forces |
Commanders | |
Chief officer of the Fijian Navy | Humphrey Tawake |
Insignia | |
Naval Ensign of Fiji | ![]() |
The Republic of Fiji Navy or Fijian Navy is the naval branch of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces. The Fijian Navy was established after Fiji ratified the recently created 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. [1] The Convention established that maritime nations had an Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 kilometres, which extended Fiji's waters twentyfold, from 50,000 square miles (130,000 km2) to over 1,000,000 square miles (2,600,000 km2), necessitating a more substantial naval force to enforce Fijian jurisdiction and protect economic activity in the Fijian EEZ.
Fiji was provided three Pacific Forum patrol vessels, designed and built by Australia, so its Pacific Forum neighbours could police their own sovereignty.
Captain Humphrey Tawake is the current Chief officer of the Fijian Navy. [2] [3]
The Republic of Fiji Military Forces is the military force of the Pacific island nation of Fiji. With a total manpower of about 6,500 active soldiers and approximately 6,200 reservists, it is one of the smallest militaries in the world and the third largest in the South Pacific region. The Ground Force is organised into six infantry and one engineer battalions.
HMNZS Leander was a light cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy during World War II. She was the lead ship of a class of light ships, the Leander-class light cruiser and was initially named HMS Leander.
The Pacific class is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. They were constructed between 1985 and 1997 and are operated by militaries, coast guards or police forces of twelve island nations. These boats are supported by the Pacific Patrol Boat Program and used primarily for maritime surveillance and fisheries protection.
The Tuvalu Police Force is the national Police force of Tuvalu, it is headquartered in Funafuti and includes a Maritime Surveillance Unit, Customs, Prisons and Immigration. Police officers wear British style uniforms.
The Guardian-class patrol boats are a class of small patrol vessels designed and built in Australia and provided to small South Pacific Ocean countries as part of the Australian Government's Pacific Maritime Security Program.
RFNS Kula (201) is a Pacific Forum patrol boat operated by Fiji. She was designed and built by Australia. Australia agreed to provide twenty-two patrol boats to twelve of its neighbours and fellow members of the Pacific Forum, after the recently concluded United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea extended maritime nations' exclusive economic zone to 200 kilometres (110 nmi). Australia provided two other patrol vessels to Fiji, Kikau and Kiro. Australia also provided training and infrastructure.
RFNS Kiro (203) was one of three Pacific Forum patrol boats operated by Fiji. She was the last of the three to be launched, in May 1995, and the first to be retired, when she ran aground and was deemed unsalvable, in 2016.
HMPNGS Ted Diro (P401) is the first Guardian-class patrol boat to be completed. Australia designed and provided four Pacific Forum-class patrol vessels to Papua New Guinea in 1987 and 1988, and in 2015 confirmed she would be replacing those vessels with four larger, and more capable, Guardian-class vessels.
RFNS Kikau (202) is a Pacific-class patrol boat operated by Fiji. She was designed and built by Australia. Australia agreed to provide twenty-two patrol boats to twelve of its neighbours and fellow members of the Pacific Forum, after the recently concluded United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea extended maritime nations' exclusive economic zone to 200 kilometres (110 nmi). Australia provided two other patrol vessels to Fiji, Kula and Kiro. Australia also provided training and infrastructure.
HMPNGS Rabaul (01) was the first Pacific Forum patrol vessel to be commissioned, in May 1987. She is not the first vessel of the class to go out of service, because her sister ship from Fiji RFNS Kiro was wrecked in 2016. She arrived in Port Moresby, for disposal, on October 24, 2018. The vessel was named HMPNGS Tarangau.
HMTSS Te Mataili II (802) is the second Guardian-class patrol boat completed, and the first to be given to the small Pacific Ocean nation Tuvalu. She was commissioned on 5 April 2019, replacing Te Mataili, a Pacific Forum patrol vessel, that had reached the end of her designed lifetime.
PSS Remeliik II is a Guardian-class patrol boat in the service of Palau's Division of Maritime Law Enforcement, built, and provided by Australia to replace the Pacific Forum patrol boat PSS Remeliik. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Australia helped its smaller neighbours, in the Pacific Forum by building small patrol boats so they could protect their own sovereignty. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), had extended an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) 200 kilometres (120 mi) off the shores of all maritime nations, and for small Island nations in the Pacific protecting their EEZ would be an overwhelming problem.
The RFNS Volasiga is an oceanic survey vessel operated by the Republic of Fiji Navy. She was donated by the Republic of Korea in 2019. She has a crew of 15.
RFNS Kacau is a hydrographic survey vessel donated by China to the Republic of Fiji Naval Service in 2019. With the capacity for approximately 30 crewmembers she will be Fiji's largest vessel.
RKS Teanoai (301) is a Pacific Forum-class patrol boat operated by the Republic of Kiribati Police. Teanoai is one of twenty-two small patrol vessels Australia designed and built for smaller fellow members of the Pacific Forum, after the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea extended control of a 200-kilometre (108 nmi) exclusive economic zone for all maritime nations.
RFNS Savenaca (401) is a Guardian-class patrol boat, being built in Australia for Fiji's Navy. She will replace RFNS Kula, a Pacific Forum patrol vessel provided by Australia in 1994. She will be the seventh vessel of the class to be completed, and the second of two to be delivered to Fiji. She will be commissioned in March or April of 2020.
Humphrey Tawake is a senior officer in the Republic of Fiji Naval Service.
The Pacific Maritime Security Program is a program initiated by Australia to aid the neighbouring Pacific Island nations, such as Timor-Leste, Fiji, Palau, Kiribati and Tonga. The program includes the maintenance of port facilities, training, and the transfer of 21 Guardian-class patrol boats. The program was initiated under the 2018 Boe Declaration on Regional Security.
Nafanua III (04) is a Guardian-class patrol boat entering service with the Samoan Police Force. She was given to Samoa by Australia as part of the Pacific Maritime Security Program, in which Australia donates patrol boats to neighbouring Pacific Island nations in order to improve regional maritime security. She is the 2nd boat given to Samoa under the program, as she was ordered by Australia on 2 November 2022 as a replacement for her sister ship Nafanua II, which was damaged beyond repair when she ran aground on 5 August 2021. Nafanua II had only two years earlier replaced the 31 year old Pacific-class patrol boat Nafanua as the small island nation's sole maritime security craft. Although she was ordered as the 22nd and ultimate boat of her class, she was delivered on 22 November 2023 as the 18th.
RFNS Puamau (402) is a Guardian-class patrol boat donated to Fiji by Australia as part of the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project. The vessel entered service on 7 March 2024. The ship is used to patrol Fijian waters.
"It was following Fiji's ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea that the Fijian Navy was first formed and shortly thereafter, the Australian-Pacific Patrol Boat Program came to be. The program has been a pillar of regional security, showing that secure Fijian waters mean secure waters for every nation in our patch of the Pacific.
'Our warmest congratulations go to Prime Minister Bainimarama, the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, Rear Admiral Viliame Naupoto and the Chief of Navy Captain Humphrey Tawake on the handover of this impressive new ship, the RFNS Savenaca,' he added.
He said the provision of RFNS Savenaca and RFNS Volasiga would enhance the Naval Division capabilities when it comes to Fiji's vast EEZ. "The allocation of $1.1 million for the recruitment of 40 personnel to operate the two vessels is, therefore, timely."
Only two years ago, the Fiji Navy had to rely on other foreign vessels to assist them with border surveillance with only one ship in operation. Fast forward two years and there are six vessels in operation.
A budget of $2.4 million is provided for the Unit for the operational expenses in 2019-2020 financial year. This included new funding of $363,102 for the recruitment of 15 personnel for manning of RFNS Volasiga; which is donated by the Republic of Korea (ROK) under the Fiji Hydrographic Office (FHO) and Korean Hydrographic Oceanography Agency (KHOA) bilateral partnership.
'RFNS Kacau is the first of its kind that will grace our seas because of its range of operational capability, which is not limited to hydrographic survey but maritime surveillance, HADR, diving, Search and Rescue,' he said.
Last week, the Fiji Navy announced that it would receive a new surveillance and hydrographic vessel from China. Named RFNS Kacau, the vessel will join the Fijian Navy's main fleet later this year.
The RFNS Kacau is a Hydrographic Vessel that will help the Fiji Navy in the measurement and description of the physical features of the coastal areas.
He said the project was initiated by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) and the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army-Navy, 'who saw fit to donate a vessel of such a magnitude because of the role we have in Fiji not only that, but also maritime security in the region'.
RFMF and Fiji Navy through China Aid have received RFN Kacau a hydrographic vessel with a deck that is re-configured like a catamaran, doubles as a heavy lift vessel.
This comes after China's commitment in the Pacific for additional capability building, protection of Fiji's resources and security. Royal Fiji Navy thanked the People's Republic Of China for the assistance.
解放军海军与斐济海军间的培训合作持续大约四个月,RFNS Kacau号正式的移交日期将定在今年圣诞节前完成。斐济总理姆拜尼马拉马在苏瓦瓦鲁湾的斯坦利布朗海军基地参加了接舰仪式并感谢船员们的努力和付出。
The ship can cater for twenty-nine crew.