 VOEA Neiafu in 2016 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Tonga | |
| Name | Neiafu |
| Launched | 1989 |
| Decommissioned | 2020 |
| Identification |
|
| Status | Decommissioned |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Pacific Forum-class patrol boat |
| Displacement | 162 tons |
| Length | 103 ft (31 m) |
VOEA Neiafu (P201) was a Pacific Forum patrol vessel operated by Tonga from 1989 [1] until its decommissioning in 2020. [2]
When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea extended maritime nations' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to 200 kilometres (110 nmi), Australia designed and built 22 patrol vessels for 12 of its fellow members of the Pacific Forum. [1] [3] Australia provided the patrol vessels free of charge, and helped build port facilities and provide training. This allowed its neighbours to exercise sovereignty over their EEZ, intercept smugglers, poaching fishers, and provide emergency services.
Australia will replace Neiafu and her two sister ships with two slightly larger and more capable vessels between 2019 and 2020. [4]
The 31.5-metre (103 ft) vessels displace 162 tonnes, and are built using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment, instead of more expensive, high-performance, military-grade equipment, to ease the maintenance burden, since local maintenance will be performed in small, isolated shipyards. [5]
In 2009, after 20 years of service, Neiafu returned to Australia for a major refit. [1]
In 2015 Neiafu traveled to Vanuatu to provide aid following a typhoon. [6]
In 2016 Neiafu participated in a joint exercise with vessels of other nations. [7]
Neiafu completed another Australian refit in 2017. [8]
The Pacific class is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. The vessels were constructed between 1985 and 1997 and are operated by the militaries, coast guards or police forces of the twelve island nations. These boats are supported by the Pacific Patrol Boat Program and used primarily for maritime surveillance and fisheries protection.
The Tongan Maritime Force is the naval arm of His Majesty's Armed Forces of Tonga.
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.
The Pacific Islands Forum's Forum Fisheries Agency maintains a Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre in Honiara, Solomon Islands. In 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea gave all maritime nations, including the smaller Pacific Ocean nations, 200-nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Monitoring their EEZs is a challenge for some of the smaller nations, where their maritime zones dwarf their landmass, making cooperation essential.
RFNS Kula (201) is a Pacific Forum patrol boat operated by Fiji. She was designed and built by Australia and launched in 1994. 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 for maintaining the vessels.
RVS Tukoro is a Pacific Forum patrol boat that performs fishery protection, search and rescue and sovereignty patrols for Vanuatu. Tukoro 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 established that all maritime nations were entitled to exercise control over a 200-kilometre exclusive economic zone.
RSIPV Lata is one of the Pacific Forum patrol boats Australia gave to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.
RSIPV Auki is one of the Pacific Forum patrol boats Australia gave to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.
RFNS Kikau (202) is a Pacific-class patrol boat operated by Fiji and launched in 1995. 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 for the gifted vessels.
Nafanua (04) is a Pacific Forum patrol vessel operated by Western Samoa's police. Like her 21 sister ships she was built in Australia. After the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas extended maritime nations' exclusive economic zones (EEZs) to 200 kilometres (110 nmi) Australia agreed to give its smaller neighbours in the Pacific Forum patrol vessels of their own, so they could police their extended EEZs. Nafanua is the ship Australia gave to Samoa.
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.
VOEA Ngahau Koula (P301) is a Guardian-class patrol vessel designed and built for the Tonga Maritime Force by Australia. After the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea established that all maritime nations were entitled to exercise control over a 200-kilometre (120 mi) exclusive economic zone, Australia agreed to give small patrol boats to Tonga and eleven other neighbours in the Pacific Islands Forum.
VOEA Savea (P203) was a Pacific Forum patrol vessel operated by the Tongan Maritime Force from 1989 to April 2019.
RSIPV Gizo (05) is a Guardian-class patrol boat in service with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Maritime Department. She was the fifth boat of her class to be completed. Australian officials officially handed her over to representatives of the Solomon Islands on 8 November 2019, at the Austal shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia.
RFNS Savenaca (401) is a Guardian-class patrol boat, built in Australia for Fiji's Navy. She replaced 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 was commissioned in April 2020.
The Republic of Fiji Navy or Fijian Navy is the naval branch of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces. Formerly known as the Royal Fijian Navy, it was established after Fiji ratified the recently created 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. 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.
VOEA Pangai (P202) was a Pacific Forum patrol vessel of Tonga, operated by the Tonga Maritime Force.
VOEA Ngahau Siliva (P302) is the second of Tonga's two Guardian-class patrol vessels. She is the eighth vessel of the 21 vessels in her class.
RVS Takuare is a Guardian-class patrol boat in service with the Vanuatu Police Maritime Wing. She was given to Vanuatu by Australia as part of the Australian government's Pacific Maritime Security Program on 30 July 2021. Her predecessor, the RVS Tukoro, was the second vessel of the first iteration of the Pacific Patrol Boat Program, and served in the same role from 1987 to 2021. The Takuare is currently the only naval or law enforcement vessel operated by the Pacific Island nation.
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 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.
According to Component Commander of the Navy, Commander Haisi Fonohema, Tonga will receive the 2 new patrol boats by 2019-2020.
The 31.5-metre PPBs are built to a commercial standard and are used by Pacific nations for maritime surveillance and response, in particular fisheries patrols.
Speaking to Radio Tonga, Lieutenant Colonel Lord Ve'ehala said the Voea Neiafu will be deployed to Vanuatu for three weeks and will assist with the transporting of relief supplies to outer islands.
On completion of the refit package, the boat was handed over to the crew under the command of Lieutenant Commander Semisi Tapueluelu for work-up on upgraded systems and preparations for passage back to Tonga.