Samoa police patrol boat retired after 31 years of service

Image: RNZ Pacific
Image: RNZ Pacific

The Samoa Police Service has decommissioned one of its patrol boats and has handed it back to Australia, which originally donated the vessel under the Pacific Forum Patrol Boat Programme.

Nafanua had served Samoa for 31 years as a platform for maritime border security, fisheries protection, search and rescue (SAR), and medical evacuation. It is slated to be replaced in service by Nafanua II, a Guardian-class patrol boat currently under construction at Austal.

Nafanua is presently en route to Australia with a 30-person crew who will return in September with the vessel’s replacement.


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