Former Royal New Zealand Navy patrol vessels to be sold to Ireland

By Baird Maritime - March 14, 2022.

*Ex-HMNZS Pukaki, one of two decommissioned Royal New Zealand Navy inshore patrol vessels to be transferred to the Republic of Ireland in 2023 (Photo: New Zealand Defence Force)*

The New Zealand Defence Force will sell two decommissioned Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) to the Republic of Ireland’s Department of Defence.

The Lake-class vessels ex-HMNZS Rotoiti and ex-HMNZS Pukaki are being sold for NZ$36 million (US$24.4 million). The NZDF said a condition of the sale is for work to be undertaken to regenerate and modify the ships to an operational seaworthiness standard.

The refurbishing work will cost about NZ$16 mission to NZ$19 million (US$10.8 million to US$12.9 million) and will be carried out in New Zealand commercial shipyards.

Commissioned into the RNZN in 2009, the two Lake-class IPVs have been deployed on fishery monitoring, search and rescue (SAR), border security, and maritime surveillance operations around New Zealand’s 15,000-kilometre coastline.

The two vessels were retired from service in 2019 after a project team within the RNZN identified that a better capability outcome would be achieved utilising the service’s offshore patrol vessels HMNZS Otago and HMNZS Wellington, supplemented with a Southern Ocean Patrol Vessel planned for the future.

The IPVs are scheduled to be commercially sea-lifted to the Republic of Ireland in late March or April 2023 following completion of upgrade and modification works.