Aotearoa completes Indo-Pacific mission

Aotearoa returned to Devonport on 25 October after 135 days away, with family and friends waiting on Calliope Wharf to welcome the crew home. Navy colleagues greeted the ship’s company with a haka, who responded with their own.

For Commanding Officer Commander Rob Welford, his return to Devonport was exactly one year and one day since he took command of Aotearoa, and the second time he has brought Aotearoa home from South East Asia. He took command of Aotearoa in Singapore towards the end of the ship’s 2023 deployment.

CDR Welford says he could not be prouder of his ship’s company.

“Our many successes with multiple countries, including some ‘firsts’ for the ship like an eight-hour refueling of USS Boxer, shows how Aotearoa continues to be the ‘tanker of choice’ in delivering an operational effect for our Defence partners.

“In all our engagements and taskings, Aotearoa’s sailors have had a smile on their face and put 100 per cent effort into everything they have done. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, Major General Rob Krushka, and RNZN Maritime Component Commander, Commodore Shane Arndell, were in Devonport to meet and talk with the crew of Aotearoa.

MAJGEN Krushka and CDRE Arndell wanted to convey the NZDF and the Navy’s thanks to the ship’s company for a lengthy mission professionally conducted.

CDRE Arndell says Aotearoa’s accomplishments shows the Royal New Zealand Navy is a highly trained blue-water navy with the personnel and platforms to make a tangible contribution on the world stage supporting the international rules-based system.

“There will be plenty more of these opportunities for our sailors in coming months allowing them to be at the sharp end of operations, and that’s exactly why they joined,” he says.

“This has been a long time away for the crew of Aotearoa but they should be incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved.”

Exercise Rimpac

HMNZS Aotearoa arrived early to Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2024 (RIMPAC 2024) in Hawaii on June 23, ready to work with four other replenishment ships as part of Combined Task Force 173, RIMPAC’s combat logistics task force.

Aotearoa’s early arrival meant it could conduct Replenishment at Sea (RAS) trials with commercial tanker MV Allied Pacific, both alongside and then at sea. Being able to receive fuel from a commercial tanker while at sea was a brand-new capability for Aotearoa.

Aotearoa received a total of 13,386,000 litres of F76 Diesel Fuel and passed a total of 6,384,000 litres of F76 diesel fuel and 460,000 litres of aviation fuel to customer ships both inside and outside the exercise.

Aotearoa conducted RAS operations with 16 partner ships, including a concurrent RAS with United States destroyer USS Sterett and Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver.

A significant highlight was replenishing USS Boxer, an Amphibious Assault Ship sailing to Asia for its operational deployment.

It meant Boxer had to be stationed 45m off Aotearoa’s port beam for 8.5 hours while close to 3 million litres of diesel fuel and 350,000 litres of aviation fuel were pumped across.

It was both the longest replenishment and largest ship ever replenished by Aotearoa.

Korean Peninsula

Aotearoa’s deployment shifted to Japan and North Korea to contribute to the monitoring of United Nations Security Council Resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. During its four-week involvement, Aotearoa’s role was to replenish international navy vessels patrolling the Korean Peninsula.

During the transit Aotearoa enjoyed the company of Vancouver, with both ships conducting a variety of manoeuvres and swapping crew members to experience life on board another nation’s vessel.

Aotearoa conducted port visits to Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan.

Multilateral exercises

Aotearoa continued its support of partner navies during its passage south to Singapore. It conducted replenishments and manoeuvres with South Korea, Japan, Germany, Australia, the Philippines and the United States, including taking part in a Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity international exercise in the South China Sea, designed to strengthen interoperability in the maritime context. It included a concurrent replenishments with returning customer USS Boxer and USS Comstock, and with destroyers USS Howard and HMAS Sydney.

Taiwan Strait transit

Aotearoa sailed through the Taiwan Strait with Sydney on the afternoon of 25 September, en route to a port visit in Singapore.

Maritime Component Commander CDRE Shane Arndell said this was a routine movement from one point in the Indo-Pacific to another.

“The New Zealand Defence Force conducts all activities in accordance with international law and best practice. This was a routine activity, consistent with international law, including the right of freedom of navigation as guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”

The last previous transit of the Taiwan Strait, en route to Qingdao, China was conducted by HMNZS Te Kaha in 2017.