Royal New Zealand Navy's newest and largest-ever vessel, HMNZS Aotearoa leaves for NZ

The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN)’s largest-ever vessel built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) departed for its maiden voyage home. HHI announced today (June 10) that it held a sail-off ceremony for the 26,000-ton logistics support vessel, HMNZS Aotearoa.

The vessel, measuring 173.2m in length and 24.5m in width will support operations for RNZN through supplying fuel, food, water and ammunition.

The ceremony held at HHI’s headquarter in Ulsan, Korea, was attended by Mr. Nam Sang-hoon, Senior Executive Vice President of HHI, Mr. Philip Turner, New Zealand Ambassador of Korea, and Major General Sung Il, Director General for International Cooperation of Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) deployedROKS Daecheong (AOE-58) to the ceremony to wish for a safe voyage of Aotearoa.

The departure is notable that Korea successfully exported logistics support vessel based on advanced technology to the country that sent warships to Korea during the Korean War.

In addition, Korea and New Zealand have been building trust relations, with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the New Zealand Ministry of National Defense signing a “Defense Material Cooperation Arrangement” last year to expand cooperation in the defense sector between the two countries.

Source: Naval News