{"id":39808,"date":"2025-09-24T01:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T01:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/39808\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T01:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T01:12:11","slug":"obsolete-systems-part-of-35m-reboot-to-fill-in-for-sunk-navy-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/39808\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Obsolete systems’ part of $35m reboot to fill in for sunk navy ship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Front<\/p>\n

\nThe HMNZS Otago has been parked at Devonport Naval base since 2022.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Ian Telfer\n<\/p>\n

In the wake of sinking the $100 million HMNZS Manawanui survey ship off Samoa 11 months ago<\/a>, the Navy is spending $35 million to start up a ship not used for three years.<\/p>\n

The HMNZS Otago has been parked up at Devonport Naval base since 2022 when the navy ran too short of personnel to run it.<\/p>\n

The Defence Force says getting the offshore patrol vessel going again will take till the middle of next year, followed by tests, before it can go back into service.<\/p>\n

“The reactivation involves significant engineering work to replace obsolete systems and restore operational readiness,” it told RNZ on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

That included overhauling the engines and putting in a new water ballast treatment system.<\/p>\n

The costs are being paid out of baseline funding.<\/p>\n

“New funding was not requested from the government.”<\/p>\n

It must achieve what is called “Operational Class Certification” through the Lloyd’s Register before it can sail again.<\/p>\n

The Manawanui was listed as a $77m write-off in the last Budget, on top of $32m spent on clean-up and salvage, though the wreck itself remains underwater on a reef off the Samoan island of Upolu, to the discontent of some local villagers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Its sinking was put down to a catalogue of failures by the navy, including undertraining, and not understanding how the ship operated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite the $35m injection, the Otago will not be able to take on the Manawanui’s specialist dive and hydrographic tasks.<\/p>\n

It will instead do fishery patrols, border protection work, and research and supply, and provide a “presence” in the Pacific.<\/p>\n

“This reactivation is part of our broader effort to increase fleet availability and responsiveness, while we assess long-term capability needs through the maritime fleet renewal programme,” the NZDF said.<\/p>\n

It decided early on after the sinking not to replace the Manawanui.<\/p>\n

The first four years of the fleet renewal, through to 2029, would revolve around acquiring maritime drones, not ships, to give a chance for emerging tech to trigger “transformational change for the navy”, the Defence Capability Plan released in April said.<\/p>\n

Dive and hydrographic surveys would be undertaken by “other platforms”, it said.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The HMNZS Otago has been parked at Devonport Naval base since 2022. Photo: RNZ \/ Ian Telfer In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-39808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}