The Dunedin public will be able to inspect one of the Government's newest purchases when the Royal New Zealand Navy's in-shore patrol vessel, HMNZS Hawea, visits Dunedin this week.
Hawea will arrive tomorrow and stay until Monday. She will be berthed at the Birch St wharf and will be open to the public between 10am and 3pm on Saturday.
The ship spent last week at its home port of Westport.
While in Dunedin, Hawea will host local groups for special tours, including sea cadets from TS Waireka and TS Nimrod, the Dunedin Fire Service, naval volunteer reserves, navy veterans, NZ Customs and Ministry of Fisheries staff, people from CCS Disabilities Action, the Otago University School of Surveying and groups from Dunedin Hospital.
The 55m-long Hawea has a range of 5500km. It has a core ship's company of 20, four government agency personnel and room for 14 additional personnel for general naval training or other duties.
From this month, the four ships will be regular features on the New Zealand coast, where they will work closely with Customs, Ministry of Fisheries, Doc, Police, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Defence Force and Maritime New Zealand on responding to maritime security incidents, surveillance, response and boarding operations, and search and rescue.
