HMNZS ''Moa'' (P3553) was a ''Moa''-class inshore patrol vessel of the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent acquisition of the cruiser , whi ...

. It was commissioned in 1983 for the Naval Volunteer Reserve and decommissioned in 2007. ''Moa'' was the

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

ship of this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy and was named after the Moa bird from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. After she was decommissioned in January 2007, she was sold on in March to a Picton builder who renamed the vessel ''Flightless''. On Friday 20 June 2008 the vessel, moored at anchor on the eastern side of Waikawa Bay, Picton, was struck by a commercial fishing boat, with the loss of two lives aboard the fishing boat.Paul Mulrooney, Two die in boat crash, ''Dominion Post'', front page, 21–22 June 2008. After an extensive refit ''Flightless'' is now owned by Pure Salt Ltd and operates as an expedition vessel, providing adventure charters in Fiordland & Stewart Island.

References

Moa-class patrol boats Picton, New Zealand 1983 ships {{Mil-ship-stub

See also

References