RFNS ''Savenaca'' (401) is a , built in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

. She replaced , a Pacific Forum patrol vessel provided by Australia in 1994. She will be the seventh vessel of the class to be completed, and the second of two to be delivered to Fiji. She was commissioned in April 2020.

Design

Australia provided 22 Pacific Forum patrol vessels to its smaller neighbours in the Pacific Forum after the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 169 sov ...

provided maritime nations with

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

. Those vessels were delivered in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and were designed for a service life of approximately 30 years. Australia designed the Guardian class as a slightly larger and more capable replacement. Like the Pacific Forum vessels the Guardian-class vessels are built using

commercial off the shelf Commercial-off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...

components, to make it easier for the vessels to be maintained in small, isolated shipyards.

Operational career

''Savenaca'' was turned over to the Royal Fiji Naval Service, at Austal's Henderson factory, on March 6, 2020. Attending the handover ceremony were Voreqe Bainimarama,

Prime Minister of Fiji The prime minister of Fiji is the head of government of the Republic of Fiji. The prime minister is appointed under the terms of the 2013 Constitution. The prime minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses ministers. Des ...

Inia Seruiratu Inia Batikoto Seruiratu is a Fijian politician and member of the Parliament of Fiji for the FijiFirst party. He has been serving as the Opposition Leader since 29 March 2023. He served as the Minister for Rural, Maritime Development and Disaster ...

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

, Melissa Price,

Minister for Defence Industry In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Defence Industry is currently the Hon Pat Conroy MP since 1 June 2022, following the Australian federal election in 2022. The Minister for Defence Industry, or previously the Minister of Suppl ...

, and

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Viliame Naupoto Rear Admiral Viliame Naupoto is a Fijian politician and former Fijian soldier. He is the current Minister for Immigration. He was a former Cabinet of Fiji, Cabinet Minister under the FijiFirst government. After serving as Commander of the Republi ...

and

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Humphrey Tawake, of the Fiji Navy. ''Savenaca'' arrived in Walu Bay on April 28, 2020, where she was greeted by Minister of Defence

. In May, 2020, ''Savenaca'' was dispatched with humanitarian aid to areas stricken by the Covid 19 virus. Australia had helped by flying in supplies, including a large portable generator.

Namesake

The vessel is named after Savenaca Naulumatua, a Fiji sailor who died serving aboard , during the

Battle of Kolombangara The Battle of Kolombangara (Japanese: コロンバンガラ島沖海戦) (also known as the Second Battle of Kula Gulf) was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the night of 12/13 July 1943, off the northeastern coas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savenaca Guardian class patrol vessels 2020 ships Ships of the Fijian Navy