Kia ora welcome to HMNZS AOTEAROA the Royal New Zealand Navy's brand new fleet tanker
maritime sustainment ship. I'm Captain Simon Rooke and i have the privilege
of being the first commanding officer of the largest ship our navy has ever commissioned.
AOTEAROA was purpose-built for us in order to enhance our ability to maintain regional security
and provide a presence in the region. AOTEAROA has the ability to sustain our ships at sea, conduct
scientific research missions and support all of government programs. Be they for the environment
or for other means. She also has humanitarian relief and disaster assistance capability
inherent within her design. We'd love to show you around so please come with me
Before we go on to the ship let's have a quick look at one of her best features,
the hull. It's ice strengthened to polar class 6 which gives AOTEAROA the ability to conduct
Antarctic operations which will include the resupply of McMurdo station and Scott base.
The hull is double skinned and in places up to 10 centimetres thick and that'll give us
the ability to travel south with confidence. You'll also see the unique bow design which
incorporates a new wave piercing hull form this reduces resistance and lowers our fuel burn.
Further down the ship you'll notice these bright orange polar capable lifeboats. The ship has two
of these fitted, one on either side. The lifeboats are designed to provide evacuation and emergency
in all environments be that fuel fires upon the sea or if something bad happens while we're
down south protecting us from the elements of the freezing cold antarctic conditions.
Each life raft is capable of accommodating up to 100 personnel in the harshest of conditions and
includes reticulated ventilation and each lifeboat is self-propelled and capable of getting through
the water and getting away from the immediate dangers. They have stores on board to allow us
to survive and maintain ourselves for up to 72 hours or slightly longer if we ration the food.
Now moving on board AOTEAROA, our first stop is the ship's bridge. This is the heart and soul
of the ship and it's the only place that's permanently manned whenever we're at sea.
As you'd expect the bridge provides a commanding view all around the ship, allowing the people
that work there to maintain full situational awareness. It has state-of-the-art integrated
systems that fuse a range of information from all of our sensors enabling the bridge team to
keep us safe under all conditions and to get us where we need to be when we need to be there.
One of the primary roles of AOTEAROA is to be an underway at sea refueling tanker.
She can carry 12 000 cubic meters and that's approximately 10 000 tonnes of
marine or aviation fuel. That means that she can refuel one of our ANZAC frigates 17 times
or a Sea Sprite helicopter just under 1200 times. That's a lot of flying. These towers you can see
which we call the replenishment at sea or RAS towers allow us to refuel ours and allied vessels
at sea by day or night simply by firing a line across the water which the other ship
gets, they heave in a wire and then the fuel hoses are slid down the wire and we commence refuelling.
The underway refuelling process is controlled from this compartment, the RASCO or the Replenishment
at Sea Coordination and Control Room. In here the engineers manage the fuel pumps and determine how
quickly we pass fuel from our ship to a customer. AOTEAROA can refuel two ships at the same time,
one on either side and for helicopters we can support both on deck refuelling or if we need to,
in-flight refuelling so they don't have to land on board. One of the things that sets AOTEAROA apart
is her enormous cargo carrying capability. We can accommodate up to 22 20-foot shipping containers
which includes four dedicated dangerous goods container stations for ammunition or explosives.
She also has a 25 tonne crane fitted which makes loading and unloading its containers to the shore
or to another ship or landing craft an option for us. That removes our need for shore cranes in some
of those more remote or isolated locations. Moving below decks our first stop is the desalination
plants or as we call them reverse osmosis plants. These convert sea water into fresh water
and we can make up to a hundred thousand liters of fresh water per day so if a humanitarian disaster
was to strike in our region AOTEAROA could support the water needs of up to 5000 people a day
The next stop on our journey is the beating heart of the ship, the engine rooms.
We have two engine rooms on AOTEAROA and the ship is designed to be able to operate using propulsion
diesels or diesel electric mode. These electric motors gives us a more environmentally friendly
option whereas using the main diesel engines allows us to travel at speeds of up to 18 knots
we also have a system on board that lowers exhaust emissions that older vessels were not fitted with
and this new technology allows us to be a cleaner greener more environmentally conscious vessel.
Working our way through the ship we find ourselves in the accommodation spaces. AOTEAROA
carries a full complement of 65 sailors with the capacity to embark up to 100 people in total.
Everyone is accommodated in either four, two or single booth cabins determined usually by their
role on board. With each single two or four berths each one has its own ensuite and also includes a
desk with the workstation. AOTEAROAs sailors have the ability to add some personal touches to their
cabins to create a more homely feel. One of the most important spaces on any ship is the galley
or as it looks like if you don't work on ships a kitchen. On board we have six chefs, they not
only work in the galley but they also provide services throughout the ship including working
on the replenishment deck for refuelling, the helicopter deck when we're doing flying operations
and some of them formed part of the ship's medical emergency team as well. But when the chefs are
focused on their primary job of preparing meals they work here in the galley and can produce up to
400 meals a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and if we're working through the night a late night meal.
This enables us to continue to function 24 hours a day and support our customer ships with fuel or
flying if it's needed. AOTEAROA is designed to spend significant periods of time at sea
months if need be. When we're away this is our home. Just like your home, our home has
a recreation space for people to relax in. AOTEAROA has a number of recreation spaces
which are normally divided into rank groups. They are dedicated spaces where the team can
relax and get some well-deserved downtime. These areas include entertainment systems,
there's plenty of space to relax just hang out and socialise. Working up to 20 hour days sometimes
the crew just need the chance to kick back, put their feet up and recharge the batteries a little
Having worked our way through the ship we now find ourselves in the hangar. This is key to
the operational capability as AOTEAROA can embark either a Navy sea sprite helicopter or a Royal New
Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter. This gives the ship significant capabilities, enhances our
ability to shift people and equipment and of course in order to maintain flight operations
we may need to do maintenance on the aircraft. The hangar has adjoining workshops which allow
all sorts of activity to be conducted up to and including engine and rotor changes if required.
And finally we find ourselves on the flight deck. We have plenty of space to conduct not only flying
operations but when the helicopters aren't on deck, sport, pt, social gatherings or simply
a quiet spot to get some fresh air and relax and enjoy the view looking out over the ocean.
Well that ends our short 360 degree tour around HMNZS AOTEAROA,
the first ship in our navy to bear the country's name. Myself and the commissioning crew are
exceptionally proud of AOTEAROA and we can't wait to show her off to all New Zealanders
both here and overseas. If you get a chance please come and see us we'd love to have you on board.