HMNZS Aotearoa home after 8-month deployment

Currin FamilyDecember 14, 2025RNZN Ships on Deployment

HMNZS Aotearoa welcomed home after eight month deployment. Friends, family, personalised signs, haka, senior leaders and the Royal New Zealand Navy band could all be seen on the wharves at Devonport Naval Base today to welcome home HMNZS Aotearoa and her 80-strong ship’s company who have been deployed since late March. The return marks the conclusion of an exceptionally demanding operational year for the Navy’s maritime replenishment vessel. The ship spent 307 days away from home and sailed more than 31,000 nautical miles as it conducted exercises and operations from Antarctica to the Korean Peninsula and throughout the wider Indo-Pacific region. Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Garin Golding, said the mission demonstrated New Zealand’s commitment to defending the international rules-based system. “You can’t just talk about it — you have to be at sea doing it — and your friends and partners and the international community need to see you do it as well,” Rear Admiral Golding said. “And HMNZS Aotearoa and the ship’s company have certainly been out there doing exactly that.” As the fleet tanker, HMNZS Aotearoa played a critical support role throughout the year, from resupplying Scott Base and McMurdo Base to refuelling partner ships while operating alongside the navies of Australia, Canada, France, Japan, United States, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. The ship also demonstrated New Zealand’s commitment to freedom of navigation and international law by transiting the Taiwan Strait while en route to support the monitoring of United Nations Security Council sanctions enforcement against North Korea. While this generated interest from Peoples Liberation Army (Navy) ships who closely monitored HMNZS Aotearoa’s transit, for Commanding Officer, Commander Rob Welford, it was just business as usual sailing in an international sea lane. Commander Welford said the entire ship’s company could take real pride in what they had accompl

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