HMNZS Manawanui (2019)
HMNZS Manawanui during RIMPAC 2020 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Norway | |
| Name | Edda Fonn |
| Builder | Myklebust Verft AS |
| Launched | 2003 |
| Acquired | May 2003 |
| Fate | Sold to Royal New Zealand Navy in August 2018 |
| New Zealand | |
| Name | HMNZS Manawanui |
| Namesake | Māori: "to be brave or steadfast" |
| Cost | NZ$147 million 2018 |
| Sponsored by | Jacinda Ardern |
| Christened | 7 June 2019 |
| Commissioned | 7 June 2019 |
| Homeport | Gisborne |
| Identification | |
| Fate | Sank on 6 October 2024, Upolu, Samoa |
| General characteristics | |
| Type |
|
| Displacement | 5,741 tonnes full load |
| Length | 84.7 m (277 ft 11 in) |
| Beam | 18.0 m (59 ft 1 in) |
| Draught | 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 13 knots (24 km/h) |
| Range | 7,000 nmi (13,000 km) |
| Capacity |
|
| Complement | 39 core crew |
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HMNZS Manawanui was a dive and hydrographic vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). It had previously served as the civilian survey vessel MV Edda Fonn in the Norwegian oil and gas industry. The ship was purchased for the RNZN in 2018, and commissioned on 7 June 2019, replacing the hydrographic survey ship HMNZS Resolution and diving support vessel HMNZS Manawanui (A09).
Manawanui entered operational service in early 2020 and undertook multiple deployments in the Pacific over subsequent years, participating in RIMPAC 2020 and supporting operations in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023. Manawanui sank on 6 October 2024 after running aground while surveying a reef off the coast of Samoa. All 75 people on board Manawanui were rescued.
In late November 2024, the first report from the naval inquiry into the Manawanui's sinking attributed the sinking to human error. In early April 2025, the naval inquiry's final report concluded that the sinking was the result of human error. The RNZN also confirmed that it would commence a "disciplinary investigation."