HMNZS Manawanui runs aground and sinks in Samoa

6 October 2024 - The Royal New Zealand Navy's Specialist Dive and Hydrographic Survey ship HMNZS Manawanui A09 has sunk off the Upolu inland in Samoa. 

image: NZDF

According to the Royal New Zealand Navy's media centre, HMNZS Manawanui [displacing 5,741 tonnes full load] was conducting a reef survey on the 5th of October near the southern coast of Upolu, Samoa, when the ship grounded at 6.45pm in heavy seas. The vessel tried to extract itself but continued to list until the command to Abandon Ship was issued at 7.52pm. HMNZS Manawanui later caught fire early the next morning, capsizing and sinking at 9am on the 6th of October 2024.

All 75 people onboard, including crew, passengers and civilians, were evacuated via lifeboats and inflatable rafts, one of which was flipped due to the heavy swells. Two crew members sustained injuries that required hospitalisation. 

HMNZS Manawanui was a multirole support ship that was purchased for US$103 million by New Zealand in 2018 from Østensjø, where the vessel served as the MV Edda Fonn (launched in 2003) survey vessel in the North Sea offshore energy industry. After refit and conversion into a diving support vessel by Orskov Yard, HMNZ Manawanui was commissioned into the RNZN in 2019, where it provided a range of missions, from diver support, coastal and harbour survey, underwater explosive ordnance disposal, to underwater search and recovery. 

In its brief five years of service, HMNZ Manawanui participated in a range of activities, from RIMPAC 2020 to disaster relief and WW2 UBX clearance in the South Pacific.

While the hull loss of a US$100 million converted commercial ship (without crew casualties) may seem a small matter to some navies, for the resource-limited Royal New Zealand Navy, this is a major issue, as crew shortage (due to a recruitment and retention crises) has seen three RNZN ships docked, leaving New Zealand with five active naval vessels.

Currently, the New Zealand Navy has crews that operate two ANZAC-class frigates (though HMNZS Te Mana is currently undergoing a communication upgrade in an extended maintenance period), an inshore patrol vessel, a single fleet replenishment ship, and one multirole vessel. Two corvette-sized offshore patrol vessels and a second inshore patrol boat are laid up at Davenport Naval Base. 

According to a Defense News article in Jan 2023, the RNZN had 2,117 people, with a 16.5% retention rate at the time. This matter further compounds New Zealand's responsibilities to its South Pacific neighbours as well as enforcement activities in the Southern Ocean. The New Zealand government will be cutting its defence budget by 6.6% to US$3.03 billion in 2025, despite publicly speaking of joining AUKUS as a Pillar II partner and cooperating with Australia under the ANZUS treaty.

Update 8 October 2024:

HMS Tamar, which has been stationed in the Pacific for the last two years, is now in the area providing wreck security while HMNZS Canterbury prepares to depart NZ with salvage equipment. The wreck lies in 30m of water and an initial diver survey has been conducted.

King Charles III will soon arrive in Samoa for a state visit and to attend CHOGM on the 21-26 October, so we can expect RAN naval units in the vicinity to provide security for dignitaries from 56 Commonwealth countries.