By MICHAEL FIELD - Stuff
New Zealand's newest navy ship has finally docked in Auckland, two years after it was finished in Australia.
HMNZS Otago is the first of two new Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs).
Otago and her sister ship Wellington, will deliver substantial new capability to the Defence Force, a Defence Force statement says.
The ships can go further offshore, stay at sea longer, and conduct more challenging operations than New Zealand's other patrol vessels.
The OPV's have strengthened hulls which enable them to enter southern waters where ice may be encountered.
They are not designed as ice-breakers or to enter Antarctic ice-packs, but have the range and capability to undertake patrols in the southern ocean where ice may be encountered.
The ships are highly automated and operate with a core crew of 35, plus 10 flight crew to operate a helicopter.
The ships power and control systems are fully computerised.
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