HMPNGS_Rabaul_(P01)
HMPNGS Rabaul (P01)
Papua New Guinea Defence Force vessel
HMPNGS Rabaul (01) was the first Pacific Forum patrol vessel to be commissioned, in May 1987.[1] She is not the first vessel of the class to go out of service, because her sister ship from Fiji RFNS Kiro was wrecked in 2016.[2][3] She arrived in Port Moresby, for disposal, on October 24, 2018.[4] The vessel was named HMPNGS Tarangau.[5]
Australia gave Papua New Guinea four vessels, and gave an additional eighteen vessels to neighboring countries in the Pacific Forum.[5][6] Australia gave these vessels to her smaller neighbors after the United Nations Convention of the Laws of the Sea established that maritime nations had 200-kilometre (120 mi) exclusive economic zone.[7] Australia gave these vessels so its neighbours could police their own sovereignty.