The Republic of Fiji Navy or Fijian Navy is the naval branch of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces. The Fijian Navy was established after Fiji ratified the recently created 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.[1] The Convention established that maritime nations had an Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 kilometres, which extended Fiji's waters twentyfold, from 50,000 square miles (130,000 km2) to over 1,000,000 square miles (2,600,000 km2), necessitating a more substantial naval force to enforce Fijian jurisdiction and protect economic activity in the Fijian EEZ.
Republic of Fiji Navy | |
---|---|
Country | Fiji |
Part of | Republic of Fiji Military Forces |
Commanders | |
Chief officer of the Fijian Navy | Humphrey Tawake |
Insignia | |
Naval Ensign of Fiji |
Fiji was provided three Pacific Forum patrol vessels, designed and built by Australia, so its Pacific Forum neighbours could police their own sovereignty.
Captain Humphrey Tawake is the current Chief officer of the Fijian Navy.[2][3]
Fleet
- RFNS Kula (201), Pacific Forum patrol vessel, in use since May 1994
- RFNS Kikau (202), Pacific Forum patrol vessel, in use since May 1994
- RFNS Kiro (203), Pacific Forum patrol vessel, in use since October 1995
- RFNS Volasiga, oceanic survey vessel donated by South Korea, in use since 2019[4][5][6][7]
- RFNS Kacau, hydrographic survey vessel donated by China, in use since 2019,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Fiji's largest vessel with a crew complement of about 30[15]
- RFNS Savenaca (401), the first of two Guardian-class patrol vessels, to be built in Australia[1]