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April 2011www.sname.org/sname/mt BYDAN MCGREER VESSEL REPORT: OFFSHORE PATROL VESSELS VESSEL REPORT The Royal New Zealand Navys (RNZN) offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), Otago and Wellington , are the latest generation of cost-eec- tive, highly-capable patrol vessels designed by STX Canada/US Marine for surveil- lance and protection of the coastal waters around New Zealand and other regions in the southern hemisphere. ese ships per- mit the RNZN to venture further oshore into the Pacic Ocean and down into the southern seas, enabling them to protect New Zealands coasts more eciently, and for a longer period of time. Built by BAE Systems Australia (for- merly Tenix) at their Williamstown shipyard, near Melbourne, the vessels are part of Project Protector. In addition to the oshore patrol vessels, Project Protector included a multi-role sealift and amphib- ious support vessel, Cantebury , and four inshore patrol vessels: Rotoiti, Hawea, Wellington , like its sister ship, Otago , has a total range of more than 6,000 nautical miles.