Pacific-class patrol boat

The Pacific class (also known as the Pacific Forum class and the ASI 315 class) is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. They were constructed between 1985 and 1997 and are operated by militaries, coast guards or police forces of twelve island nations. These boats are supported by the Pacific Patrol Boat Program and used primarily for maritime surveillance and fisheries protection. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea took effect in 1982. It introduced a exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to the territories of all nations with an ocean coastline. Several Southwest Pacific island nations found themselves responsible for policing an area of ocean that was beyond their maritime capability, and often significantly larger than their land territories (at its most extreme, the EEZ of Tuvalu dwarfs its landmass by a ratio of almost 1:28,000). Following requests by several Pacific nations for assistance from the governments of Australia and New Zealand, the Australian government created a Defence Cooperation Project named the Pacific Patrol Boat Program to design and provide suitable patrol boats to nearby island nations. The program also provided training and infrastructure to support these ships. The Program was officially announced by Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke during the South Pacific Forum meeting held in Canberra on 29 and 30 August 1983. Requests for tenders were issued in August 1984. Australian Shipbuilding Industries (ASI) designed a small vessel capable of maritime surveillance and interdiction, search and rescue operations, and fisheries protection. A smaller prototype was constructed by ASI in 1984. The prototype was later sold to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force and named Savo. The contract for the Pacific class was awarded to ASI on 9 May 1985 and construction began in September 1985. It was initially planned that ten ships would be produced for eight countries, with the first ship, HMPNGS Tarangau delivered to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force on 16 May 1987.