A new Guardian-class patrol boat to replace the written-off Nafanua II will be handed to Samoa this month and is expected to be in Samoan waters in early 2024. 

The Government of Australia previously announced in June last year that it was offering a replacement patrol boat after the country’s Nafanua II ran aground on a reef in August 2021. 

Police Commissioner, Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said the Minister of Police, Faualo Harry Schuster and himself are scheduled to attend the handing over ceremony of the new patrol boat. 

The handing over will take place in Perth, Western Australia and is scheduled for Wednesday 22 November, if everything goes as planned, Auapaau said in an interview with the Samoa Observer. 

“The crew members are currently in Australia undergoing training,” he said. “We have another captain also at the training with the crew and will deliver the boat tentatively around January next year.” 

The pledge from the Australian government to gift a replacement vessel was announced as both countries celebrated 50 years of diplomatic ties last year.

The Nafanua II also came through Australia's Pacific Maritime Security Program, an area that Australia remains committed to ensuring support for maritime security for Samoa. 

It cost about $30 million and was commissioned in October 2021. Just over 2 years after it was handed over to Samoa, it ran aground on a reef off the coast of Salelologa and was later declared “beyond repair” and discarded in Australia. 

A Commission of Inquiry was later launched following the incident with the captain of the boat demoted as a consequence and found guilty of negligence in a separate Police tribunal hearing.