The Moa-class patrol boat is a class of patrol boats built between 1978 and 1985 for the Royal New Zealand Navy

Royal New Zealand Navy

The Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...

 by the Whangarei Engineering and Construction Company. They were based on an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n boat design.

Vessels of the class

Altogether there were seven vessels in the class

Name	Commissioned	Decommissioned
	17 May 1988	30 October 2009
		8 June 2000
		8 June 2000
	28 November 1983	23 January 2007
	2 September 1984	11 December 2007
	26 March 1985	11 December 2007
	4 October 1985	23 January 2007

The lead vessel, Kahu, was initially named HMNZS Manawanui from 28 May 1979 to 17 May 1988. She was modified so she would function as a diving tender. She remained in service attached to the Royal New Zealand Naval College as the basic seamanship and navigation training vessel.

The next two vessels, Tarapunga and Takapu, were modified with their superstructure accommodation increased so they could function as inshore survey vessels. These have been decommissioned.

The last four vessels functioned as inshore patrol vessels for the Naval Volunteer Reserve

Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve

The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal New Zealand Navy .-Early history:The first Naval Volunteer units were formed in Auckland and Nelson in 1858. Over the rest of the 19th century Naval Volunteer units were formed in various ports such as Bluff,...

. From 1994 these were modified to conduct mine countermeasures route surveying using side-scan sonar

Side-scan sonar

Side-scan sonar is a category of sonar system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea floor...

. This was used on several occasions for search-and-rescue or transport investigations. In 2005, three vessels were relocated to Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 to fill the training gap left by the decommissioning of . Kiwi relocated to Auckland during 2006. On relocating, the vessels had their side scan sonar removed.

With the introduction of the Project Protector

Project Protector

Project Protector was an procurement project for the Royal New Zealand Navy that occurred during the 2000s. At the start of the decade, the New Zealand government retasked the New Zealand Defence Force to be equally capable in combat, peacekeeping, and disaster relief, with the RNZN to focus on...

 ships, Moa, Kiwi, Wakakura and Hinau will be replaced by four Protector-class inshore patrol vessels during 2007 and 2008. Kahu remained in service for seamanship

Seamanship

Seamanship is the art of operating a ship or boat.It involves a knowledge of a variety of topics and development of specialised skills including: navigation and international maritime law; weather, meteorology and forecasting; watchstanding; ship-handling and small boat handling; operation of deck...

 and Officer of the Watch

Watchstanding

Watchstanding, or watchkeeping, in nautical terms concerns the division of qualified personnel to operate a ship continuously around the clock. On a typical sea going vessel, be it naval or merchant, personnel keep watch on the bridge and over the running machinery...

 training until 2009.

Despite being decommissioned, one of the class, as of 30 March 2008, remains tied up at Wellington's Queen's Wharf with all identifying features, such as the ship's badge and pennant number

Pennant number

In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...

, painted out or removed.