All aboard! Port of Tauranga welcomes Navy ship for public viewing

The Royal New Zealand Navy's diving support and hydrographic vessel will open for viewing between 1pm and 4pm on Friday. Photo / Supplied

Future sailors and marine lovers will be in paradise as the HMNZS Manawanui opens its doors to the public on Friday.

The Royal New Zealand Navy's diving support and hydrographic vessel will open for viewing between 1pm and 4pm on Friday at the Port of Tauranga.

She arrives in Port at 10am on Friday and will stay for two nights.

Measuring at 84.7m long and built in 2003, the navy ship was the fourth to bear the Manawanui name.

It has a core crew of 39 people and slept 66.

The ship was built to conduct a range of specialist diving, salvage and hydrography tasks.

People can come down to the Salisbury Ave gate and find the majestic ship at number 1 berth.

Sailors on board will also be available for a chat.

Guests were asked to wear closed-toe footwear on board and bring their own drinking water, as the ship only has emergency supplies.

The boat would conduct specialised operations such as surveying of lakes, coastlines and harbours, underwater explosive disposal, mine countermeasures and underwater search and salvage.

Possible missions for the ship included surveying harbours after a natural disaster and providing support to the ongoing mission to eradicate explosive remnants of war in the South Pacific and salvage operations to find and recover submerged objects.

There would be the Covid-19, Ministry of Health QR code scan check-in for contact tracing on entry at the Salisbury gate, and also a manual log to track those without.