[13] The New Zealand Navy uses an 85-metre (279 ft) version of the Vard Marine Inc. OPV design, referred to as the Protector-class offshore patrol vessel.

This is a modified version of the older Irish Naval Service Róisín-class PV80 vessels - with helideck and hangar incorporated.

The expanded deck area would also allow the Naval Service to potentially deploy unmanned aerial vehicles for the first time.

[16] On 19 May 2012, Irish Naval Service Flag Office Commodore Mark Mellett (subsequently Rear Admiral, DCOS Sp) attended the traditional keel-laying ceremony for the first of the 90 meter OPVs.

While modular construction methods don't strictly involve keel-laying, the term is still considered an important milestone, as it signals the first stage of connecting each of the components together.

[28] The first two ships were named for Samuel Beckett and James Joyce, as disclosed in July 2013 by the then Minister for Defence Alan Shatter in Dáil Éireann.

In July 2015, the then Minister for Defence Simon Coveney declared that the third vessel would be named after William Butler Yeats.