An Australian navy ship was blamed for causing an Internet outage across parts of Taranaki, New Zealand.

The incident occurred earlier this week during the early hours of Wednesday morning (June 4), impacting ISPs in the area.

The navy ship was identified as the HMAS Canberra, Australia’s largest naval vessel.

As the ship made its way up the coast to Wellington on Thursday, its navigation radar interfered with WiFi in Taranaki and across to the Marlborough region.

“On becoming aware, HMAS Canberra changed frequencies, rectifying the interference. There are no ongoing disruptions,” said a spokesperson for the Australian Defence Force.

The New Zealand defense force said the incident has been resolved.

The incident impacted a number of Internet providers in the area, including Taranaki network provider Primo.

Documenting the issue on LinkedIn, Matthew Harrison, founder, owner, and managing director, Primo, said the navy ship's radar took out many 5 GHz wireless networks across parts of New Zealand.

"From around 2am, we started seeing our 5 GHz APs drop off the Primo network - DFS hits firing off all down the coastal area of Taranaki as the ship’s radar swept the area," he said.

"This wasn’t just a blip. It was full-scale, military-grade radar triggering built-in safety protocols designed to protect airspace… and it rolled across our network in sync with the ship’s movement. We’ve never seen anything like it here before."

Harrison added that other companies in the area, including Inspire Net Ltd and TPNet NZ, were also impacted.

The incident also affected BrianFM, a radio station based in the South Island town of Blenheim, which had to switch to a backup system in order to continue its broadcast.