HMNZS Wakakura in Devonport | |
History | |
---|---|
New Zealand | |
Namesake | HMNZS Wakakura (T00) |
Owner | Jason and Clayton Knowles |
Builder | Whangarei Engineering and Construction Company |
Commissioned | 26 March 1985 |
Decommissioned | 11 December 2007 |
Homeport | Auckland |
Fate | Decommissioned |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Moa-class inshore patrol vessel |
Displacement | 91.5 ton standard; 105 ton full load |
Length | 27 m (89 ft) |
Beam | 6.1 m (20 ft) |
Draught | 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) |
Propulsion | Two Cummins diesels (710 hp) Twin shafts |
Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Range | 3,000 nmi (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) |
Complement | 18: 5 Officers: 3 Senior Rates: 10 Ratings |
Sensors and processing systems | Navigation Radar Racal Decca 916 I Band |
Armament | 1 × 12.7mm MG |
HMNZS Wakakura (P3555) was a Moa-class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy. It was commissioned in March 1985 for the Naval Volunteer Reserve.
Wakakura was attached to the Wellington division of the Naval Volunteer Reserve from her commissioning until 2005, when she returned to the fleet base in Auckland.
Wakakura, in company with Kiwi, carried out farewell manoeuvres on 29 November 2007, flying a paying-off pennant, in Waitemata Harbour prior to decommissioning on 11 December 2007. [1]
Wakakura was the second ship of this name to serve in the New Zealand Navy. The first ship was the training minesweeper HMNZS Wakakura (T00) (1926–1947). Wakakura is a Māori word which could mean "precious canoe" or could mean "training boat".
After decommissioning the Wakakura was put up for sale by tender. [2] The vessel was acquired by the owner of Helipro, Rick Lucas, under the Lucas Family Trust. With the receivership of Helipro in 2014, the vessel was sold in February 2015 to Jason and Clayton Knowles and moved from Queens Wharf Wellington to the Marlborough Sounds. [3] As of 2020 HMNZS Wakakura (P3555) remains tied to a jetty in Kaipapa Bay in the Marlborough Sounds at 41°13'36.5"S 174°04'37.2"E. In July, 2022, the ship was purchased by Maria Kuster and Sean Liam Ellis who own and operate Pure Salt; a charter company who operate the sister ship "Flightless". M.V. Flightless is based in the coastal waters of Fiordland and Stewart Island. It is understood Wakakura will operate as a charter vessel for Pure Salt.
The Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent purchase of the cruiser HMS Philomel, which by 1921 had been moored in Auckland as a training ship. A slow buildup occurred during the interwar period, and then perhaps the infant Navy's most notable event occurred when HMS Achilles fought alongside two other Royal Navy cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate against the German ship, Graf Spee, in December 1939.
HMNZS Resolution (A14) was a hydrographic ship of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Originally the United States Naval Ship USNS Tenacious (T-AGOS-17), the Stalwart-class ocean surveillance ship was used by the United States to locate and track Soviet submarines from 1989 to 1997, when she was transferred to the RNZN for use as a hydrographic survey ship. She served until 27 April 2012. She was subsequently sold to EGS Group, a private surveying company, and renamed RV Geo Resolution.
The Moa-class patrol boat was a class of patrol boats built between 1978 and 1985 for the Royal New Zealand Navy by the Whangarei Engineering and Construction Company. They were based on an Australian boat design.
The Protector-class offshore patrol vessel is a ship class of two offshore patrol vessel (OPVs) operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) since 2010. The ships are named HMNZS Otago and HMNZS Wellington.
HMNZS Wellington (P55) is a Protector-class offshore patrol vessel in the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Two ships of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) have been named HMNZS Wakakura:
The Lake-class inshore patrol vessel is a ship class of inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and planned for the Irish Naval Service which replaced the RNZN's Moa-class patrol boats in 2007–2008. All four vessels are named after New Zealand lakes.
HMNZS Waikato (F55) was a Leander Batch 2TA frigate of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). She was one of two Leanders built for the RNZN, the other being the Batch 3 HMNZS Canterbury. These two New Zealand ships relieved British ships of the Armilla patrol during the Falklands conflict, freeing British ships for deployment.
HMNZS Kiwi (P3554) was a Moa-class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy. It was commissioned in 1983 for the Naval Volunteer Reserve. Kiwi had been attached to the Christchurch division of the Naval Volunteer Reserve from her commissioning until relocating to Auckland in 2006.
HMNZS Rotoiti was a Lake-class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy. These boats perform border and fishery protection patrols.
HMNZS Moa (P3553) was a Moa-class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy. It was commissioned in 1983 for the Naval Volunteer Reserve and decommissioned in 2007.
HMNZS Hinau (P3556) was a Moa-class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy. It was commissioned in 1985 for the Naval Volunteer Reserve and decommissioned in 2007. Hinau is the second ship with this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy. The name comes from the forest tree Elaeocarpus dentatus which is native to New Zealand.
HMNZS Taupo was a Lake-class patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Taupo was commissioned in 1975 and decommissioned in 1991, serving for 16 years.
HMNZS Canterbury (F421) was one of two broad beam Leander-class frigates operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) from 1971 to 2005. She was built in Scotland and launched in 1970. Commissioned in 1971, Canterbury saw operational service in much of Australasia and other regions like the Persian Gulf. She undertook operations such as supporting UN sanctions against Iraq and peace-keeping in East Timor. With her sister ship HMNZS Waikato she relieved the Royal Navy frigate HMS Amazon in the Indian Ocean during the Falklands War. Early in HMNZS Canterbury's career, in 1973, she relieved the frigate HMNZS Otago, as part of a unique, Anzac, naval operation or exercise at Moruroa during anti-nuclear protests, supported by a large RAN tanker, providing fuel and a large platform for Australian media. This was due to F 421 being a more modern RNZN frigate, with then current Rn surveillance radar and ESM and a more effectively insulated frigate from nuclear fallout, with the Improved Broad Beam Leander steam plant, for example, being remote controlled and capable of unmanned operation and therefore the ship provided a more effective sealed citadel for operations in areas of nuclear explosions.
Commissioned minesweepers and danlayers of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) from its formation on 1 October 1941 to the present. The RNZN was created two years into World War II. For coherence this article covers the war years from the start, and thus includes also the New Zealand minesweepers operating from the beginning of the war.
HMS Philomel, later HMNZS Philomel, was a Pearl-class cruiser. She was the fifth ship of that name and served with the Royal Navy. After her commissioning in 1890, she served on the Cape of Good Hope Station and later with the Mediterranean Fleet.
HMNZS Philomel is the main administrative base of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Originally a training base on board the cruiser from which it takes its name, it is part of the Devonport Naval Base on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand.
The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNZNVR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).
Commander Gordon Bridson, was a New Zealand swimmer who won two silver medals at the 1930 British Empire Games. He was also in the New Zealand Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and in the Second World War, he served in the Royal New Zealand Navy. Seconded to the Royal Navy in 1940, he commanded a minesweeper vessel that accompanied coastal convoys along the English Channel. He was later the commander of the minesweeper HMNZS Kiwi which, with her sister ship Moa, sunk the Japanese submarine I-1 off Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
HMNZS Mako is a former Harbour Defence Motor Launch (HDML) of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Commissioned in March 1943, the ship saw service in home waters during World War II. She was built by Madden and Lewis Company in Sausalito, California.