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.
HMS Loch Dunvegan was a Loch-class frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after Loch Dunvegan in Scotland. Launched in 1944, the ship saw service in the Second World War, and in the Mediterranean Fleet in the early 1950s, before being broken up in 1960.
HMS Loch Fada was the lead ship of the Loch-class frigates of the British Royal Navy, built by John Brown & Company of Clydebank, Scotland, and named after Loch Fada in the Inner Hebrides.
HMS Loch Insh was a Loch-class frigate of the Royal Navy, named after Loch Insh in Scotland. She was built by Henry Robb of Leith and launched on 10 May 1944. After service at the end of World War II she was decommissioned, but reactivated in 1950 and served, mostly in the Persian Gulf, until 1962. The ship was sold to the Royal Malaysian Navy in 1963 and renamed KD Hang Tuah (F433). She was scrapped in 1977.
HMS Morecambe Bay was a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after Morecambe Bay on the north western coast of England. In commission from 1949 until 1956, she saw active service in the Korean War, and was sold to Portugal in 1961 to serve as NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida until 1970.
HMCS Algonquin was a V-class destroyer, laid down for the Royal Navy as HMS Valentine (R17) and transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on completion during the Second World War. She saw service in the Second World War escorting the aircraft carriers that bombed the Tirpitz in March 1944 and providing naval gunfire support to the Normandy landings. The destroyer was to participate in the Pacific Campaign but the war ended before her arrival in that theatre. Algonquin was converted in 1953 to a frigate and spent the majority of her remaining career in the Atlantic, being paid off in 1970.
The Loch class was a class of anti-submarine (A/S) frigate built for the Royal Navy and her Allies during World War II. They were an innovative design based on the experience of three years of fighting in the Battle of the Atlantic and attendant technological advances. Some shipyards had trouble building these larger ships, which led to widespread use of the Castle-class corvette, introduced around the same time.
The history of the Royal New Zealand Navy leads back to early New Zealand-based gunboats used in controlling the British interests in the new colony, as well as to the strong linkages to the British Navy itself.
HMS Cardigan Bay was a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after Cardigan Bay, off the coast of Ceredigion, Wales.
HMS St Brides Bay was a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named for St Brides Bay in Pembrokeshire. In commission from 1945 to 1961, she served in the Mediterranean and Eastern Fleets, seeing active service in the Korean War.
HMS Veryan Bay was a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named after Veryan Bay on the south coast of Cornwall. In commission from 1945 until 1957, she saw service in the Pacific, Mediterranean, and Home Fleets, in the West Indies and in the South Atlantic.
HMS Whitesand Bay was a Bay-class anti-aircraft frigate of the British Royal Navy, named for Whitesand Bay in Cornwall. In commission from 1945 to 1954, she served in the Pacific, Mediterranean, West Indies and Far East Fleets, seeing active service in the Korean War.
HMS Loch Fyne was a Loch-class frigate of the British Royal Navy, built by the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company Ltd, Burntisland, Fife, Scotland, and named after Loch Fyne in Scotland. The ship was launched in 1944, and served at the end of World War II. Recommissioned in 1951, she served in the Persian Gulf and was scrapped in 1970.
HMNZS Rotoiti (F625) was a Loch-class frigate of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), which had formerly served in the British Royal Navy as HMS Loch Katrine at the end of World War II.
HMNZS Taupo, originally HMS Loch Shin, was a Loch-class frigate which served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and then in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) from 1948 to 1961. She was scrapped in 1962.
HMNZS Hawea (F422), formerly HMS Loch Eck (K422), was one of six Loch-class frigates that served in both the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). The ship was laid down by Smiths Dock on 25 October 1943, launched on 25 April 1944 and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Loch Eck on 7 November 1944.
HMS Loch Morlich was a Loch-class frigate that never saw service with the Royal Navy. Ordered during World War II, she saw service instead with the Royal Canadian Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named for Loch Morlich in Scotland. After the war she was returned to the Royal Navy and she was sold to the Royal New Zealand Navy and renamed Tutira.
HMS Loch Achray was a Loch-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built by Smith's Dock Co. Ltd. in South Bank-on-Tees and launched on 7 July 1944. After service in World War II, she was sold to the Royal New Zealand Navy and renamed HMNZS Kaniere (F426) in September 1948. After service in the Korean War, she was used as a training ship from 1957. She was sold in 1966 for breaking up in Hong Kong.
HMS Loch Katrine was a Loch-class frigate of the British Royal Navy, built by Henry Robb at Leith, Scotland, and named after Loch Katrine in Scotland. The ship was laid down on 31 December 1943, launched on 21 August 1944, and completed and commissioned in December 1944. The ship served in World War II as a convoy escort in the Atlantic, and afterwards in the Indian Ocean. Decommissioned in May 1946, the ship was sold to New Zealand in 1948, and renamed HMNZS Rotoiti (F625). The ship saw active service during the Korean War, and was finally sold for scrap in 1965.
The second HMS Essington (K353), and the first ship of the name to see service, was a British Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy in commission during World War II. Originally constructed as a United States Navy Buckley-class destroyer escort, she served in the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1945.
United Kingdom
