Melissa Ross | |
|---|---|
 Commodore Melissa Ross in September 2022 | |
| Service | Royal New Zealand Navy |
| Years of service | 1993 - current |
| Rank | Commodore |
| Commands | Deputy Chief of Navy (2019-2022) Commander Logistics (2022-current) |
Commodore Melissa Ross is a senior officer in the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Ross was born in the Hokianga area of New Zealand and grew up in Kawerau. She is a Māori woman of Ngāpuhi descent. [1] After completing school Ross moved to Christchurch and studied engineering. [2]
In 1993, Ross enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and became a marine engineer. She was aged 20 at the time. [2] Ross was among the first women to be posted to the RNZN's frigates. The ships had originally been built to be crewed by only male sailors, and arrangements for female sailors were at times unsatisfactory. [2] She served initially on board HMNZS Southland and later on HMNZS Wellington. During her period with Wellington, Ross took part in a deployment to the Persian Gulf where the ship enforced sanctions against Iraq. [3]
Later in her naval career Ross was involved with bringing the frigate HMNZS Te Mana into service and the commissioning of the multi-role vessel HMNZS Canterbury. She also helped to establish the New Zealand Defence Force Women's Development Steering Group. Ross has completed two master's degrees, including one at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy in Washington, D.C. [3]
On 6 December 2019, Ross was promoted to the rank of commodore and became the Deputy Chief of Navy. [1] She was both the first woman to hold this rank and the first female Deputy Chief of Navy in the RNZN. [1] [4] She completed this posting in late 2022 and was appointed as Commander Logistics in the RNZN, also being the first woman to hold this role. [5]
In October 2024 Ross was appointed the head of the court of inquiry responsible for investigating the sinking of the dive and hydrographic vessel HMNZS Manawanui off Samoa that month. [6] The interim report released in November 2024 found that the ship had been lost due to human errors. The court of inquiry is scheduled to conclude in the first quarter of 2025. [7]
The New Zealand Defence Force is the three-branched military of New Zealand. The NZDF is responsible for the protection of the national security of New Zealand and its realm, promoting its interests, safeguarding peace and security, as well as supporting peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. It consists of three services: the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), the New Zealand Army and the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), as well as tri-service components. As of June 2023, the NZDF has a strength of 14,996 employees, consisting of 8,669 regular force personnel, 3,260 reserve force personnel and 3,067 civilian members. It is supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence (MOD) and is commanded by the Chief of Defence Force (CDF).
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 acquisition 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 in December 1939 HMS Achilles fought alongside two other Royal Navy cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate against the German ship, Graf Spee.
HMNZS Te Kaha (F77) is one of ten Anzac-class frigates, and one of two serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). The name Te Kaha is Māori, meaning 'fighting prowess' or 'strength'.
HMNZS Te Mana (F111) is one of ten Anzac-class frigates and one of two serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). The name Te Mana is Māori, approximately translating as 'status' or 'authority'. The ship was laid down under the joint Anzac project by Tenix Defence at Williamstown, Victoria in 1996, launched in 1997, and commissioned into the RNZN in 1999.
HMNZS Wellington was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Originally commissioned in 1969 for the Royal Navy as HMS Bacchante, she joined the RNZN in 1982. She was decommissioned in 1999 and sunk in 2005.
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 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.
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 Otago (P148) is a Protector-class offshore patrol vessel in service with the Royal New Zealand Navy. The development of the OPV design based on an Irish Naval Service OPV class was very contentious, with the RNZN arguing for the need for a limited combat suite for effective training and patrol work with a 57 mm–76 mm light frigate gun and associated fire control, radar and electronic warfare systems at least compatible with current 2nd light RN OPVs. The government and Cabinet preference was to use the space and extra finance available to incorporate ice strengthening and provision of extra coastal patrol vessels. The RNZN view was that adding ice strengthening was unnecessary for Southern Ocean patrols, distinct from operations in the Ross Sea, and the extra weight and complexity would stress and shorten the life of the hulls from 25 to 15 years. She was launched in 2006 but suffered from problems during construction and was not commissioned until 2010, two years later than planned. Soon after commissioning Otago encountered problems with both her engines which delayed her arrival at her home port of Port Chalmers. She has served on several lengthy patrols of the Antarctic, though she lacks the capability to operate in heavier levels of ice-coverage which has led to the cancellation of at least one planned operation.
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 Manawanui (A09) was commissioned in 1988 as a diving support vessel for the Royal New Zealand Navy. Originally she was built as a diving support vessel, the Star Perseus, for North Sea oil rig operations.
HMNZS Kahu (A04) was a Moa-class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was launched in 1979 as the lead boat of her class, modified to function as a diving tender. She was initially named HMNZS Manawanui (A09), the second of soon to be four diving tenders with this name to serve in the New Zealand Navy. As a diving tender she participated in the exploration and salvage work of the wreck MS Mikhail Lermontov in March 1986.
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.
The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNZNVR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).
HMNZS Manawanui was a naval tug which was modified for use as a diving tender by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Originally intended for service with the United States Navy as a tug, the vessel was built in 1945 and transferred to the New Zealand Marine Department, which employed her in Waitemata Harbour before transferring the ship to the RNZN in 1948. She was converted to a diving tender in 1953 and served out her time in the RNZN in this role, before being decommissioned in 1978 and sold to the Paeroa Historic Maritime Park. The engine is now on display at the Whangarei Stationary Engine Club.
Commodore George Raymond Davis-Goff was a senior officer in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).
Operation Neptune was a programme of commemorative events and activities held in New Zealand throughout the year 2016 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1941.
HMNZS Manawanui was a dive and hydrographic vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). It had previously served as the civilian survey vessel MV Edda Fonn in the Norwegian oil and gas industry. The ship was purchased for the RNZN in 2018, and commissioned on 7 June 2019, replacing the hydrographic survey ship HMNZS Resolution and diving support vessel HMNZS Manawanui (A09).
HMS Tamar is a Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel of the Royal Navy. Named after the River Tamar in England, she is the fourth Batch 2 River-class vessel to be built and is forward deployed long-term to the Indo-Pacific region with her sister ship HMS Spey.
The Maritime Component Commander (MCC) is the officer of Commodore rank who directs all the operational forces of the Royal New Zealand Navy. The current postholder is Captain D.G. McEwan, appointed 1 March 2018. MCC directs all the ships of the Navy and several subordinate captains and commanders, most resident several hundred kilometres to the north at Devonport Naval Base in Auckland.