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HMNZS Fairmile Q406 Later renamed RODNEY FARRY, NEW VENTURE and MOTONUI.

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HMNZS Fairmile Q406
HMNZS Fairmile Q406 at sea off Russell Island, Solomon’s 1944.
Fairmile Q406 awaiting disposal. Q406 was later renamed RODNEY FARRY, NEW VENTURE and MOTONUI. There are two groups of six men standing on the wharf, with one man in each group in naval uniform. A larger ship is partly visible moored around the corner. There are city buildings in the left background. Written in the lower right corner is “3442” in black pen. On the reverse is attached a typed museum caption. Below are two handwritten captions, one written by museum staff member Monica Tregurtha, the other by Jack Churchouse. Wellington, 9 Dec 1947
Q 406 as the RODNEY FARRY
This is the Waiheke ferry Motunui, 6 November 1956, in a NZ Herald image (1370-122-8, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries). One with a strange fate …
The vessel started out as ML406, a Fairmile B boat in service to the RNZN duiring WWII. “One of twelve identical boats built in Auckland (numbered ML 400-411), she had just been completed by Associated Boatbuilders using the world’s finest boatbuilding wood – native New Zealand kauri. Fitted with a pair of V12 Hall-Scott Defender petrol engines, the narrow 112 foot boat could achieve 20 knots (37km/h) flat out, and was fitted with guns fore and aft, twelve depth charges and an ASDIC sonar device. Crews consisted of sixteen sailors. The image of these craft patrolling in formation, v12’s at full stink, peaked caps visible on the exposed bridge, all weapons manned and Rangitoto Island in the background, is still a stirring one.”
ML406 was commissioned in 1943, and was outfitted in early 1944 for transfer to Pacific Island operations. Back in Auckland after the war, and with V12 engine removed, ML406 was auctioned off by the War Assets Realisation Board, and sold to Rodney Farry (and named after him) in October 1946, then renamed New Venture in 1949.
Motunui was her name from 1950, owned first by Waiheke Shipping Co, then North Shore Ferries, until 1984. There was a succession of owners, until the latest owner, one Barry Woods of Woodlyn Park down at Waitomo. There, with a 1950s Bristol Freighter, she serves as motel units, forever land bound.
Motunui ex ML406 that I referred to in post#38.This is how she looked as a Waiheke Island, (Auckland)ferry in 1960’s.She was later (1980’s)fitted with original Fairmile wheelhouse from Kahu
Q406 Motonui
MV Ngaroma (402)(foreground) & MV Motonui Q406(left background), Auckland 1980’s.
The World War II patrol boat was originally a Fairmile Ship built in 1942. It’s now the latest motel attraction. This boat is part of New Zealand’s history as 12 were built for anti-submarine patrol in the Islands during WWII and only a couple survived including this one: The Motunui, now renamed as The Waitanic.

Last Port of Call – The Strange Fate of Fairmile 406

November 3, 2014 / By SproutOnline Admin Travel & Tourism

July 5th, 2006, Tauranga Harbour, New Zealand. The long slender hull of a World War II submarine chaser is hoisted by a pair of cranes and hangs, blackened by mildew and marine growth, raining putrid bilge water onto the dockside. Hours later, settled upon a monstrous steerable trailer, she was ready to begin the 150km (94 mile) two day journey inland to her final destination in Waitomo for conversion to a novelty motel unit. So ended the seagoing career of ML406, naval patrol boat and long-time Auckland ferry.

Design and Construction

At the outbreak of the second world war, the Royal New Zealand Navy relied entirely on requisitioned private motor boats for coastal patrol, harbour defence and minesweeping activities. However, these were mostly small, slow, inadequately armed, and of very limited threat to the enemy. To defend our ports from the perceived threat of Japanese submarine attacks it was considered vital that fast, purpose-built craft be commissioned, and after much consideration the British Fairmile B design was chosen. Among its advantages was its kitset construction, whereby frames and bulkheads could be prefabricated by furniture makers, or any other commercial woodworking firms, and shipped anywhere in the world to be completed by local boatbuilders. Once the frames were erected on the slipways, planking would be done using local timbers. This enabled the boats to be constructed quickly and easily, requiring fewer skilled labourers, as these were in short supply.

Fairmile B boats a different stages of construction.
Fairmile B boats a different stages of construction.

July 1943, Waitemata Harbour, Auckland. Sea trials completed, ML406 is commissioned into service in the RNZN. One of twelve identical boats built in Auckland (numbered ML 400-411), she had just been completed by Associated Boatbuilders using the world’s finest boatbuilding wood – native New Zealand kauri. Fitted with a pair of V12 Hall-Scott Defender petrol engines, the narrow 112 foot boat could achieve 20 knots (37km/h) flat out, and was fitted with guns fore and aft, twelve depth charges and an ASDIC sonar device. Crews consisted of sixteen sailors. The image of these craft patrolling in formation, v12’s at full stink, peaked caps visible on the exposed bridge, all weapons manned and Rangitoto Island in the background, is still a stirring one.

Q401 Sea Trials
Sister ship ML401 undergoing sea trials on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour, March 1943.

Naval Service

fairmile pacific voyage
Voyage of ML406 from New Zealand to the Russell Islands, 1944. Click to enlarge.

Once all twelve boats were launched and commissioned the fleet was divided into two flotillas, 80th and 81st, with the 81st flotilla initially sent south to Wellington to protect the Cook Strait and port approaches. Being part of the 80th flotilla, ML406 remained Auckland-based, patrolling coastline as far north as Whangerei. Unfortunately, due to bureaucratic delays and material shortages, by the time the Fairmile building program was completed the likelihood of submarine attacks seemed to have passed. This realisation led to Admiral Halsey, US commander of the South Pacific Allied Forces, ordering both flotillas to make passage to Renard Sound in the Solomon Islands, where they would serve under the command of the US Navy, performing anti-submarine patrols and relieving American destroyers and patrol craft for other duties.

In early 1944 all ships and crew were urgently outfitted for service in tropical climates, and ML406 was in the first batch of boats to leave New Zealand. On February 7th, 1944, she and four other Fairmiles departed Auckland on what was to prove a punishing journey, with a final farewell and refuel at Whangaroa Harbour, then on to Norfolk Island, Noumea, and Espiritu Santo, before finally reaching Renard Sound in the Russell Islands on March 9th.

Patrols went without enemy contact for the sixteen months the boats were stationed in the Solomons, however the crews were kept busy with the great deal of maintenance required of these light, fast vessels. Minor accidents such as stranding on reefs were recorded by some Fairmiles, and there was always the extreme danger of petrol explosions, but all the NZ boats lived out the war relatively unharmed. Returning to Auckland in July 1945, the fleet of “little ships” was decommissioned and mothballed on moorings at Greenhithe (then called Pine Island) in the upper reaches of the Waitemata Harbour. All eventually had their V12 engines removed, and all but one (ML411) were sold off in 1946-47 by the War Assets Realisation Board.

Motunui

Offered up for tender in October 1946, ML 406 was purchased by Dunedin car dealer, auctioneer, and entrepreneur Rodney Farry, who fitted twin Graymarine 6-71 diesels and converted her into a passenger vessel. Modestly christening her Rodney Farry, she operated chartered cruises around Otago Harbour until she ran aground on a sandbar, causing Rodney Farry the first to lose interest in the concept.

Re-named New Venture in 1949, she was steamed back up to Auckland in a near tragic voyage. Свою популярность онлайн казино в России начали получать в начале нулевых. В Европе и США виртуальные игорные заведения были распространены достаточно широко. Россия еще не имела качественного покрытия интернета, поэтому многие игроки не могли играть в online casino на реальные деньги. Однако после улучшения ситуации с интернетом, все больше игроков начали переходить в виртуальный мир. Чтобы пользователи могли выбрать безопасное и надежное казино, был разработан специальный рейтинг онлайн казино России. Он предоставляет объективную и достоверную информацию по каждому казино. Under the command of a temporary crew, she struck a violent storm off the Castlecliff Coast, near Whanganui. Rather than heading out to sea, the terrified and inexperienced sailors chose to hug the coastline, with very nearly fatal consequences for both men and ship.

Motunui, 50s
Motonui, 1950’s.

Re-named yet again in 1950, this time as Motunui, she was acquired by the Waiheke Shipping Co. and set to work as a passenger ferry from Waiheke Island to downtown Auckland ferry terminal, plus fishing excursions around the Hauraki Gulf. In February 1965 Waiheke Shipping, with assets including the ferries Motunui and Baroona, was bought by North Shore Ferries Ltd., and following a refit the Motunui continued its daily trudge from Auckland to Waiheke Island, blending in with the other workhorses on the Waitemata. Thirty-something years of service as an Auckland ferry finally ended when North Shore Ferries sold her into private ownership in 1984.

As with many boats of this size and age, the succession of owners over the next twenty years found they had bitten off more than they could chew. By 1997 plans to have her brought to survey standards in time to be used as a sight-seeing boat for the America’s Cup were abandoned when the relationship between the joint owners (and several suppliers) soured. Although much work was done – including fitting an original wheelhouse salvaged from ML411 – major issues were avoided, as the rates for hauling or slipping a 34 metre ex-warship pile up quickly. The twin diesel engines really needed overhauling. Pitted prop shafts, worn propellers, all expensive items. Damage to the starboard bow had resulted from decades of contact with the wharves during docking, and freshwater leaking down through the deck joint had rotted the inner layer of planking, leaving her only fit for sheltered waters.

I was aboard her in her latter days afloat, for sale in the old Viaduct Basin when the place still ponged pleasantly of fish and diesel, and then visiting a new owner on the Tamaki River, where she dwarfed all the private launches. She was cared for well enough then, but was sold on again in 2001 and took up residence in Mercury Bay, Whitianga, where the decline seemed to continue apace. In June 2006 she found yet another buyer, and made one final voyage, one last lazy daytrip, idling gently down the coast to Tauranga so that her machinery could be removed, and the butchered, buggered superstructure chainsawed away in preparation for the big lift.

Motonui lift

Waitanic

The final buyer was Barry Woods, a.k.a. Billy Black, who operates the curious Woodlyn Park accommodation in Waitomo. At the time, his motel units included a railway carriage, a Bristol Freighter airplane, and two “Hobbit Holes”. They now include a WWII patrol boat, which is advertised as the “Waitanic”, containing five separate units.

If you’re passing through and do decide to book a “room”, you can lie in bed and conjure up the long-dead khaki figures, hands working absently at well-drilled tasks, wise-cracking at 20 knots in a haze of hot exhaust and blazing Pacific sunshine. Or you may prefer to imagine the hundreds of less dashing men, women and children, who trod the diagonally planked kauri decks every day on the Auckland-Waiheke service, and who will always remember her as the Motunui.

woodlyn-park-NZ-1

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HMNZS Taranaki (F148) was a modified Rothesay-class frigate in service with the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) from 1960 to 1982.

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HMNZS Taranaki at Sydney 28 October 1966 after Exercise Sword Hilt. All the small ships went up under the bridge and around Cockatoo Island while the carriers berthed.
HMNZS Taranaki alongside in Pusan, Korea
HMNZS Taranaki
HMNZ Taranaki at a buoy
HMNZS Taranaki – being cut up and scrapped

Along with her sister ship Otago, the pair of ships formed a core part of the RNZN escort force throughout the 1960s and 1970s. She was named after Taranaki Province.

Construction and delivery[edit]

Taranaki‘s first crew arrived in Cowes on 27 March 1961 after a full military march from Plymouth; the ship commissioned into the RNZN a day later. The new frigate had been fitted out with an impressive amount of fine worked wood panelling in the ward room and other joint facilities. She was formally handed over on 29 March after completing her final sea trials. She was however a dated design, compared to the Tribal-class frigateHMS Eskimo, being built alongside it with its fast starting gas turbines.[2] and the Tribal-class frigate’s pad and hangar for the Westland Wasp helicopters that were being trialled for torpedo attack at maximum sonar range – beyond the Limbo anti-submarine mortars’ capabilities.

Service[edit]

Limbo ASW mortar on HMNZS Taranaki c1963

The first decade of Taranaki‘s existence saw her take part in regular deployments to the Far East, to Hawaii, Australia and the Pacific for exercises with ships of other navies, and ‘show the flag’ tours.

Between 1974 and 1978, Taranaki was usually laid up due to a shortage of naval personnel. During this period while her hull and propulsion system remained in reasonable order, there was a substantial deterioration in the reliability of her combat systems and they ceased to be entirely viable. On the occasions that she was at sea she was mainly protecting New Zealand’s Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ).

On 23 January 1979, she was fully recommissioned after refitting for a training and fisheries role. The Seacat missile system and heightfinding radar had already been removed and during the next three years, Taranaki experienced considerable problems with her steam turbines, which saw her in the Devonport dockyard for months. Extensive plans were made and approved by the Government for her conversion to gas turbine propulsion, for long ranged resource protection patrols of New Zealand’s newly declared 200-mile EEZ, reputed to be the fourth largest in the world. Sensors would have been partly updated for this purpose with new fire control and radar. A helicopter landing pad and hangar would have been incorporated. Originally the Government had approved a new OTO Melara 76 mm gun to be fitted in the reconstruction, but the Navy insisted the 4.5-inch twin gun mount be maintained, but were stuck with the ordered fire control intended to the 76 mm gun.[citation needed]

There were some questions about the gearing and coupling arrangements for the gas turbines, and eventually with rapidly escalating cost estimates of $72 million for the reconstruction in a UK shipyard, the whole project was cancelled in favour of buying second hand RN Leander-class frigates available after the 1981 UK defence cuts. It was perceived they would be cheaper to refit and the deal was sealed when the RNZN was made the exclusive offer of HMS Bacchante, a similar vintage broad beam Leander to HMNZS Canterbury, as well as HMS Dido which was being offered on the world market to any buyer, acceptable to the UK, partly to pay off the $50 million (23m pounds UK) cost of Dido‘s 1975-78 modernisation which had required an enormous amount of very expensive hull repair work on the then 15-year-old frigate. The cost of its refit was as high as that of the greater scale conversion of later Leanders to Exocet missile and Lynx helicopter operation and appeared to match that of the final new Type 21 frigates. Enormous refit costs were beginning to convince the UK Treasury against modernisation of steam powered Leanders. Many RNZN officers, believed the hull of the Taranaki had been better maintained and would have more viable long term.[citation needed]

Decommissioning and fate[edit]

On 14 June 1982, Taranaki set out on her last voyage from New Plymouth (her home port and chief city of her namesake province) to Auckland for decommissioning. During 16–17 June, her ammunition was safely removed and her boiler ceremonially doused out.

Taranaki was officially decommissioned on 18 June 1982. She was sold to Pacific Steel Ltd in August 1987 and her breaking up was completed in March 1988.

HMNZS Otago (F111) was a Rothesay-class (Type 12M) frigate acquired from the United Kingdom by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) before completion.

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HMNZS Otago – Cook Strait – Exercise Shopwindow 1962
HMNZS Otago returns from another overseas deployment
HMNZS Otago
HMNZS Otago after 1975 refit
HMNZS Otagao
HMNZS Otago
HMNZS Otago at the end of the road – Paying Off Penant Flying
HMNZS Otago being cut up – travelled many miles in her

Otago and Taranaki were the only two Otago-class frigates; they differ from the Rothesays that served in the Royal Navy as they were not reconstructed to the Type 12I Leander-class standard with hangar and landing pad for a Westland Wasp anti-submarine helicopter as the main weapon system with torpedoes, depth charges and SS.12/AS.12 missiles to engage fast attack craft and surfaced submarines.

Otago was launched on 11 December 1958 by Princess Margaret,[1] and was commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Navy on 22 June 1960. The ship was named after the province of Otago in New Zealand’s South Island, and associated with the city of Dunedin.

The sensors of the Otago were generally updated in line with those of the Royal Navy’s Rothesays to year 1980 standard but Otago unlike the RN frigates, was not fitted as a specialised anti-submarine frigates and retained the medium range air- and surface-warning Type 277Q radar, and original Type 275 and Type 262 fire control.

Otago had Seacat anti-aircraft missiles fitted in New Zealand in 1963-64.

Design[edit]

The Rothesay-class was an improved version of the Whitby-class anti-submarine frigate, with nine Rothesays ordered in the 1954–55 shipbuilding programme for the British Royal Navy to supplement the six Whitbys.[3] In February 1956, New Zealand purchased the Rothesay-class frigate Hastings, which was on order for the Royal Navy, to be renamed Otago and an additional Rothesay, to be called Taranaki.[4] The New Zealand ships were largely the same as those built for Britain, but had revised internal arrangements,[4] with air conditioning, bunks for the crew rather than hammocks, and cafeteria dining.[5]

Otago was 370 feet 0 inches (112.78 m) long overall and 360 feet 0 inches (109.73 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 41 feet 0 inches (12.50 m) and a draught of 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m).[6] Displacement was 2,144 long tons (2,178 t) standard and 2,557 long tons (2,598 t) full load.[7] The Rothesays were powered by the same Y-100 machinery used by the Whitby class. Two Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers fed steam at 550 pounds per square inch (3,800 kPa) and 850 °F (454 °C) to two sets of geared steam turbines which drove two propeller shafts, fitted with large (12 feet (3.7 m) diameter) slow-turning propellers. The machinery was rated at 30,000 shaft horsepower (22,000 kW), giving a speed of 29.5 knots (33.9 mph; 54.6 km/h).[8][9] The ship had a crew of 219 officers and other ranks.[7]

A twin 4.5-inch (113 mm) Mark 6 gun mount was fitted forward, with 350 rounds of ammunition carried,[10] with a single Mk 9 L60 40 mm Bofors guns as close in armament. The design anti-submarine armament consisted of twelve 21-inch torpedo-tubes (eight fixed and two twin rotating mounts) for Mark 20E Bidder homing anti-submarine torpedoes, backed up by two Limbo anti-submarine mortars fitted aft. The Bidder homing torpedoes proved unsuccessful however, being too slow to catch modern submarines, and the torpedo tubes were soon removed, although Otago and Taranaki were both delivered with them.[11][7] The ship was fitted with a Type 293Q surface/air search radar on the foremast, with a Type 277 height-finding radar on a short mast forward of the foremast. A Mark 6M fire control system (including a Type 275 radar) for the 4.5 inch guns was mounted above the ship’s bridge, while a Type 974 navigation radar was also fitted.[12][13] The ship’s sonar fit consisted of Type 174 search, Type 170 fire control sonar for Limbo and a Type 162 sonar for classifying targets on the sea floor.[13]

Service history[edit]

Otago took part in various Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) deployments and took part in a protest against French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in 1973. The protest voyage was opposed by the National Party Their leader, Jack Marshall called the deployment ‘irresponsible’ and a ‘futile, empty gesture’[14] and RNZN officers, noting the Kirk Government approved the exercise on the day the International Labour Organisation and NZFOL called for stopping the French bomb tests[15] as an exercise ordered by FOL President Tom Skinner and the New Zealand Federation of Labour Executive[16][verification needed] Otago, observed the “Euterpe” test carried out on 28 July 1973,[17] part of the 1971-74 nuclear test series.

In the weeks preceding the bomb test, HMNZS Otago was constantly monitored and tested by French Navy Lockheed 2PV-5 Neptune maritime patrol aircraft.[18] [19] The instructions from the Cabinet, CNS and CDS were that Otago project authority, but not engage, if seriously challenged by French frigates, RNZN frigates should do everything to increase distance and not use weaponry. To avoid the embarrassment to the RNZN, the frigate was fully armed with 4.5 shells (all fused on the voyage North, on the order of Cpt Tyrell) with live shells in the loading hoppers[20][self-published source?] and extra shells in the turrets. To overcome any problems with transfer belts for shells and charges from magazine below. To oppose any arrest or boarding effort by the French Navy. Seacat missiles were fitted on the launcher, on the orders of Cpt Tyrrell[21] while Otago was patrolling in French territory waters,[22] mortars, small arms and torpedoes, were also carried. The Neptune P2 flew various patterns fully testing the Otago’s radar, electronic warfare and IFF passive and active capabilities. HMNZS Otago was flying three battle ensigns, officially as an aid to recognition[23] and to signal this was a RNZN operational warship on a political not a protest mission. France may have considered it an act of war and it is unlikely the RN was approached on the right and wisdom of flying an associated battle ensign on this exercise.[citation needed] A couple of Soviet research ships were out of sight 25 nm distant and two large USN naval auxiliary and spy ships, USS Corpus Christi Bay and USS Wheeling (T-AGM-8). The Royal Navy had deployed an RFA tanker and an amphibious landing ship to allow for evacuating the Pitcairn Islands if the French conducted a much larger “megabomb” test but that did not happen.[24][self-published source?] The objective was to lead a NZ government and world protest against ‘illegal’ atmospheric testing, demonstrate ability for ‘innocent passage‘ in international waters outside the French territorial 12-mile zone and, while avoiding confrontation, maintain the right to self defence. On the insistence of the PM , executive and CEO of Foreign Affairs (and possibly their Australian counterparts, who reduced RAN involvement from HMAS Sydney and a destroyer[25] to HMAS Supply a tanker with six 40mm Bofors guns (2 km range) so the RNZN frigates forward in intermediate zone would face any immediate obstruction from the French Navy[26] only the captain and operations officers were informed of the specific instructions – that in certain contingencies French action, fire and attempts to arrest or board the RNZN frigates would be arrested. Unaware of the specific instructions the wardroom of the Otago was increasingly concerned by the aggressive and unpredictable evolutions run by Cpt Tyrell in French waters.[citation needed]

The small French frigate force probably indicated only a small nuclear trigger test of 5.4 kilotons was likely. Otago observed it from 21.5 miles and the crew was held in the enclosed citadel for only 20 seconds before allowed on the upper deck to observe the nuclear cloud.[27] Cdr Tyrrell had witnessed the 1957 Operation Grapple hydrogen bomb test at Kiritamati and saw the explosion as puny in comparison and well within safe limits for the crew at the distance.

The NZBC journalists, Shaun Brown and David Barber of New Zealand Press Association on Otago, saw it as an “angry… red fireball” and rising white mushroom cloud.[28][self-published source?]

In operations Otago needed the support of an RAN tanker due to the relatively short range of the Type 12 frigates[29] which was just sufficient for a one way trip from Auckland to Mururora or to operate for 36 hours at 25–30 knots (46–56 km/h; 29–35 mph) in all-out anti-submarine operations in the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap. The Rothesays were designed for such sweeps and as aircraft carrier escorts with fleet tankers in the group[30] sprinting and searching. A solution became possible when the redesign of the Leander for the NZ in 1968-69 for HMNZS Canterbury; removal of the anti-submarine mortars giving more internal space below deck.

Proposals to fit a hangar and landing pad to Otago without complete reconstruction were rejected by RNZN CNS in the 1970s as jeopardizing the RNZN case for a new combat ship.[31] The Limbo mortars were finally removed after last firing on a recruitment cruise off Timaru in mid-1974, immediately before the frigates July 1974-1975 mid-life refit.[32][full citation needed]

Otago continued as the third combat ship in the three frigate fleet designated by the 1978 Defence Review. In the second half of 1979, the ship had another extensive refit, with its Seacat missile system repaired by using stored parts from HMNZS Taranaki‘s system. In early 1980, the ship deployed to Pearl Harbor and later the West Coast of the United States and Canada for extensive exercises with the United States Navy and Canadian Maritime Command firing hundreds of rounds of 4.5-inch shells. Under the command of Cmdr Karl Moen, who described Otago as the “one true fighting ship in the RNZN”[33][full citation needed] with Ltd Cmdr Robert Martin as his second. Martin assumed command during a final six-month refit, leaving the ship on 7 April 1982. Even at the time of the Falklands War, the Captain of Otago and the Minister of Defence, David Thomson, declared the ship to still be fully combat capable.[34]

Otago was decommissioned at Devonport, Auckland in November 1983 and was slowly stripped. In July 1987, she was sold to Pacific Metal Industries Ltd and the following month she towed across to the Western Viaduct for demolition, which was completed in four months. 

HMS/HMNZS Blackpool was a Whitby-class or Type 12 anti-submarine frigate of the Royal Navy/Royal New Zealand Navy.

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HMNZS Blackpool

Service history[edit]

Blackpool was leader of the 6th Frigate Squadron between 1958 and 1960 and was commanded by Edward Ashmore.[1] Between 1962 and 1964 she was part of the 25th Escort squadron consisting of HMS Rothesay (Capt Place VC) (Capt D), HMS Cavendish, HMS Brighton, HMS Blackpool and HMS Llandaff (Canteen boat). Twelve months east of Suez, six months at home, and another six months in the Far East. Between 1964 and 1966 she was leader of the 28th Escort Squadron.[2]

She was leased to the Royal New Zealand Navy between 7 June 1966 and 30 June 1971. In 1969, Blackpool was present at the Melbourne-Evans collision.

New Zealand

HMNZS Blackpool
This Whitby-class Type 12 frigate was designed for the RN in the early 1950s for ASW against the Warsaw Pact submarines. Blackpool was the last Whitby to be constructed and was loaned to the RNZN while HMNZS Canterbury was being built. In 1963-64 Blackpool went a major refit at Chatham and was commissioned for service with the Far East Fleet on 9 December 1964. Upon the decision being made to loan this ship to the RNZN, Blackpool returned to Plymouth on 16 February 1966. She was commissioned into RNZN service on 16 June 1966 at Chatham under the command of Commander J.I. Quinn. During her initial trials she suffered a boiler failure and had to return for repairs. In July she had a shakedown cruise around Cowes. This was followed by a Harbour training week at Portland and then she had her first sea week from 28 July to 1 August 1966. After a maintenance period she shifted to Portsmouth arriving 12 August 1966. She did a trip from there to Amsterdam, Guernsey and returned on 31 August. In early September she spent in dock and returned to Portland. She had a Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) sea inspection in late September and also carried out Replenishment at Sea (RAS) with RFA Retainer and then went to Portsmouth.

She left Portsmouth on 9 October 1966 and voyaged through the Mediterranean stopping at Gibraltar and Malta. While at Malta she met HMNZS Santon returning to the UK and did a RAS[L] at sea with RFA Wave Ruler on 22 October. She transited the Suez Canal and at Aden met HMNZS Hickleton in company with HMS Picton both returning to the UK. She arrived at Gan on 2 November and did another RAS[L] with RFA Tidereach. On 8 November 1966 she arrived at Singapore and took up station and began participation in exercises. During this time she visited Hong Kong, Pulau Tioman and Bangkok. From 24 February 1967 to 6 March 1967 she took part in FOTEX 67. Later that month she undertook exercises off Subic Bay. She was released from the Far East station and departed Singapore on 21 April 1967. Going via Darwin and Brisbane she arrived in Sydney on 10 May 1967. While there a crack was found in the keel and there were problems with the main and auxiliary feed pumps. She was in dock for repairs from 15-20 May. She first arrived in Auckland on 25 May 1967. Unlike HMNZS Otago & Taranaki she did not have her armament upgraded when in RNZN service and retained the weapons she was commissioned with.

Upon arrival, she took part in AUCKEX and then on 28 July she took part in Longex through to 9 August. She then went to Gisborne and was on the way to Picton when she was sent to Raoul Island to undertake a medivac. She returned to Auckland and then went to Dunedin and Piction as planned. On 19 October 1967 she went into refit through to 29 April 1968. Towards the end of the refit Commander D.J. Cheney took over as CO from 18 March. In May 1968 she went to Sydney for Command Team training at Jervis Bay. While at Sydney in June, a helo crashed on 5 June. She then took part on LONGEX 68 to 14 June and returned to Wellington. In July 1968 she took part in AUCKEX. She went to LONGEX on 28 July but this was curtailed on 1 August. She escorted HMNZS Inverell back to harbour after her collision with USS Caliente. ON 5 August she sailed to assist SS Gothic which has suffered a fire in her accommodation spaces that cost seven lives.

In late August to early October she took part in Exercise CORAL SANDS in Australia. After returning to Auckland, she departed again for passage to Pearl Harbour in company with an RN group. While in Hawaii, she took part in Exercise CONVEX 3/68 in November. After completing her final battle problem on 13 December, she departed Pearl Harbour for Singapore via Midway, Guam and Hong Kong arriving 24 January 1969. Once again she was posted to the Far East Station. She left Singapore on 31 March and took passage to Bangkok and then on to Hong Kong. On 2 May she assisted in a RAF helicopter medivac from the Russian vessel Never. She then went on to Japan and then to Manila for Exercise SEA SPIRIT. This was curtailed when HMAS Melbourne collided with USS Frank E. Evans. She then took passage back to Auckland arriving 30 June 1969. In August she took part in LONGEX 69. In October she was present in Gisborne for the Cook Bicentenary and returned to Auckland. On 15 October Commander I.H.D. Tyler took over as CO. In November she returned to Jervis Bay for JUC/LONGEX. She then returned via Ship Cove, Wellington, Lyttleton, and Wellington arriving in Auckland on 18 December 1969.

On 3 February 1970 she left Auckland for Waitangi for the celebrations in company with HMNZS Inverell & Kiama. Upon return to Auckland she went into another refit through to August. Commander R.E. Lawry took over as CO from 6 July. After post-refit trials, she departed Auckland on 5 October with FOF2 embarked as escort for HMS Charybdis with HRH Prince Charles embarked. She was at Suva from 8-12 October for the Fiji independence celebrations. After leaving Suva she took passage to Raoul Island and returned to Auckland on15 October. For the rest of the month she was part of RNZNVR training for Ngapona & Olphert divisions. In November she trained personnel from RNZNVR Pegasus & Toroa divisions returning to Auckland on 29 November 1970. This was her last active deployment for the RNZN. In January 1971 she acted as guardship for the One Ton Cup trials. She was then put into reserve as preparations were made to return her to the RN now that HMNZS Canterbury was ready to e be commissioned into service in the UK. Blackpool left Auckland on 22 April 1971 and was returned to the RN at Portsmouth in June 1971. The ship’s company was transferred to HMNZS Canterbury. Blackpool went into reserve and was sold for breaking up in 1978.