Following a defence review at the start of the 1980s, the ship was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), and was recommissioned as HMNZS Southland. Southland remained in service until 1995. After decommissioning the frigate was towed to the Philippines where her boilers were removed, and then sent to India for scrapping.
Dido was built by Yarrow of Glasgow. She was laid down as a Rothesay-classfrigate to be called Hastings on 2 December 1959, but in 1960, it was decided to complete the ship as one of the new Leander class, with the new name Dido.[1] The naming ceremony for Dido took place on 21 December 1961, but her launch was delayed until the next day because of fog.[2][3]Dido was commissioned on 18 September 1963. Total construction cost was £4600000.[4]
The ship was 372 feet (113.4 m) long overall and 360 feet (109.7 m) at the waterline, with a beam of 41 feet (12.5 m) and a maximum draught of 18 feet (5.5 m). Displacement was 2,380 long tons (2,420 t) standard and 2,860 long tons (2,910 t) full load. Two oil-fired boilers fed steam at 550 pounds per square inch (3,800 kPa) and 850 °F (454 °C) to a pair of double reduction geared steam turbines that in turn drove two propeller shafts, with the machinery rated at 30,000 shaft horsepower (22,000 kW), giving a speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph).[5]
A twin 4.5-inch (113 mm) Mark 6 gun mount was fitted forward. While the Leander-class was planned to be fitted with the Sea Catsurface-to-air missile, Dido was completed with two Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns as a temporary substitute until Sea Cat could be fitted. A Limbo anti-submarine mortar was fitted aft to provide a short-range anti-submarine capability, while a hangar and helicopter deck allowed a single Westland Wasp helicopter to be operated, for longer range anti-submarine and anti-surface operations.[6]
As built, Dido was fitted with a large Type 965 long range air search radar on the ship’s mainmast, with a Type 993 short range air/surface target indicating radar and Type 974 navigation radar carried on the ship’s foremast. An MRS3 fire control system was carried to direct the 4.5-inch guns.[7] The ship had a sonar suite of Type 177 medium range search sonar, Type 162 bottom search and Type 170 attack sonar, together with a Type 199 variable depth sonar (VDS).[6]
The ship was assigned to the Far East, joining the 22nd Escort Group in 1964 and took part in the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, and became leader of the 21st Escort Group the following year.[8]
Dido was reassigned to the NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT) in 1969 and also took part in a fleet review at Spithead on 16 May 1969 as part of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the formation of NATO.
The ship was one of four used as the fictional frigate HMS Hero in the 1970s BBC television drama series Warship.
Dido after her Ikara system conversion, c1978
Dido was extensively refitted at Devonport between July 1975 and October 1978, as a Batch 1B Ikara conversion (and the last to be completed),[9] at a cost of £23,000,000.[10] An Ikara ASW missile launcher replaced the 4.5-inch turret, while two Sea Cat launchers were fitted to the hangar roof. The two Bofors guns were retained but moved forward to abreast the ship’s mainmast. The Limbo anti-submarine mortar and Wasp helicopter was retained. The long-range Type 965 radar was removed, with improved navigation and target indicating radars fitted, and the ADAWS 5 computer aided combat direction system added to direct Ikara operations. The ship’s sonar suite remained unchanged.[11]
After working up following the refit, Dido joined the 3rd Frigate Squadron.[12] In 1983 the ship was briefly assigned again to the Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT).
As a result of the 1981 Defence Review, which had recommended the disposal of some older frigates, the ship was sold to the RNZN, along with sister ship HMS Bacchante. The already 18-year-old Southland was selected mainly to train RNZN personnel on computerised command and control systems, even though the ADWAS 5 system was dated with only 4 screens and talley and a quarter of the processing capacity and screens of the later Leander and T21, C4 CAAIS. It is seen as a dubious purchase, in retrospect, and by some at the time,[13] as an ageing, if recently refitted, ‘over specialised anti submarine frigate’[14] without any real surface armament or surveillance radar. The acquisition of the second hand frigate was also in direct conflict with the 1978 NZ Defence Review that decided that future frigates would be gas turbine powered and steam abandoned as a prime mover for RNZ combat ships.[15]
Diesel powered long range frigates were also, offered in 1981, HMS Lynx and HMS Lincoln were rejected on account of age and lack of helicopter capability, the partly gas turbine powered HMS Zulu and HMS Norfolk which at least started and could leave port immediately, without 6/8 hours to flash up the steam boilers were rejected on the basis ‘that they were already almost in the scrapyard’ (they were later sold to Indonesia and Chile) and excessive manning requirements, although all had 4.5 guns and 965AW radar and in the case of HMS Norfolk, full Link 10/11 USN compatible communications, high range and Exocet missiles. The option of purchasing a second Ikara Leander was available in the general offer after the UK 1981 Defence Review, with HMS Leander, HMS Ajax and in particular HMS Naiad, completed in March 1965, also offered. Given the extremely specialised nature of the Ikara Leanders[16] and their incompatibility with the rather different Ikara systems in the Australian Type 12 frigates and Charles F. Adams-classguided missile destroyers, the acquisition of two Ikara Leanders would actually have given a real capability, able to test and practice, joint computer age anti-submarine operations. As UK experience and UK Treasury costing already indicated that the 13-year-old Bacchante was too old for cost-containable structural modernisation, a view also held by the former captain of HMNZS Waikato,[17]
Southland received a five-month, $15 million refit at Vosper Thornycroft after recommissioning on 18 July 1983 as HMNZS Southland. During the refit the Limbo mortar and VDS were removed as were the associated 170 and 199 sonars, while US Mk 32 torpedo tubes for anti-submarine torpedoes were fitted. The refit was completed in late December 1983 and over the following months, Southland had several workups at Portland and participated in a number of Royal Navy and NATO exercises before sailing for New Zealand in mid-1984. An earlier HMS Dido already had historical links with Southland.
Around 1986 extensive plans were drawn up for a major refit of Southland which would have allowed its Ikara capability to remain operational until the mid-1990s. The RN had significantly modernised one of its remaining Ikara Leanders, Arethusa at the time with long range 2031 towed array capable of passive detection in the 160 km + range zone. The Royal Australian Navy planned to continue with its similar, but incompatible, Ikara system for a while. However quotes for refitting Southland in UK yards or at Lyttleton proved high, the Cold War effectively ended in 1989 and with the RN and USN withdrawing its stock of nuclear depth charges, (the intended warhead option for RN Ikara Leanders to attack Soviet submarines at 10–20 kilometres (5.4–10.8 nmi) range, where two directional sound transmission times were probably too great for accurate proximity direction of Ikara carrying MK 46 torpedoes) meant Ikara was no longer useful to the Royal Navy. As a result, the Ikara system was withdrawn from RNZN use in 1989 with space found for a low cost refit at the RNZN dockyard for it to continue as a General Purpose frigate until 1993.
Decommissioned in 1995, Southland was towed away by two patrol craft to the Philippines where her boilers were removed for a rubber plantation. She was then towed to Singapore where she was sold to an Indian tug company who took her to Goa beach in India. She was pulled up on the beach and her parts were sold.
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.
Waikato was ordered in 1963 for the RNZN after a delay of more than six years after the order for the Type 12 frigates Otago and Taranaki, which had proved successful in New Zealand service. There was a pressing need to replace the ageing cruiserRoyalist and the RNZN’s last two operational Loch-class frigates, which carried outdated sonars and anti-submarine weapons and were slow. The Navy board view was that a minimum of six frigates were required[1] for protection of trade including strategic oil shipments to New Zealand, and the improved anti submarine Type 12 was considered ’eminently suited’ for New Zealand conditions.[2] Additionally, Cold War tensions were high in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis with escalating trouble in South East Asia over Vietnam and Indonesia’s infiltration into Malaysia and Borneo, led the government to order a third Type 12.[citation needed] The actual suitability of the Leander for New Zealand was questioned by many Royal Naval officers,[3] who regarded the Leander as a short-ranged North Atlantic anti-submarine hunter, designed to operate as part of the radar, air direction, anti-submarine screen of the British aircraft carrier groups being phased out between 1967 and 1971. Nevertheless, the Type 12 rode very well in a seaway, had excellent communications, a much better arranged operations room than the Rothesays, good margin for modernisation, and good workshops and carried 60 days worth of supplies, other than weapons and fuel.[citation needed]
Laid down in January 1964, Waikato was constructed by Harland and Wolff and was delivered in 1966, commissioning into the RNZN in September that year. Displacing 2,450 tons standard and 3,200 tons at full load, Waikato was 372 ft (113 m) long, had a beam of 41 ft (12 m) and a draught of 19 ft (6 m). She was fitted with two Babcock & Wilcox boilers which delivered steam to two English Electric geared steam turbines, producing 30,000 shaft horsepower (22,000 kW) to two shafts, which gave Waikato a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). Her range was 4,600 nautical miles (8,520 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h), and she had a complement of 18 officers and 248 sailors.[citation needed]
In terms of armament, Waikato was a fully armed Batch 2 Leander, with Mk 6 twin 4.5-inch guns, a Seacat GWS22 point defence missile, Limbo anti-submarine mortar and Wasp helicopter. She was identical to the Royal Navy Leanders of her group, with 965M LRAW and 177 hull and 199 Variable depth sonars, while her half sister, HMNZS Canterbury was a larger improved Leander, completed in 1971, with a more automated and remote controllable steam plant, a frigate potentially capable of updating with long range bow sonars and Seawolf missiles. HMNZS Canterbury had a similar sensor and weapons to Waikato, because New Zealand could not afford the better screen displays and faster processing systems fitted to 1971/2 RN Leanders, and because cost margins of the last group of the Leanders were tight, it did not receive the more modern sonar and ECM/ESM of the last two Royal Navy Leanders. The Leanders were very expensive for New Zealand and the cost per ton, was just as high as the U.S. Navy Knox class, which were poor seaboats. Some Royal Navy Leanders eventually carried bow sonars in the 1980s with the range of power of AN/SQS-26, and all recently refitted clean bottom Leanders and Rothesays were silenced more effectively than early 1980s Type 22 frigates.[4]
For the first nine years of its RNZN service Waikato operated around New Zealand and with the ANZUK naval squadron based at Singapore, which continued in reduced form in 1971–75 with the Royal Navy sending 5 or 6 frigates and destroyers. From 1975 Royal Navy task forces continued to visit New Zealand and Australia for exercises until 1983, when the Falklands commitment and the aftermath effectively ended the Royal Navy’s central involvement with the RAN and RNZN.[5] The Naval Board described the late 1970s Five Power Treaty as in a ‘sense transitional’.[6]
In 1975–77, Waikato was given an extensive mid-life refit, and essentially modified to the specifications of HMNZS Canterbury with the mortar and VDS wells suppressed and replaced by an enlarged helicopter landing pad, intended for Lynx helicopters that were never ordered and a closed circuit TV system to monitor helicopter operations from the flight deck. Surface and navigation radar was also updated to current RN standards a rather inexpensive alteration. At the time the RN had already rebuilt its early Leanders at great expense with Ikara missiles and computer action automation of weapon systems and the second batch Leanders of the same type as Waikato were to have their gun turret replaced with Exocet missiles, receiving additional Seacat launchers and improved C3. The cost of the later Ikara RN modernisations and the modernisation the Batch 2 RN Leanders often exceeded that of new built Type 21 frigates.[7] The cost of modernisation of the Leanders depended on the hull age, and a nine-year old Leander like Waikato could almost certainly have been rebuilt, with automated 76 mm, CIWS in the mid-1970s, in the pattern of the Dutch Leander modernization[8] at an affordable cost compared with the very costly modernization of a 12-year-old frigate like HMS Dido or HMNZS Wellington.[citation needed]
After re-entering service under the command of Captain Ian Bradley, Waikato was involved in the rescue of a seriously injured fishermen from the Soviet trawler Ardatov during which a Wasp, flown by Lieutenant Joe Tunicliffe, was launched in rough sea conditions to pick up the man from a trawler. On 15 November the ship had left Wellington to visit the Bounty Islands, to the southeast of the South Island, in heavy weather. During the forenoon a Russian fishing vessel well to the south of New Zealand called for assistance for a critically injured seaman and Waikato altered course and increased speed to get within flying range. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to locate the fishing vessel, in appalling weather conditions. The vessel was finally located 60 miles from its reported position the following afternoon and with considerable difficulty the sailor was winched off the ship and taken on board, to be flown to hospital at 3.30 am the next morning. For this incident the pilot, Lieutenant Joe Tunnicliffe received the Air Force Cross[citation needed] and Chief Medical Assistant Bill Filmer, who was winched on board the fishing vessel, received the British Empire Medal for gallantry.[9]
Later, in January 1978, the while escorting the United States NavyThresher-classsubmarinePintado into Auckland harbour, Waikato faced an armada of anti-nuclear protest yachts, which attempted to block the passage of the possibly nuclear-armed and certainly nuclear-powered submarine. Waikato ran into the harbour ahead of Pintado, with Waikato‘s Wasp helicopter and another RNZN Wasp in company, deployed over the protest yachts to create downdraft which destabilised the protest yachts, and tipped several over in a controversial move which secured the rapid passage of Pintado to its berth. No one was hurt. While appreciated by the US Navy and crew of the submarine, the move was regarded as aggressive by New Zealand politicians and was condemned by the protesters. The approach was never adopted again. Waikato escorted the nuclear-powered USS Haddo into Auckland harbour with less drama the following February 1979, under the command of Cmdr Ian Hunter[10] in a combined RNZN and Police operation deploying navy patrol craft and the police launch Deodar, but confining use of the intrusive Wasp to transfer of a police inspector to the Haddo and clearing the protest armada with only a kayak capsizing. Waikato earlier had deployed to Pearl Harbor for work up with USN fleet units and performed well in RIMPAC and exercises with the US and Canadian fleet.[11] During these exercises Commander Bradley, positioned Waikato to land a USN Sea King about to be lost with zero fuel. Some crew believed the frigate and its personnel were endangered by landing a large chopper never before tested upon Leanders and the order was officially noted. However, on the last day of the Falklands War a British Leander, Minerva, landed a Sea King helicopter.[12]
During and after the Falklands conflict in 1982–3, Waikato deployed to the Armilla patrol to help free up British ships for deployment.[13]Waikato alternated with HMNZS Canterbury on these duties, the frigates visiting Colombo, Karachi, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Port Sudan, Muscat, Oman and Diego Garcia[14] on what was officially known as the Indian Ocean Patrol.[15]
During July and August 1990, Waikato was involved in Operation BIGTALK, an intervention that was a direct result of the ongoing civil conflict in and around Bougainville. The New Zealand government was tasked with deploying its naval resources to negotiate a peace accord between the two warring factions, the resulting document is now known as the “Endeavour Accord”. The ships deployed to this incident were the frigates Waikato and HMNZS Wellington and the supply vessel HMNZS Endeavour. Although the naval forces were not engaged during the operation, due to the intense fighting and civil unrest there was serious potential for insurgent attacks on New Zealand naval forces.[citation needed] Commendations were issued to each member of the crews to acknowledge their contribution. On 23 February 2017, it was announced by NZDF that the New Zealand Operational Service Medal (NZOSM) had been awarded to personnel who were in Bougainville for the Operation BIGTALK peace talks.[16]
HMNZS Waikato was decommissioned from the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1998 and sold by the government for $1. She was stripped in the Northland port of Opua and sunk off the coast of Tutukaka on 18 December 2000 as an artificial reef. In 2002, the sunken Waikato‘s bow was separated from the rest of the ship in heavy weather
Canterbury was decommissioned in 2005. In 2007 she was scuttled in the Bay of Islands to provide a dive wreck. She lies in 38 metres (125 ft) of water.[1]
HMNZS Southland (F104) and HMNZS Canterbury (F421), Hong Kong 1987
HMNZS Canterbury in the Mediteranean with HMAS Brisbane and HMS ArrowHMNZS Canterbury flying her paying off pennantHMNZS Canterbury at OpuaHMNZS Canterbury prepared for her fateHMNZS Canterbury – being made into a reefHMNZS Canterbury – prepares to diveHMNZS Canterbury’s demiseHMNZS Canterbury disappears
Canterbury was the RNZN’s fourth Type 12 frigate. She was laid down on 12 June 1969 by Yarrow Shipbuilders and launched 11 months later on 6 May 1970. She was the last Leander-class frigate and the last steam-driven warship to serve in New Zealand. The order for the ship went ahead after some controversy and doubt generated by the then Minister of Finance, Robert Muldoon.[2] She was built at the end of the production line for Leanders to fit the most economical frigate building programme for the British Government, requiring 4 more Leanders for the Royal Navy, a pair for Chile (who ordered Exocet missiles) and one for RNZN.[3]
Canterbury was built in modular form in 25 sections[4] and then welded together on the slipway. This reduced construction time to 2.5 years but resulted in continuous disputes as neither Yarrow, the RNZN or RN had fully planned or had adequate supervision for fitting out RNZNs rather different broad beam Leander whose operations room, messing and helicopter facilities were 2 years behind or ahead of the RN 1969 patterns. She was the first Leander-class frigate to have the wells for Limbo mortars and VDS (dipping sonar) replaced and plated over to give a larger helicopter landing area, so helicopters larger than the original Westland Wasp could land and operate from the ship. A close circuit TV system was also introduced so flight deck operations could be observed and accurately controlled from the ships operation room. These innovations were refitted to most of the Royal Navy Leander fleet, including Canterbury’s sisters in the NZ fleet.
In 1968 the NZ government contemplated introducing US weapons systems.[5] In line with this Mk 32 anti-submarine torpedo tubes were fitted and a limited number of Mark 46 torpedoes were provided to supplement the older shallower diving Mk 44 torpedoes, to replace the short range Limbo mortar and to arm the Wasp helicopter. However plans for a US Edo sonar and chaff decoys and to arm the Wasp with the Anglo-French AS-12 small anti-ship missiles were not introduced due to cost and for political reasons.
During her time in service, she travelled about 960,000 nautical miles (44 circumnavigations of the Earth), and was temporary home for 559 officers and 3,269 ratings.[6]
Gerald Hensley, then at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, recalled that: “The frigate “Canterbury” on its delivery voyage sailed up the Potomac River to Washington, said to be the first foreign warship to do so since the British raid in 1814. Memories were long. A barbecue was held on the ship to promote New Zealand lamb and as I came away a man said to me, ‘What are these guys doing in this town? Last time they were here they burnt the place down’.”[7]
She was sent to Moruroa Atoll in 1973 as a symbolic protest of New Zealand against French nuclear testing.[8] F421 small GP computer was able to assess the radiation level and its up to date electronic warfare sniffers immediately identify a French P-2 Neptune, on 50,52 IFF bands sweeping the area, flying low, with radar, ECM ESM and visual search for the location of unwanted naval, protest yacht and possibly submarine activity. She observed the ‘Melpomène’ nuclear test carried out on 28 July 1973,[9] part of the 1971–74 French nuclear tests. It is the assessment of RAN officers that the presence of the modern RNZN warship, Canterbury, posed significant political and operational difficulties for the French and may have reduced the 1973 tests to 5 small bombs and been a factor why France never again conducted atmospheric testing.[10] The NZ Labour Government admitted that not only France but the UK government opposed the use of its recently delivered British frigate on this mission.[11] The French Government claimed in 1985 that the RNZ deployment to Muroroa in 1973 was one of the ‘provocations that led to the attack by the French Intelligence service and Navy on the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.[12] In November 1974, Canterbury deployed with Destroyer Squadron 5 of the United States Pacific Fleet off the West Coast for six months,[13] the first time a RNZN frigate had operated as an integral part of a U.S. Navy force. While such joint operation was common for the RAN, it was not repeated in the 20th Century by the RNZN, possibly because while the deployment was approved by the Kirk/Rowling 3rd Labour Government, there was considerable official comment when the frigate returned to Devonport bearing the prominent insignia, US DESRON 5 and because integrated operations were restricted by lack of funding by the following Muldoon government for common Link 10 data link communication systems and baseline HYCOR chaff defence systems,[14] and the standard for RNZN frigates was compatibility rather than commonality with, USN FF52 Frigates[15]
In April 1977 Canterbury and the Australian destroyer HMAS Brisbane were assigned to escort the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne during a five-month return trip to the United Kingdom for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Naval Review.[16] Priority for a planned new frigate (either a Type 21 frigate or Dutch Kortanear) and modernisation of HMNZS Taranaki, projects later cancelled by the Muldooon government, meant F421 received only a 12-month refit in 1980 to maximise seatime, and its mid life refit was delayed to Nov 1987 to June 1990, at a cost of $73 million,[17] the most significant changes fitting of Dutch LW08 long range surveillance radar, Phoenix electronic warfare systems and general replacement of radar and sonar with new solid state systems in place of the original obsolescent, British equipment. Updating was similar but more limited to that carried out of HMNZS Wellington, as F421 did not receive the extra fuel tanks and greatly increased cruising range of Wellington.
After the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982, New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon offered to send Canterbury to join the Royal Navy’s task force sailing south to retake the British territory [citation needed]. This offer was declined by the British government [citation needed]. Possible reasons for this included the facts that (1) The Leanders in RN service were past their prime[18] (2) HMNZS Canterbury had had little updating since its completion in 1971 (3) It had dated, slow processing radar (4) It was not yet fitted with UK or US sourced chaff decoy systems (5) Its crew lacked practice in using them (6) Its crew had little Atlantic experience operating against Soviet naval vessels which might be observing in the South Atlantic (7) Only four Leanders, HMS Argonaut , HMS Penelope, HMS Minerva, and HMS Andromeda participated in the conflict; Bacchante joined the task group in the last week. The British government suggested as a less-controversial alternative that Muldoon send RNZN frigates to relieve the British frigate squadron in the Persian Gulf for Falkland duties. It was a difficult deployment with long stints at sea and infrequent runs ashore in very foreign ports for the crews.[19] However they did feel closer to the Cold War action seeing significant Soviet warships and “Bear” surveillance aircraft.[20]
Canterbury was built with a surplus 1960’s RN Type 177 sonar, tuned for the Persian Gulf. The British MoD refused to fit the US Edo sonars (also planned for an RAN version of the Type 21 frigate rejected by the Australian Government in 1968)[21] and the NZ government – on cost grounds – rejected the new Doppler 184M sonars fitted to HMS Apollo, Achilles and Diomede being built alongside Canterbury in the Yarrow yard[22][self-published source?] The rather dated solid state sensors fitted were finally replaced as totally obsolescent, in the delayed mid life refit of the Canterbury between Nov 1987 and June 1990 costing $73 million. The fit was essentially similar to preceding refit of its sister broad beam, HMNZS Wellington, except Canterbury was not fitted with extra fuel tanks as RNZN and RN experience confirmed the modification difficult, dirty and expensive, on middle aged Leanders. The 1991 audit office review of the refit raised some issues, over the cost and need, for new ‘long range’ air surveillance,[23] LWO8 radar, but lacked the background to assess the relevance of maintaining the Leander frigates, historical role, as a fleet radar picket for operating with the RN fleet or whether the 4.5 guns and Seacat missiles were still useful, given RN reassessment and more accurate reporting, by 1991 of their failure as AA weapons in the Falklands war of 1982.[24]
During the Armilla patrols in 1982–83, the RNZN ships were not able to fully support the RN frigates Arrow and Galatea they were patrolling with in the Indian Ocean, because Prime Minister Muldoon refused to allow them to enter the Persian Gulf due to sensitivities with relations with Bahrain,[25] The Arrow and Galatea were partly equipped for the missile age with computer datalinks and anti-missile decoy systems which fitting to RNZN frigates was delayed. Nevertheless, Canterbury and Galatea were later jointly awarded the Wilkinson Sword of Peace for the tour.
Canterbury was halfway across the Tasman in February 1985 when relations broke down with the US Government over nuclear ship visits. She visited the US later that year while en route to Canada for the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) (port visits were made to Hawaii, San Diego and San Francisco.
Canterbury attended the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Crete in May 1991. During that deployment, Canterbury became the last ship in the Royal New Zealand Navy to ever wear the distinctive white funnel stripe denoting the fact that she was the senior ship within the 11th Frigate Squadron when Captain Alasdair Clayton-Greene departed the ship in Lumut, Malaysia in April 1991. It was determined that only when a captain commanded a frigate (as the senior officer afloat) would this insignia be displayed – which never occurred again in the Royal New Zealand Navy.
In 1996, Canterbury was one of the ships tasked with enforcing the embargo against Iraq in Operation Delphic (under US Navy Control). She also was the first New Zealand Navy ship to visit China (in 1987), and has participated in a number of humanitarian and peace-keeping missions, for example to Samoa, Fiji or New Guinea.[6]
Canterbury was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce.[26] She conducted four patrols between 26 September to 12 December 1999. The patrols were tense, with the ship being approached by Indonesian naval vessels and Hawk jets. Her duties included escorting landing craft through territory disputed with Indonesia, being the Dili guard ship and patrolling East Timor’s waters. Canterbury escorted the landing craft HMAS Tobruk when it landed a New Zealand infantry battalion in East Timor. During the deployment the ship achieved a remarkable 92% systems availability rate and had few mechanical defects, a considerable achievement for a ship of her age.[27]
In the early 2000s, it was becoming increasingly clear that the ship’s technical systems were getting old, and mechanical faults were multiplying. In October 2003, a fire broke out in the auxiliary switchboard while the ship was off the Chatham Islands. The ship was saved through quick action from 2 ratings, one of who received the New Zealand Order of Merit for his actions in the smoke-filled switchboard room, but it was considered that major damage or even ship loss had been only barely avoided. The repairs cost NZ$1 million,[28] and the incident, confirmed the ships life had already been dangerously overextended due to delays on orders for replacement ships with newer multi-role vessels[6] and possibly the forlorn hope that the eight-year old RN Type 23 frigateGrafton might have been approved as a replacement, it was instead sold to Chile.
HMNZS Canterbury at Opua in June 2007, with the last of her equipment being taken off-board
After being decommissioned in 2005, there was talk of converting her into a floating hostel. However, during a 2004 inspection, corrosion of the ship’s structure had been found to be too serious for her to stay afloat in the long term without very costly maintenance.[29] Enthusiasts at the Bay of Islands Canterbury Charitable Trust proposed the idea of scuttling her as a dive wreck at Deep Water Cove in the Bay of Islands. The New Zealand Navy ships Tui and Waikato are already lying on the ground off the Tutukaka Coast, while the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was scuttled off Matauri Bay. It is hoped that the wreck, in addition to becoming an artificial reef enhancing biodiversity, will also provide additional options for the regions diving tourism.[30] It is considered that removed scrap metal and equipment (such as ship’s lockers or the propeller) will bring up to NZ$400,000 to offset the NZ$650,000 costs of cleaning up and scuttling her,[31] while the worth to the local economy could be in the millions.[6] The ship itself had been sold to the trust for a symbolic NZ$1.[32]
It was expected that the ship would be able to be sunk late 2007, after potential contaminants and scrap materials had been stripped out, and the Department of Conservation had withdrawn its objections at the end of 2006.[30] The intention was originally to sink her on Saturday 20 October 2007 – two days before its 36th commissioning anniversary.[31] After some delays, on 3 November 2007 at 14:30 hrs[citation needed] she was eventually sunk by imported plastic explosives placed at 12 locations around the hull (totalling only 14 kg (31 lb) in weight).[33] The sinking was prepared by Norman Greenall, once Chief Petty Officer (shipwright) on Canterbury,[34] who has undertaken the scuttling of other New Zealand Navy ships (like HMNZS Wellington). Greenall has a somewhat colourful reputation in the navy as the person who has “sunk more of our navy ships than the enemy did in the whole of the Second World War”[28] – however, the actual sinking of Canterbury was performed by UK company Cadre One.[34]Canterbury now lies on the seabed in Deep Water Cove.
The frigate offered good diving, especially with the ship being mostly intact (contrary to many similar dive wrecks which have broken up) and especially when other places such as Matauri Bay were unavailable due to weather conditions.[35]
The wreck was sold to Te Rawhiti Enterprises (the local Hapū) for one dollar (the same amount that the Canterbury Trust paid the New Zealand Navy) on 15 July 2008, and the Trust was wound up and dissolved on 17 November 2008.[citation needed] The local Hapu will manage and market the wreck as their own to preserve their local heritage and preserve and enhance fish stocks. Due to depletion of stocks, a ban has been placed on fishing in the area for the time being, though there is still access to the wreck.
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.
Canterbury was decommissioned in 2005. In 2007 she was scuttled in the Bay of Islands to provide a dive wreck. She lies in 38 metres (125 ft) of water.[1]
Canterbury was the RNZN’s fourth Type 12 frigate. She was laid down on 12 June 1969 by Yarrow Shipbuilders and launched 11 months later on 6 May 1970. She was the last Leander-class frigate and the last steam-driven warship to serve in New Zealand. The order for the ship went ahead after some controversy and doubt generated by the then Minister of Finance, Robert Muldoon.[2] She was built at the end of the production line for Leanders to fit the most economical frigate building programme for the British Government, requiring 4 more Leanders for the Royal Navy, a pair for Chile (who ordered Exocet missiles) and one for RNZN.[3]
Canterbury was built in modular form in 25 sections[4] and then welded together on the slipway. This reduced construction time to 2.5 years but resulted in continuous disputes as neither Yarrow, the RNZN or RN had fully planned or had adequate supervision for fitting out RNZNs rather different broad beam Leander whose operations room, messing and helicopter facilities were 2 years behind or ahead of the RN 1969 patterns. She was the first Leander-class frigate to have the wells for Limbo mortars and VDS (dipping sonar) replaced and plated over to give a larger helicopter landing area, so helicopters larger than the original Westland Wasp could land and operate from the ship. A close circuit TV system was also introduced so flight deck operations could be observed and accurately controlled from the ships operation room. These innovations were refitted to most of the Royal Navy Leander fleet, including Canterbury’s sisters in the NZ fleet.
In 1968 the NZ government contemplated introducing US weapons systems.[5] In line with this Mk 32 anti-submarine torpedo tubes were fitted and a limited number of Mark 46 torpedoes were provided to supplement the older shallower diving Mk 44 torpedoes, to replace the short range Limbo mortar and to arm the Wasp helicopter. However plans for a US Edo sonar and chaff decoys and to arm the Wasp with the Anglo-French AS-12 small anti-ship missiles were not introduced due to cost and for political reasons.
During her time in service, she travelled about 960,000 nautical miles (44 circumnavigations of the Earth), and was temporary home for 559 officers and 3,269 ratings.[6]
Gerald Hensley, then at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, recalled that: “The frigate “Canterbury” on its delivery voyage sailed up the Potomac River to Washington, said to be the first foreign warship to do so since the British raid in 1814. Memories were long. A barbecue was held on the ship to promote New Zealand lamb and as I came away a man said to me, ‘What are these guys doing in this town? Last time they were here they burnt the place down’.”[7]
She was sent to Moruroa Atoll in 1973 as a symbolic protest of New Zealand against French nuclear testing.[8] F421 small GP computer was able to assess the radiation level and its up to date electronic warfare sniffers immediately identify a French P-2 Neptune, on 50,52 IFF bands sweeping the area, flying low, with radar, ECM ESM and visual search for the location of unwanted naval, protest yacht and possibly submarine activity. She observed the ‘Melpomène’ nuclear test carried out on 28 July 1973,[9] part of the 1971–74 French nuclear tests. It is the assessment of RAN officers that the presence of the modern RNZN warship, Canterbury, posed significant political and operational difficulties for the French and may have reduced the 1973 tests to 5 small bombs and been a factor why France never again conducted atmospheric testing.[10] The NZ Labour Government admitted that not only France but the UK government opposed the use of its recently delivered British frigate on this mission.[11] The French Government claimed in 1985 that the RNZ deployment to Muroroa in 1973 was one of the ‘provocations that led to the attack by the French Intelligence service and Navy on the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.[12] In November 1974, Canterbury deployed with Destroyer Squadron 5 of the United States Pacific Fleet off the West Coast for six months,[13] the first time a RNZN frigate had operated as an integral part of a U.S. Navy force. While such joint operation was common for the RAN, it was not repeated in the 20th Century by the RNZN, possibly because while the deployment was approved by the Kirk/Rowling 3rd Labour Government, there was considerable official comment when the frigate returned to Devonport bearing the prominent insignia, US DESRON 5 and because integrated operations were restricted by lack of funding by the following Muldoon government for common Link 10 data link communication systems and baseline HYCOR chaff defence systems,[14] and the standard for RNZN frigates was compatibility rather than commonality with, USN FF52 Frigates[15]
In April 1977 Canterbury and the Australian destroyer HMAS Brisbane were assigned to escort the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne during a five-month return trip to the United Kingdom for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Naval Review.[16] Priority for a planned new frigate (either a Type 21 frigate or Dutch Kortanear) and modernisation of HMNZS Taranaki, projects later cancelled by the Muldooon government, meant F421 received only a 12-month refit in 1980 to maximise seatime, and its mid life refit was delayed to Nov 1987 to June 1990, at a cost of $73 million,[17] the most significant changes fitting of Dutch LW08 long range surveillance radar, Phoenix electronic warfare systems and general replacement of radar and sonar with new solid state systems in place of the original obsolescent, British equipment. Updating was similar but more limited to that carried out of HMNZS Wellington, as F421 did not receive the extra fuel tanks and greatly increased cruising range of Wellington.
After the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982, New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon offered to send Canterbury to join the Royal Navy’s task force sailing south to retake the British territory [citation needed]. This offer was declined by the British government [citation needed]. Possible reasons for this included the facts that (1) The Leanders in RN service were past their prime[18] (2) HMNZS Canterbury had had little updating since its completion in 1971 (3) It had dated, slow processing radar (4) It was not yet fitted with UK or US sourced chaff decoy systems (5) Its crew lacked practice in using them (6) Its crew had little Atlantic experience operating against Soviet naval vessels which might be observing in the South Atlantic (7) Only four Leanders, HMS Argonaut , HMS Penelope, HMS Minerva, and HMS Andromeda participated in the conflict; Bacchante joined the task group in the last week. The British government suggested as a less-controversial alternative that Muldoon send RNZN frigates to relieve the British frigate squadron in the Persian Gulf for Falkland duties. It was a difficult deployment with long stints at sea and infrequent runs ashore in very foreign ports for the crews.[19] However they did feel closer to the Cold War action seeing significant Soviet warships and “Bear” surveillance aircraft.[20]
Canterbury was built with a surplus 1960’s RN Type 177 sonar, tuned for the Persian Gulf. The British MoD refused to fit the US Edo sonars (also planned for an RAN version of the Type 21 frigate rejected by the Australian Government in 1968)[21] and the NZ government – on cost grounds – rejected the new Doppler 184M sonars fitted to HMS Apollo, Achilles and Diomede being built alongside Canterbury in the Yarrow yard[22][self-published source?] The rather dated solid state sensors fitted were finally replaced as totally obsolescent, in the delayed mid life refit of the Canterbury between Nov 1987 and June 1990 costing $73 million. The fit was essentially similar to preceding refit of its sister broad beam, HMNZS Wellington, except Canterbury was not fitted with extra fuel tanks as RNZN and RN experience confirmed the modification difficult, dirty and expensive, on middle aged Leanders. The 1991 audit office review of the refit raised some issues, over the cost and need, for new ‘long range’ air surveillance,[23] LWO8 radar, but lacked the background to assess the relevance of maintaining the Leander frigates, historical role, as a fleet radar picket for operating with the RN fleet or whether the 4.5 guns and Seacat missiles were still useful, given RN reassessment and more accurate reporting, by 1991 of their failure as AA weapons in the Falklands war of 1982.[24]
During the Armilla patrols in 1982–83, the RNZN ships were not able to fully support the RN frigates Arrow and Galatea they were patrolling with in the Indian Ocean, because Prime Minister Muldoon refused to allow them to enter the Persian Gulf due to sensitivities with relations with Bahrain,[25] The Arrow and Galatea were partly equipped for the missile age with computer datalinks and anti-missile decoy systems which fitting to RNZN frigates was delayed. Nevertheless, Canterbury and Galatea were later jointly awarded the Wilkinson Sword of Peace for the tour.
Canterbury was halfway across the Tasman in February 1985 when relations broke down with the US Government over nuclear ship visits. She visited the US later that year while en route to Canada for the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) (port visits were made to Hawaii, San Diego and San Francisco.
Canterbury attended the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Crete in May 1991. During that deployment, Canterbury became the last ship in the Royal New Zealand Navy to ever wear the distinctive white funnel stripe denoting the fact that she was the senior ship within the 11th Frigate Squadron when Captain Alasdair Clayton-Greene departed the ship in Lumut, Malaysia in April 1991. It was determined that only when a captain commanded a frigate (as the senior officer afloat) would this insignia be displayed – which never occurred again in the Royal New Zealand Navy.
In 1996, Canterbury was one of the ships tasked with enforcing the embargo against Iraq in Operation Delphic (under US Navy Control). She also was the first New Zealand Navy ship to visit China (in 1987), and has participated in a number of humanitarian and peace-keeping missions, for example to Samoa, Fiji or New Guinea.[6]
Canterbury was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce.[26] She conducted four patrols between 26 September to 12 December 1999. The patrols were tense, with the ship being approached by Indonesian naval vessels and Hawk jets. Her duties included escorting landing craft through territory disputed with Indonesia, being the Dili guard ship and patrolling East Timor’s waters. Canterbury escorted the landing craft HMAS Tobruk when it landed a New Zealand infantry battalion in East Timor. During the deployment the ship achieved a remarkable 92% systems availability rate and had few mechanical defects, a considerable achievement for a ship of her age.[27]
In the early 2000s, it was becoming increasingly clear that the ship’s technical systems were getting old, and mechanical faults were multiplying. In October 2003, a fire broke out in the auxiliary switchboard while the ship was off the Chatham Islands. The ship was saved through quick action from 2 ratings, one of who received the New Zealand Order of Merit for his actions in the smoke-filled switchboard room, but it was considered that major damage or even ship loss had been only barely avoided. The repairs cost NZ$1 million,[28] and the incident, confirmed the ships life had already been dangerously overextended due to delays on orders for replacement ships with newer multi-role vessels[6] and possibly the forlorn hope that the eight-year old RN Type 23 frigateGrafton might have been approved as a replacement, it was instead sold to Chile.
HMNZS Canterbury at Opua in June 2007, with the last of her equipment being taken off-board
After being decommissioned in 2005, there was talk of converting her into a floating hostel. However, during a 2004 inspection, corrosion of the ship’s structure had been found to be too serious for her to stay afloat in the long term without very costly maintenance.[29] Enthusiasts at the Bay of Islands Canterbury Charitable Trust proposed the idea of scuttling her as a dive wreck at Deep Water Cove in the Bay of Islands. The New Zealand Navy ships Tui and Waikato are already lying on the ground off the Tutukaka Coast, while the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was scuttled off Matauri Bay. It is hoped that the wreck, in addition to becoming an artificial reef enhancing biodiversity, will also provide additional options for the regions diving tourism.[30] It is considered that removed scrap metal and equipment (such as ship’s lockers or the propeller) will bring up to NZ$400,000 to offset the NZ$650,000 costs of cleaning up and scuttling her,[31] while the worth to the local economy could be in the millions.[6] The ship itself had been sold to the trust for a symbolic NZ$1.[32]
It was expected that the ship would be able to be sunk late 2007, after potential contaminants and scrap materials had been stripped out, and the Department of Conservation had withdrawn its objections at the end of 2006.[30] The intention was originally to sink her on Saturday 20 October 2007 – two days before its 36th commissioning anniversary.[31] After some delays, on 3 November 2007 at 14:30 hrs[citation needed] she was eventually sunk by imported plastic explosives placed at 12 locations around the hull (totalling only 14 kg (31 lb) in weight).[33] The sinking was prepared by Norman Greenall, once Chief Petty Officer (shipwright) on Canterbury,[34] who has undertaken the scuttling of other New Zealand Navy ships (like HMNZS Wellington). Greenall has a somewhat colourful reputation in the navy as the person who has “sunk more of our navy ships than the enemy did in the whole of the Second World War”[28] – however, the actual sinking of Canterbury was performed by UK company Cadre One.[34]Canterbury now lies on the seabed in Deep Water Cove.
The frigate offered good diving, especially with the ship being mostly intact (contrary to many similar dive wrecks which have broken up) and especially when other places such as Matauri Bay were unavailable due to weather conditions.[35]
The wreck was sold to Te Rawhiti Enterprises (the local Hapū) for one dollar (the same amount that the Canterbury Trust paid the New Zealand Navy) on 15 July 2008, and the Trust was wound up and dissolved on 17 November 2008.[citation needed] The local Hapu will manage and market the wreck as their own to preserve their local heritage and preserve and enhance fish stocks. Due to depletion of stocks, a ban has been placed on fishing in the area for the time being, though there is still access to the wreck. 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.
Canterbury was decommissioned in 2005. In 2007 she was scuttled in the Bay of Islands to provide a dive wreck. She lies in 38 metres (125 ft) of water.[1]
Canterbury was the RNZN’s fourth Type 12 frigate. She was laid down on 12 June 1969 by Yarrow Shipbuilders and launched 11 months later on 6 May 1970. She was the last Leander-class frigate and the last steam-driven warship to serve in New Zealand. The order for the ship went ahead after some controversy and doubt generated by the then Minister of Finance, Robert Muldoon.[2] She was built at the end of the production line for Leanders to fit the most economical frigate building programme for the British Government, requiring 4 more Leanders for the Royal Navy, a pair for Chile (who ordered Exocet missiles) and one for RNZN.[3]
Canterbury was built in modular form in 25 sections[4] and then welded together on the slipway. This reduced construction time to 2.5 years but resulted in continuous disputes as neither Yarrow, the RNZN or RN had fully planned or had adequate supervision for fitting out RNZNs rather different broad beam Leander whose operations room, messing and helicopter facilities were 2 years behind or ahead of the RN 1969 patterns. She was the first Leander-class frigate to have the wells for Limbo mortars and VDS (dipping sonar) replaced and plated over to give a larger helicopter landing area, so helicopters larger than the original Westland Wasp could land and operate from the ship. A close circuit TV system was also introduced so flight deck operations could be observed and accurately controlled from the ships operation room. These innovations were refitted to most of the Royal Navy Leander fleet, including Canterbury’s sisters in the NZ fleet.
In 1968 the NZ government contemplated introducing US weapons systems.[5] In line with this Mk 32 anti-submarine torpedo tubes were fitted and a limited number of Mark 46 torpedoes were provided to supplement the older shallower diving Mk 44 torpedoes, to replace the short range Limbo mortar and to arm the Wasp helicopter. However plans for a US Edo sonar and chaff decoys and to arm the Wasp with the Anglo-French AS-12 small anti-ship missiles were not introduced due to cost and for political reasons.
During her time in service, she travelled about 960,000 nautical miles (44 circumnavigations of the Earth), and was temporary home for 559 officers and 3,269 ratings.[6]
Gerald Hensley, then at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, recalled that: “The frigate “Canterbury” on its delivery voyage sailed up the Potomac River to Washington, said to be the first foreign warship to do so since the British raid in 1814. Memories were long. A barbecue was held on the ship to promote New Zealand lamb and as I came away a man said to me, ‘What are these guys doing in this town? Last time they were here they burnt the place down’.”[7]
She was sent to Moruroa Atoll in 1973 as a symbolic protest of New Zealand against French nuclear testing.[8] F421 small GP computer was able to assess the radiation level and its up to date electronic warfare sniffers immediately identify a French P-2 Neptune, on 50,52 IFF bands sweeping the area, flying low, with radar, ECM ESM and visual search for the location of unwanted naval, protest yacht and possibly submarine activity. She observed the ‘Melpomène’ nuclear test carried out on 28 July 1973,[9] part of the 1971–74 French nuclear tests. It is the assessment of RAN officers that the presence of the modern RNZN warship, Canterbury, posed significant political and operational difficulties for the French and may have reduced the 1973 tests to 5 small bombs and been a factor why France never again conducted atmospheric testing.[10] The NZ Labour Government admitted that not only France but the UK government opposed the use of its recently delivered British frigate on this mission.[11] The French Government claimed in 1985 that the RNZ deployment to Muroroa in 1973 was one of the ‘provocations that led to the attack by the French Intelligence service and Navy on the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.[12] In November 1974, Canterbury deployed with Destroyer Squadron 5 of the United States Pacific Fleet off the West Coast for six months,[13] the first time a RNZN frigate had operated as an integral part of a U.S. Navy force. While such joint operation was common for the RAN, it was not repeated in the 20th Century by the RNZN, possibly because while the deployment was approved by the Kirk/Rowling 3rd Labour Government, there was considerable official comment when the frigate returned to Devonport bearing the prominent insignia, US DESRON 5 and because integrated operations were restricted by lack of funding by the following Muldoon government for common Link 10 data link communication systems and baseline HYCOR chaff defence systems,[14] and the standard for RNZN frigates was compatibility rather than commonality with, USN FF52 Frigates[15]
In April 1977 Canterbury and the Australian destroyer HMAS Brisbane were assigned to escort the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne during a five-month return trip to the United Kingdom for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Naval Review.[16] Priority for a planned new frigate (either a Type 21 frigate or Dutch Kortanear) and modernisation of HMNZS Taranaki, projects later cancelled by the Muldooon government, meant F421 received only a 12-month refit in 1980 to maximise seatime, and its mid life refit was delayed to Nov 1987 to June 1990, at a cost of $73 million,[17] the most significant changes fitting of Dutch LW08 long range surveillance radar, Phoenix electronic warfare systems and general replacement of radar and sonar with new solid state systems in place of the original obsolescent, British equipment. Updating was similar but more limited to that carried out of HMNZS Wellington, as F421 did not receive the extra fuel tanks and greatly increased cruising range of Wellington.
After the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982, New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon offered to send Canterbury to join the Royal Navy’s task force sailing south to retake the British territory [citation needed]. This offer was declined by the British government [citation needed]. Possible reasons for this included the facts that (1) The Leanders in RN service were past their prime[18] (2) HMNZS Canterbury had had little updating since its completion in 1971 (3) It had dated, slow processing radar (4) It was not yet fitted with UK or US sourced chaff decoy systems (5) Its crew lacked practice in using them (6) Its crew had little Atlantic experience operating against Soviet naval vessels which might be observing in the South Atlantic (7) Only four Leanders, HMS Argonaut , HMS Penelope, HMS Minerva, and HMS Andromeda participated in the conflict; Bacchante joined the task group in the last week. The British government suggested as a less-controversial alternative that Muldoon send RNZN frigates to relieve the British frigate squadron in the Persian Gulf for Falkland duties. It was a difficult deployment with long stints at sea and infrequent runs ashore in very foreign ports for the crews.[19] However they did feel closer to the Cold War action seeing significant Soviet warships and “Bear” surveillance aircraft.[20]
Canterbury was built with a surplus 1960’s RN Type 177 sonar, tuned for the Persian Gulf. The British MoD refused to fit the US Edo sonars (also planned for an RAN version of the Type 21 frigate rejected by the Australian Government in 1968)[21] and the NZ government – on cost grounds – rejected the new Doppler 184M sonars fitted to HMS Apollo, Achilles and Diomede being built alongside Canterbury in the Yarrow yard[22][self-published source?] The rather dated solid state sensors fitted were finally replaced as totally obsolescent, in the delayed mid life refit of the Canterbury between Nov 1987 and June 1990 costing $73 million. The fit was essentially similar to preceding refit of its sister broad beam, HMNZS Wellington, except Canterbury was not fitted with extra fuel tanks as RNZN and RN experience confirmed the modification difficult, dirty and expensive, on middle aged Leanders. The 1991 audit office review of the refit raised some issues, over the cost and need, for new ‘long range’ air surveillance,[23] LWO8 radar, but lacked the background to assess the relevance of maintaining the Leander frigates, historical role, as a fleet radar picket for operating with the RN fleet or whether the 4.5 guns and Seacat missiles were still useful, given RN reassessment and more accurate reporting, by 1991 of their failure as AA weapons in the Falklands war of 1982.[24]
During the Armilla patrols in 1982–83, the RNZN ships were not able to fully support the RN frigates Arrow and Galatea they were patrolling with in the Indian Ocean, because Prime Minister Muldoon refused to allow them to enter the Persian Gulf due to sensitivities with relations with Bahrain,[25] The Arrow and Galatea were partly equipped for the missile age with computer datalinks and anti-missile decoy systems which fitting to RNZN frigates was delayed. Nevertheless, Canterbury and Galatea were later jointly awarded the Wilkinson Sword of Peace for the tour.
Canterbury was halfway across the Tasman in February 1985 when relations broke down with the US Government over nuclear ship visits. She visited the US later that year while en route to Canada for the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) (port visits were made to Hawaii, San Diego and San Francisco.
Canterbury attended the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Crete in May 1991. During that deployment, Canterbury became the last ship in the Royal New Zealand Navy to ever wear the distinctive white funnel stripe denoting the fact that she was the senior ship within the 11th Frigate Squadron when Captain Alasdair Clayton-Greene departed the ship in Lumut, Malaysia in April 1991. It was determined that only when a captain commanded a frigate (as the senior officer afloat) would this insignia be displayed – which never occurred again in the Royal New Zealand Navy.
In 1996, Canterbury was one of the ships tasked with enforcing the embargo against Iraq in Operation Delphic (under US Navy Control). She also was the first New Zealand Navy ship to visit China (in 1987), and has participated in a number of humanitarian and peace-keeping missions, for example to Samoa, Fiji or New Guinea.[6]
Canterbury was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce.[26] She conducted four patrols between 26 September to 12 December 1999. The patrols were tense, with the ship being approached by Indonesian naval vessels and Hawk jets. Her duties included escorting landing craft through territory disputed with Indonesia, being the Dili guard ship and patrolling East Timor’s waters. Canterbury escorted the landing craft HMAS Tobruk when it landed a New Zealand infantry battalion in East Timor. During the deployment the ship achieved a remarkable 92% systems availability rate and had few mechanical defects, a considerable achievement for a ship of her age.[27]
In the early 2000s, it was becoming increasingly clear that the ship’s technical systems were getting old, and mechanical faults were multiplying. In October 2003, a fire broke out in the auxiliary switchboard while the ship was off the Chatham Islands. The ship was saved through quick action from 2 ratings, one of who received the New Zealand Order of Merit for his actions in the smoke-filled switchboard room, but it was considered that major damage or even ship loss had been only barely avoided. The repairs cost NZ$1 million,[28] and the incident, confirmed the ships life had already been dangerously overextended due to delays on orders for replacement ships with newer multi-role vessels[6] and possibly the forlorn hope that the eight-year old RN Type 23 frigateGrafton might have been approved as a replacement, it was instead sold to Chile.
HMNZS Canterbury at Opua in June 2007, with the last of her equipment being taken off-board
After being decommissioned in 2005, there was talk of converting her into a floating hostel. However, during a 2004 inspection, corrosion of the ship’s structure had been found to be too serious for her to stay afloat in the long term without very costly maintenance.[29] Enthusiasts at the Bay of Islands Canterbury Charitable Trust proposed the idea of scuttling her as a dive wreck at Deep Water Cove in the Bay of Islands. The New Zealand Navy ships Tui and Waikato are already lying on the ground off the Tutukaka Coast, while the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was scuttled off Matauri Bay. It is hoped that the wreck, in addition to becoming an artificial reef enhancing biodiversity, will also provide additional options for the regions diving tourism.[30] It is considered that removed scrap metal and equipment (such as ship’s lockers or the propeller) will bring up to NZ$400,000 to offset the NZ$650,000 costs of cleaning up and scuttling her,[31] while the worth to the local economy could be in the millions.[6] The ship itself had been sold to the trust for a symbolic NZ$1.[32]
It was expected that the ship would be able to be sunk late 2007, after potential contaminants and scrap materials had been stripped out, and the Department of Conservation had withdrawn its objections at the end of 2006.[30] The intention was originally to sink her on Saturday 20 October 2007 – two days before its 36th commissioning anniversary.[31] After some delays, on 3 November 2007 at 14:30 hrs[citation needed] she was eventually sunk by imported plastic explosives placed at 12 locations around the hull (totalling only 14 kg (31 lb) in weight).[33] The sinking was prepared by Norman Greenall, once Chief Petty Officer (shipwright) on Canterbury,[34] who has undertaken the scuttling of other New Zealand Navy ships (like HMNZS Wellington). Greenall has a somewhat colourful reputation in the navy as the person who has “sunk more of our navy ships than the enemy did in the whole of the Second World War”[28] – however, the actual sinking of Canterbury was performed by UK company Cadre One.[34]Canterbury now lies on the seabed in Deep Water Cove.
The frigate offered good diving, especially with the ship being mostly intact (contrary to many similar dive wrecks which have broken up) and especially when other places such as Matauri Bay were unavailable due to weather conditions.[35]
The wreck was sold to Te Rawhiti Enterprises (the local Hapū) for one dollar (the same amount that the Canterbury Trust paid the New Zealand Navy) on 15 July 2008, and the Trust was wound up and dissolved on 17 November 2008.[citation needed] The local Hapu will manage and market the wreck as their own to preserve their local heritage and preserve and enhance fish stocks. Due to depletion of stocks, a ban has been placed on fishing in the area for the time being, though there is still access to the wreck.
On arrival in New Zealand, Wellington was decommissioned and entered an extended refit which ended in 1986. The limited modernization proved difficult and took an unexpected 4 years. When inspected prior to purchase in 1981, she was in the condition expected for a Royal Navy (RN) frigate after a dozen years’ service. However, in 1982 the frigate conducted a four-month winter patrol in the postwar Falklands exclusion zone with the other four RN unmodernised Leanders. Sea conditions in the Falkland exclusion zone meant more expensive hull repair was needed. Large-scale energy projects in New Zealand, particularly Marsden Point, resulted in a loss of key dockyard staff and recruitment difficulties. The installation of additional fuel tanks to extend the range of South Pacific operations proved difficult and dirty work. A new gunnery control system (RCA-76) along with surface and navigation radar were fitted, escape hatches were enlarged and asbestos was removed.[1] The original estimated cost of transferring and refitting Bacchante and Dido to RNZN was $100m in 1981. By 1985 it reached $263m[2] Other minor changes were also made as a result of practical experiences of British frigates during the Falklands War.
Later refits saw new long-range air surveillance radar in place of the old 965 bedstead, with the Thales LW08 (1994) [clarification needed] and the original Seacat missile removed and replaced by the Phalanx CIWS (1998).[clarification needed]
Sea Cat missile launcher on HMNZS Wellington, 1987
Like her sister-ship HMNZS Canterbury, Wellington was stood to during the First Coup in Fiji in 1987 to evacuate New Zealand and other foreign nationals should the need have arisen.
In 1988, Wellington accompanied HMNZ Ships Canterbury, Endeavour and Waikato to Sydney, Australia to participate in the Bicentennial Salute to mark the 200th Anniversary of the settlement of Europeans in that country. Vessels from the navies of Australia, Britain, France, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, United States and Vanuatu were represented.
In 1994, Wellington contributed to the international Peace Keeping initiative in Bougainville along with Canterbury.
In 1995/1996, Wellington deployed to the Persian Gulf on the first of the RNZN deployments supporting the MIF (Multinational Interception Force) enforcing UN sanctions on Iraqi trade through the Gulf. Wellington successfully detained a number of vessels exporting dates from and attempting to import prohibited cargoes to Iraq. The frigate attended peace talks at Bougainville in July and August 1990. On 23 February 2017, it was announced by NZDF that the New Zealand Operations Service Medal (NZOSM)[3] had been awarded to personnel who were in Bougainville for the Operation BIGTALK peace talks.[4]
HMNZS Wellington prior to sinking, outside Te Papa.Removal of dangerous fittings and toxic substances, cutting of large holes in the hull.HMNZS Wellington being sunk.
Although the ship was due to be sunk at 3pm on 12 November 2005, this was delayed for 24 hours due to weather. The next day, the sinking was delayed by another 30 minutes due to the entanglement of a detonation cable under the frigate. At 3:30pm on 13 November, the ship was scuttled and took a minute and 55 seconds to sink. During a storm in February 2006, the ship broke up and is now lying in two sections on the seabed close to where it was sunk at 41°21.18′S 174°46.80′E[5]
The depth of her keel is approximately 21 metres (69 ft), making the wreck accessible by scuba divers using standard equipment.
.png)
