Pukaki was launched in Whangarei Harbour on 6 May 2008. Its primary duties included border and fisheries protection patrols, surveillance, boarding operations and search and rescue response.
Pukaki was the third ship of this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy and is named after Lake Pukaki.
Pukaki was decommissioned at Devonport Naval Base on 17 October 2019. Regulatory changes in 2012 resulted in operating restrictions around speed and sea states being imposed on them. Subsequently the RNZN assessed them as no longer being suited to the heavy seas typically encountered off New Zealand and further afield.[2]
In 2022, Pukaki, along with her sister Rotoiti, was sold to Ireland for use by the Irish Naval Service.[3] Both ships were purchased by Irish Department of Defence for €26m and transported by the heavy lift transport ship Happy Dynamic.[citation needed] Arriving in Ireland in May 2023,[4] they were delivered to the Irish naval base at Haulbowline in Cork Harbour where they are due to undergo a refit before being used primarily for fishery protection patrols on Ireland’s east coast.
These boats perform border and fishery protection patrols.
She was fitted out in Whangarei and on 20 November 2007 started contractor sea trials. After delays due to problems with gear and fittings, she was commissioned on 17 April 2009,[1] and arrived at the Devonport Naval Base for the first time on 24 April 2009. HMNZS Rotoiti was the first of her class to be commissioned in the Royal New Zealand Navy. Rotoiti was the third boat of this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy and named after Lake Rotoiti.
Rotoiti was decommissioned at Devonport Naval Base on 17 October 2019. Regulatory changes in 2012 resulted in operating restrictions around speed and sea states being imposed on them. Subsequently, the RNZN assessed them as no longer being suited to the heavy seas typically encountered off New Zealand and further afield, for which Protector-class offshore patrol vessels were more suited.[2]
In 2022, Rotoiti, along with her sister Pukaki, was sold to Ireland for use by the Irish Naval Service.[3] The two vessels arrived in Ireland in May 2023.
Inshore patrol vessel HMNZS Taupō enters the Otago Harbour Basin yesterday. On board are junior officers undertaking training. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
The New Zealand Navy stopped in to Otago Harbour for a visit yesterday as part of a voyage around numerous ports in the country.
A New Zealand Defence Force spokesman said inshore patrol vessel HMNZS Taupō had junior officers aboard undertaking the at-sea component of their basic officer of the watch course.
“This is the first course for warfare officers after they graduate from junior officer common training.”
The course runs over 16 to 20 weeks and teaches warfare officers basic principles and processes of navigation and bridge watch-keeping.
On the bridge of HMNZS Taupō in Otago Harbour last night are (from left) naval cadets Mitchell Fox, 17, and Neeka Wilson, 16, and Sub-lieutenant Rowan Stone. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
Navigation training is one of Taupō’s primary roles, alongside maritime security patrols, surveillance, boarding operations and search and rescue response, the spokesman said.
As part of the Dunedin visit, Taupō commanding officer Lieutenant Samara Mankelow will pay a courtesy visit to Dunedin’s mayor, and the crew will visit navy reserve unit HMNZS Toroa.
“Cadet Forces personnel will take tours of HMNZS Taupō and potential recruits were picked up by seaboat and delivered to the ship coming into harbour so they could ride in.
“This will be repeated in reverse when Taupo departs on Thursday”, the spokesman said.
HMAS Lachlan (K364/F364) (later HMNZS Lachlan (F364)) was a River-classfrigate that served the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from 1945 to 1949. The vessel was later transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy serving as surveyor until 1975 and was eventually scrapped in 1993.
During 1945, Lachlan was used during the opening of the Captain Cook Graving Dock; her bow was used to cut the ribbon across the drydock‘s mouth. In 1949, shortly before her decommissioning, she found the wreck of the SS Yongala, which sank with all 122 aboard in a cyclone in 1911. Her wreck was thought to be a shoal at that time. [1]
Lachlan was paid off on 31 May 1949. She was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy, renamed HMNZS Lachlan, and was a survey and Antarctic supply ship until February 1975. She was used as a “Refit Barge” with many workshops onboard until the late 1980s when she was sold to Chile to continue work as floating workshops for ships being refitted.[citation needed]
In 1948, the New Zealand government sought a survey ship to use temporarily until a new one could be built in Britain. After negotiations, Lachlan was offered on loan for an initial time of three years and on 31 May 1949 was paid off from RAN service and was immediately given to the Royal New Zealand Navy the next day. Following trials through September 1949, on 5 October 1949 HMNZS Lachlan was commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Navy.[2]
The ship was fully disarmed at the dockyard at HMNZS Philomel and the ship’s chart room enlarged for surveying. The ship was rushed into service so quickly that some of the finishing touches were done at sea. Her first survey was started on 18 November 1949 surveying the Wellington Harbour entrance, taking three weeks to complete with assistance of a survey motor boat from Australia. To assist with the creation of the hydrographic service, on earlier voyages part of the ships company included personnel from the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Navy.
HMNZS Lachlan surveyed over fifty percent of New Zealand’s coastline over her twenty years in commission. Some of her service included surveys in Australia and the rest of the Pacific, and she helped clear mines around the Gilbert & Ellice Islands from World War II. Her bow was damaged in a collision with the Napier wharf in October 1954. In 1963 the New Zealand government purchased the vessel for £16,000. By 1970, she was due to be decommissioned but in May 1970 the Royal New Zealand Navy was ordered by the government by an extra five years.
In 1975, HMNZS Lachlan was painted all grey and docked at HMNZS Philomel to house ship’s companies whose frigates were undergoing refits. In September 1975, her engines were removed and sold, and in 1993 the hulk was sold to a Philippines company for scrapping.
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