HMNZS KaiwakaHMNZS Kaiwaka crewHMNZS Kaiwaka (T14) Danlayer – No other information about above news cutting Converted merchant ship, 1941–1945.
HMNZS Kaiwaka Built: 1937 W.G. Lowe, Auckland. Type: Danlayer Pennant No.: T14 Displacement: 169 tons gross, 98 tons net Length: 88.3 ft./26.9 m Beam: 23 ft./7 m Draft: 7.75 ft./2.3 m Propulsion: Motor 145 bhp single screw diesel Speed: 10 knots. Complement: 12 Armament; 1 X light MG, DCs
Kaiwaka was a wooden motor-powered cargo lighter owned by NZ Refrigerating Co. Ltd employed carrying meat to overseas ships off Wanganui.
She was requisitioned on 7 January 1941 for conversion to a danlayer. A danlayer is a small vessel employed in minesweeping operations to lay dan-buoys to mark the limits of the channels swept through a minefield.
She was delivered to the naval authorities on 5 March 1941 and commissioned for service on 21 May 1941 by Lieutenant A. K. Griffith RNZNVR. She was based mainly at Auckland operating with the 25th MS flotilla and occasionally towing targets.
At the beginning of March 1942 Kaiwaka sailed to Suva where she was employed as a danlayer assisting the USN in laying protective minefields in the Nandi area, returning to Auckland on 25 April.
She visited Wellington several times , being temporary port danlayer for two months in 1943.
During October 1943 Kaiwaka and Thomas Currell swept the short lines of mines in the minor channels on either side of Rakino Island in the Hauraki Gulf.
In January-February 1944 she took part in sweeping the independent minefield in the Bay of Islands and in May she assisted with the sweeping of the defensive minefield laid in March 1942 across the main channel in the Hauraki Gulf.
In March-May 1945 Kaiwaka and the minesweepers began a final clearance of the German minefield laid in June 1940 in the approaches to the Hauraki Gulf.
Kaiwaka paid off on 16 September 1945 when replaced by a converted Castle class minesweeper. She was handed over to the Marine Department and refitted but return to her owners was clouded by legal issues over her condition and delayed until 19 July 1947.
HMNZS Coastguard (T12) Converted trawler 1941–1960 Danlayer – Functioned as a stores ship 1945–1960
English: Coastguard underway, 1940s – used to supply HMNZS Tamaki, Motuihe Island until 1960 Date 8 April 2024 Source Auckland War Memorial Museum Author Tudor Washington Collins
At the beginning of March 1942 the Matai sailed to Suva, where she was joined by the danlayers Kaiwaka and Coastguard. At that time the United States Navy was preparing to establish a base and fleet anchorage in Nandi Waters at the western end of Viti Levu. Lieutenant C. C. Lowry, RN, in charge of a Royal Australian Navy survey party, arrived at Suva on 12 March and surveyed the Nandi area, assisted by Lieutenant-Commander A. D. Holden, RNZNR, commanding officer of the Matai, and his ship’s company. During the first week of April the Matai, Kaiwaka, and Coastguard, as danlayers, co-operated with the United States ships Gamble, Ramsay, and Kingfisher which laid protective minefields in Nandi Waters. In company with the Muritai, the Kaiwaka and Coastguard returned to Auckland on 25 April. HMFS Viti arrived back at Suva early in April, relieving the Moa which sailed for Auckland. The Gale also returned to Suva on 25 May but a month later was ordered to Noumea.
HMNZS Phyllis (T22)HMNZS Phyllis at the Devonport Naval Base, HMNZS Kiwi (T102) inboardHMNZS Phyllis at the Devonport Naval Base, HMNZS Kiwi (T102) inboardHMNZS Phyllis Built: Seattle Construction Co., USA 1912 Type: Danlayer Pennant No.: T22 Displacement: 148 tons gross, 67 tons net Length: 96.1 ft./29.3 m Beam: 19.5 ft./ 5.9 m Draft: 2.8 ft./0.8 m Propulsion: Steam recip., ihp 350, single screw coal fired Speed: 9 knots. Armament: 2 x light MG Complement: 14 Phyllis was built as a whale chaser built for the Norwegians named Star III, and worked from Stewart Island. She was laid up there in 1929, sold to a NZ buyer, renamed Phyllis and used as a trawler. The ship was purchased from the Canterbury Steam Trawling Co. Ltd.of Christchurch on 3 September 1942 and fitted out at Lyttelton as a danlayer, the intention being to employ her at Auckland. A danlayer is a small vessel employed in minesweeping operations to lay dan-buoys to mark the limits of the channels swept through a minefield.
She was commissioned on 11 January 1943 as HMNZS Phyllis and sailed for Auckland but was delayed by engine trouble in Wellington. Inspection at Auckland rvealed numerpous defects and she prove unsatisfactory as a danlayer. Repairs were not completed and little or no use was made of Phyllis: she paid off in 28 February 1944 and was sold. http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4073&page=
Humphrey before being given the pennant number T06.Humphrey after World War 2 as a steam trawler owned by Sanford LTD. When she was scrapped she was owned by “McCallum Bros”
This vessel was built to an Admiralty trawler pattern for the Royal Navy at the end of the First World War as a Strath-class minesweeper. It does not appear to have had any wartime or post-war service with the Royal Navy and was put up for sale as a fishing vessel. It also appears as if the original name was Robert Farecloth but was changed to Humphrey. In 1928 it was purchased by a New Zealand fishing company Sanford and brought to New Zealand for service as a fishing vessel.
By 1939 it was still under the ownership of Sanford in Auckland and working as one of its fishing fleet. The Marine Department under wartime regulations requested Sanford release its trawlers under charter to the Navy. Humphrey was the second vessel taken up and was taken over to the Devonport Naval Base to be fitted out as a minesweeper which took five weeks. A 102mm gun was fitted along with minesweeping gear. She was commissioned formally on 16 October as HMS Humphrey. She was one of three vessels of Sanford’s taken up from commercial service for use as minesweepers at the outbreak of the Second World War. There other two vessels were James Cosgrove and Thomas Currell which was of the same class as Humphrey. At the start of the war, the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy only had one minesweeper HMS Wakakura in commission and was ordered to take up vessels for minesweeping duties as soon as possible. The government did not want a repeat of the situation in the First World War when it had to scramble for vessels after discovering mines had been laid in New Zealand waters by the raider SMS Wolf. Because of the need for minesweepers, the civilian crew of Humphrey was kept on and the master given a temporary naval rank and Volunteer Reservists joined the ship to complement the civilians. In order for more financial control, the government purchased Humphrey from Sanford in November 1940 for the sum of £22,500. This nullified the costly charter that benefited Sanford.
Initially Humphrey saw little service. In February 1940 she had to tow HMS James Cosgrove back to Auckland after she developed a serious engine fault. This changed in 1940 when the German raider HKS Orion laid mines in the Hauraki Gulf. At the time Humphrey was in refit in Auckland at the Naval Base. On 19 June 1940 the RMS Niagara struck a mine and sank in the Gulf taking with her a shipment of gold. Along with HMS Wakakura, Humphrey and her sister ships swept the approaches to Auckland and disposed of the German mines located. After the first deployment in the Gulf, Humphrey was sent to sweep off Wellington and then Lyttelton [Christchurch]. She then moved on to Cape Farewell and Cape Campbell in the South Island. During this time she never came across any enemy mines. In August 1940 Humphrey recovered a mine that was found drifting off Red Mercury Island. After the explosive was removed and destroyed the minesweeper towed the mine back to the Naval Base.
In November 1940 the First Minesweeping Group was formed in Auckland consisting of Wakakura & Humphrey. This was not a fixed location as in 1941 the minesweepers would be deployed wherever needed. By 1942 permanent locations were allocated and the sister ship Thomas Currell joined the Auckland based Group. In 1942 Humphrey was temporarily detached and sent to the Third Minesweeping Group based at Lyttelton but was back in Auckland by October. From 1940 to early 1944 the Groups were constantly sweeping the shipping channels off the main ports.
In early 1944 HMNZS Humphrey was sent to Wellington for conversion into a Boom Gate Vessel as New Zealand-built Castle-class minesweepers were coming into service. The project was abandoned as the war situation improved and she was tied up in Wellington. At this time the wartime government was under pressure from the fishing companies to return their vessels so they could resume pre-war fishing operations. On 21 May 1944 Humphrey returned to Auckland from Wellington and paid off from service in the Royal New Zealand Navy. In July she was sold back to Sanford, refitted, and resumed her working life as a fishing vessel. In 1954 she was sold by Sanford and was dismantled in Auckland. By 1956 she was hulked as a shingle bin near Waikauri Bay, Takatu north of Kawau Island. In 1970 the hull was towed back to Auckland and scrapped.
