HMNZS Kapuni (T15)
Functioned as patrol boat 1940 and supply ship 1944–45.
Functioned as patrol boat 1940 and supply ship 1944–45.
Converted Merchant Ships
Functioned as patrol boat 1940 and supply ship 1944–45.
HMFS Viti (T373) 1941 December 16 Came under the control of the Royal New Zealand Navy
Ship Details:
Type: Minesweeper, patrol, anti-submarine vessel
Pennant No.: T373 (from 16/12/1941)
Commissioned: 17 April 1941 ad HMFS Viti– NZNB control from 16 December 1941
End of Service: As minesweeper ended service June 1944
As supply ship decommissioned 7 November 1945
Displacement: 676 tons (687 tonnes)
Dimensions: 48.5 x 9.6m
Owner: Fiji Government
Based: Suva
Built: Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering, Hong Kong
Machinery: two diesel engines 1100bhp = 12 knots
Pre-war use: passenger/cargo and supply ship
Complement: 56 officers and ratings
Armament: 1 x 4-inch (102mm) gun, 2 x 3-pdr guns, 2 x light machineguns, 4 x depth charges, ASDIC, 1 x 20mm Oerlikon fitted in 1943 – unofficial
Ship’s History
RCS (Royal Colonial Ship) Viti was built and launched at Hong Kong in late 1939 and was fitted out as a ‘minor combatant ship. However she was not fitted with any weapons and was used for administrative duties in the Western Pacific including Fiji. Viti first arrived in Auckland in January 1941. She was to be equipped to train Fiji’s volunteer naval forces in minesweeping. This was a common practice during the war. Most Volunteer Reserve personnel were given training in minesweeping and posted to minesweepers or other small vessels rather than major warships.
To formalise the command structure, Viti was commissioned on 17 April 1941 as His Majesty’s Fijian Ship (HMFS) Viti under Fijian control. In November 1941 the New Zealand Government advised the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs that New Zealand could not be responsible for the defence of Fiji unless the Viti was placed under the control of the New Zealand Naval Board for ‘uninterrupted employment in Fijian waters.’ In December 1941 she was placed under Admiralty control and it appears at this time she changed her prefix to HMS. From 16 December the New Zealand Naval Board was given operational control of the vessel. HMFS/HMS Viti spent her war service in Fijian waters and would return annually to New Zealand for refitting. On her first refit visit in December 1941, she was equipped with ASDIC. All refits were undertaken during the New Zealand winter at Lyttleton between 1943 and 1945.
She was tasked with carrying out patrol, escort and minesweeping work. With the American entry into the Second World War there were changes to the defence responsibilities in the Pacific. From late 1942, the American Navy took over the defence of Fiji. Fiji was a target of the Japanese forces in early 1942 until the tactical draw at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 followed by the decisive American victory at Midway in June 1942. Operation control of Viti was passed to COMSOPAC. For five months in 1942 she was in constant operation with aircraft of the RNZAF maintaining anti-submarine patrols and ‘close anti-submarine escort for the increasing number of troop transports and supply ships arriving and sailing from Suva. This monotonous round of duty was scarcely relieved by infrequent and unverified reports of submarines.’ In late 1943 she was escorting vessels to the Solomons and Tarawa Atoll where she lost her ASDIC dome in early 1944.
In the 1944 refit she was partly disarmed, had the minesweeping gear removed and converted back to a supply vessel for the Western Pacific under the control of the High Commissioner Western Pacific (HCWP) based at Suva. She served with the Hawera, Kapuni and the ex-USN Awahou which had been approved for service with the HCWP by the War Cabinet of the New Zealand Government. Until her decommissioning in November 1945, she carried supplies around the Western Pacific for the HCWP and well as passengers and troops. In September 1945 she towed the broken down Hawera from Espiritu Santo to Suva for repairs which was a trip of 700 miles (1127km). She also escorted the RNZN HDML 1184 from Auckland to Suva in November 1944 and after the decommissioning ceremony on 7 November 1945, her last official duty was to escort the HDML 1348 from Suva to Auckland arriving on 18 November 1945. At this time she ended her naval service and returned to the ownership of the Fiji government. She undertook several passenger and cargo voyages between Auckland and the Pacific Islands but put up for sale in late 1946. In 1948 she was sold to the Tasman Steam Ship Co. in Auckland and was to be used for the coastal and trans-Tasman trade. She was laid up in 1961 and then sold again.
In 1955 one of the RNZN’s SDMLs P3555 (HMNZS Tamure) was made available to the Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (FRNVR) and was renamed HMFS Viti until 1959 when the Reserve went into recess. During her passage to and from Fiji she was accompanied by one of the Loch-class frigates.
HMFS Viti
1941 December 16 Came under the control of the Royal New Zealand Navy
http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/viti.htm
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HMNZS Hawera (T16) updated
HMNZS Hawera (T16) (carried the name of a town without a port and without naval associations.)
World War II minesweeper,
194th Minesweeping Group – Auckland=LL magnetic minesweepers: Hinau, Manuka, Rimu, Hawera, Kapuni-Vessel Name: HAWERA-Vessel ID: 1121387-Official No: 121387-Vessel Type: Coastal vessel-Tonnage: 174 gross-Owner: South Taranaki Shipping Company-Built: 1912-Builder: Brown, W.H., Auckland-Engine: Sream, compound,154 ihp–Date of Fate: 1957-Type of Fate: Broken up-Region of Fate: Auckland region-Vessel Abstract: Saw war service as H.M.N.Z.S. HAWERA 1943-45.,
Functioned as supply ship in 1945.
The remains of HMNZS Hawera
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HMNZS Gale (T04) was a coastal cargo boat which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and converted into a minesweeper. She was the first New Zealand vessel to go into action against Japan.
Gale was owned by the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company. She was one of four ships requisitioned as a consequence of the German auxiliary cruiser Orion’s minefield and the loss of the liner Niagara, the others being Matai, Puriri and Rata. She was taken over on 10 October 1940 and handed to the dockyard for conversion. She was a sister ship to Breeze.
Operational history
Gale joined the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla in April 1941, sweeping for German mines in the Hauraki Gulf. On 14 May, she rescued the survivors of the Puriri sinking. Later in 1941, the flotilla swept suspected minefield areas such as near Cuvier Island and Farewell Spit. In December 1941 Gale detached to relieve Viti in Fiji. She returned to New Zealand for refit in February 1942.
In June 1942, Gale was deployed to Noumea for port minesweeping duties where she was the first New Zealand vessel to deploy with COMSOPAC, the United States Navy’s South Pacific Command, then taking over command of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla. On 5 August, Gale located a missing US amphibious aircraft, rescued the crew, and towed it back to Noumea. The ship subsequently received a US commendation. Gale sailed back to New Zealand on 30 October 1942; she was then assigned to Wellington as a port minesweeper with the Second Minesweeping Group.
In February 1943, Gale rejoined the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla at Tulagi in the Solomons. In April 1943, her sister ship Breeze arrived at Tulagi, at which point Gale, Breeze and Matai were formed into the 9th Auxiliary Minesweeping group. They carried out night-time patrol and escort duties under COMSOPAC control. The Japanese were largely well to the north by this time, but occasionally made sudden attacks into American strongholds around Guadalcanal.
From time to time flotilla boats would return to Auckland for refit, usually escorting freighters bound the same way. By mid-1944, the owners were demanding the return of Gale and her twin Breeze. COMSOPAC released her on 20 September 1944.
Fate
Gale was sold by Canterbury Steam Shipping Company in December 1962[1] to Cia de Transportes Sylvia S.A. of Panama and renamed Jasa. She was scrapped in Singapore in 1970
Gale was owned by the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company. She was one of four ships requisitioned as a consequence of the Orion‘s minefield and the loss of the liner Niagara, the others being Matai, Puriri and Rata. She was taken over on 10 October 1940 and handed to the dockyard for conversion. She was a sister ship to Breeze.
Operational history[edit]
Gale joined the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla in April 1941, sweeping for German mines in the Hauraki Gulf. On 14 May, she rescued the survivors of the Puriri sinking. Later in 1941, the flotilla swept suspected minefield areas such as near Cuvier Island and Farewell Spit. In December 1941 Gale detached to relieve Viti in Fiji. She returned to New Zealand for refit in February 1942.
In June 1942, Gale was deployed to Noumea for port minesweeping duties where she was the first New Zealand vessel to deploy with COMSOPAC, the United States Navy‘s South Pacific Command, then taking over command of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla. On 5 August, Gale located a missing US amphibious aircraft, rescued the crew, and towed it back to Noumea. The ship subsequently received a US commendation. Gale sailed back to New Zealand on 30 October 1942; she was then assigned to Wellington as a port minesweeper with the Second Minesweeping Group.
In February 1943, Gale rejoined the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla at Tulagi in the Solomons. In April 1943, her sister ship Breeze arrived at Tulagi, at which point Gale, Breeze and Matai were formed into the 9th Auxiliary Minesweeping group. They carried out night-time patrol and escort duties under COMSOPAC control. The Japanese were largely well to the north by this time, but occasionally made sudden attacks into American strongholds around Guadalcanal.
From time to time flotilla boats would return to Auckland for refit, usually escorting freighters bound the same way. By mid-1944, the owners were demanding the return of Gale and her twin Breeze. COMSOPAC released her on 20 September 1944.
Fate[edit]
Gale was sold by Canterbury Steam Shipping Company in December 1962[1] to Cia de Transportes Sylvia S.A. of Panama and renamed Jasa. She was scrapped in Singapore in 1970
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HMNZS Duchess (T07)
HMNZS DUCHESS – Type: Auxiliary Minesweeper/Examination Vessel
Pennant No.: T07
Built: 1897 Mackie & Thompson Scotland
Type: Auxiliary Minesweeper/Examination Vessel
Pennant No.: T07
Displacement: 314 tons gross, 137 tons net
Length: 133.6 ft. /40.7 m Beam: 26 ft./7.9 m Draft: 10.3 ft./3.1 m
Propulsion: Steam reciprocating 650 ihp, single shaft, coal
Speed: 12 knots
Complement: 17 as MS, 24 as Exam. Vessel
Armament: 1 light MG
Duchess was a passenger ferry operating in the Hauraki Gulf. In 1934 the ship was charted for 12 weeks, converted and commissioned as HMS Duchess II for five weeks of MS trials. She was then returned to her owners.
She was requisitioned on 24 June 1940 and commissioned on 8 July, temporarily in the first instance, as an additional sweeper at Auckland, although questionably suitable. In April 1941 she was reduced to care and maintenance on a mooring In November she was taken in hand for conversion to an examination vessel, a duty she performed at Auckland until the service ceased in September 1944.
After a further spell on the moorings, Duchess performed as a supply ship to HMNZS Tamaki from February 1945 until September 1946 when she was paid off and placed on sale. She was sold in December to F. Appleton of Penrose for breaking up. The hull was stripped , towed away and beached in Boulder Bay, Rangitoto Island.
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