Joe Mataele named RNZN Sailor of the Year
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 – 16:28 – Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
Royal New Zealand Navy 2024 Sailor of the Year, Joe Mataele. Photo: RNZN.
Joe Mataele, a Leading Marine Technician (LMT) who grew up in Tonga, was named the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) 2024 Sailor of the Year.
LMT Mataele “is a highly respected engineer known for his motivation, problem-solving abilities, and a steadfast commitment to safety and continuous professional growth,” RNZN stated.
He is also a Basic Common Training instructor for RNZN newest aspiring sailors.
“LMT Mataele is an inspiring leader who lays a strong foundation in discipline, accountability, and teamwork, ensuring our recruits are prepared to meet the demands of naval service with confidence and resilience.”
“His guidance goes beyond technical skills, fostering a warrior mind-set and deep understanding of our core values. His professionalism, resilience, and unwavering dedication sets a very high benchmark for others to follow,” RNZN added.
Royal New Zealand Navy’s Sailor of the Year
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Aotearoa completes Indo-Pacific mission
From Hawaii to the South China Sea, HMNZS Aotearoa’s 2024 Operation Crucible deployment has been a successful reaffirmation of New Zealand’s partnerships on the water.
29 October, 2024
Aotearoa returned to Devonport on 25 October after 135 days away, with family and friends waiting on Calliope Wharf to welcome the crew home. Navy colleagues greeted the ship’s company with a haka, who responded with their own.
For Commanding Officer Commander Rob Welford, his return to Devonport was exactly one year and one day since he took command of Aotearoa, and the second time he has brought Aotearoa home from South East Asia. He took command of Aotearoa in Singapore towards the end of the ship’s 2023 deployment.
CDR Welford says he could not be prouder of his ship’s company.
“Our many successes with multiple countries, including some ‘firsts’ for the ship like an eight-hour refueling of USS Boxer, shows how Aotearoa continues to be the ‘tanker of choice’ in delivering an operational effect for our Defence partners.
“In all our engagements and taskings, Aotearoa’s sailors have had a smile on their face and put 100 per cent effort into everything they have done. I couldn’t ask for more.”
Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, Major General Rob Krushka, and RNZN Maritime Component Commander, Commodore Shane Arndell, were in Devonport to meet and talk with the crew of Aotearoa.
MAJGEN Krushka and CDRE Arndell wanted to convey the NZDF and the Navy’s thanks to the ship’s company for a lengthy mission professionally conducted.
CDRE Arndell says Aotearoa’s accomplishments shows the Royal New Zealand Navy is a highly trained blue-water navy with the personnel and platforms to make a tangible contribution on the world stage supporting the international rules-based system.
“There will be plenty more of these opportunities for our sailors in coming months allowing them to be at the sharp end of operations, and that’s exactly why they joined,” he says.
“This has been a long time away for the crew of Aotearoa but they should be incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved.”
Aotearoa returned to Devonport on 25 October after 135 days away, with family and friends waiting on Calliope Wharf to welcome the crew home.
Aotearoa returned to Devonport on 25 October after 135 days away, with family and friends waiting on Calliope Wharf to welcome the crew home.
Aotearoa returned to Devonport on 25 October after 135 days away, with family and friends waiting on Calliope Wharf to welcome the crew home.
Aotearoa returned to Devonport on 25 October after 135 days away, with family and friends waiting on Calliope Wharf to welcome the crew home.
Aotearoa returned to Devonport on 25 October after 135 days away, with family and friends waiting on Calliope Wharf to welcome the crew home.Scroll to previous imageScroll to next image
Exercise Rimpac
HMNZS Aotearoa arrived early to Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2024 (RIMPAC 2024) in Hawaii on June 23, ready to work with four other replenishment ships as part of Combined Task Force 173, RIMPAC’s combat logistics task force.
Aotearoa’s early arrival meant it could conduct Replenishment at Sea (RAS) trials with commercial tanker MV Allied Pacific, both alongside and then at sea. Being able to receive fuel from a commercial tanker while at sea was a brand-new capability for Aotearoa.
Aotearoa received a total of 13,386,000 litres of F76 Diesel Fuel and passed a total of 6,384,000 litres of F76 diesel fuel and 460,000 litres of aviation fuel to customer ships both inside and outside the exercise.
Aotearoa conducted RAS operations with 16 partner ships, including a concurrent RAS with United States destroyer USS Sterett and Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver.
A significant highlight was replenishing USS Boxer, an Amphibious Assault Ship sailing to Asia for its operational deployment.
It meant Boxer had to be stationed 45m off Aotearoa’s port beam for 8.5 hours while close to 3 million litres of diesel fuel and 350,000 litres of aviation fuel were pumped across.
It was both the longest replenishment and largest ship ever replenished by Aotearoa.
HMNZS Aotearoa participated in Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 24.
Korean Peninsula
Aotearoa’s deployment shifted to Japan and North Korea to contribute to the monitoring of United Nations Security Council Resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. During its four-week involvement, Aotearoa’s role was to replenish international navy vessels patrolling the Korean Peninsula.
During the transit Aotearoa enjoyed the company of Vancouver, with both ships conducting a variety of manoeuvres and swapping crew members to experience life on board another nation’s vessel.
Aotearoa conducted port visits to Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan.
Multilateral exercises
Aotearoa continued its support of partner navies during its passage south to Singapore. It conducted replenishments and manoeuvres with South Korea, Japan, Germany, Australia, the Philippines and the United States, including taking part in a Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity international exercise in the South China Sea, designed to strengthen interoperability in the maritime context. It included a concurrent replenishments with returning customer USS Boxer and USS Comstock, and with destroyers USS Howard and HMAS Sydney.
HMNZS Aotearoa conducting a Dual-Replenishment at Sea with HMAS Sydney and USS Howard. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship JS Sazanami sails behind. Photo: Royal Australian Navy
Taiwan Strait transit
Aotearoa sailed through the Taiwan Strait with Sydney on the afternoon of 25 September, en route to a port visit in Singapore.
Maritime Component Commander CDRE Shane Arndell said this was a routine movement from one point in the Indo-Pacific to another.
“The New Zealand Defence Force conducts all activities in accordance with international law and best practice. This was a routine activity, consistent with international law, including the right of freedom of navigation as guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”
The last previous transit of the Taiwan Strait, en route to Qingdao, China was conducted by HMNZS Te Kaha in 2017.
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HMNZS Tutira, ex-HMS Loch Morlich was a Loch-class frigate that never saw service with the Royal Navy.
Ordered during World War II, she saw service instead with the Royal Canadian Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named for Loch Morlich in Scotland. After the war she was returned to the Royal Navy and she was sold to the Royal New Zealand Navy and renamed Tutira.
Loch Morlich which was ordered from Swan Hunter on 13 February 1943. She was laid down 15 July 1943 and launched 25 January 1944. Upon completion she was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and commissioned on 17 July 1944, at Wallsend-on-Tyne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Loch_Morlich_(K517)
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Ex-Royal Navy commander praised for saving lives after New Zealand naval ship sinks
7th October 2024 at 12:33pm
HMNZS Manawanui had been under the command of ex-Royal Navy officer Commander Yvonne Gray (Picture: New Zealand Navy Today)
A former Royal Navy officer who now serves in the Royal New Zealand Navy has been praised for her decision to evacuate everyone aboard the stricken HMNZS Manawanui.
Commander Yvonne Gray gave the order for all hands to abandon ship when it ran aground and caught fire off the coast of Samoa – it then listed heavily and 12 hours later was entirely submerged
Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Garin Golding, said she made the “right decision” to evacuate the 75 people aboard, which “saved lives”.
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He added: “Evacuating a ship at night is an incredibly complex and dangerous task.”
Defence Minister Judith Collins says a Court of Inquiry will establish how the Navy ship crashed into a reef.
She called the evacuation “something of a triumph, frankly”, given the difficult conditions.
Originally from Harrogate in Yorkshire, Cdr Gray took the helm of the RNZN’s dive, hydrographic and salvage vessel HMNZS Manawanui in December 2022.
Her career began in the Royal Navy when she joined in 1993, after spending university holidays at a Sea Cadet facility in the Lake District.
She spent most of her junior career at sea, including on the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible and the minehunters Walney, Bridport and Cromer, after specialising as a Mine Warfare Officer.
After completing the Principal Warfare Officer course in 2004, she joined HMS Westminster as the PWO (Underwater) and Operations Officer, with operational experience in West Africa, Northern Europe and the Gulf.
Following a posting to the Maritime Warfare Centre in Portsmouth, she took the opportunity in 2009 to work with the Royal Australian Navy at HMAS Watson, Sydney.
Cdr Gray then moved to New Zealand in 2012 after a campervan holiday where she and her wife fell in love with the country.
Speaking to New Zealand’s Navy Today magazine in 2022, she said: “How do we get to live here, we asked ourselves,” adding: “The most obvious thing was to apply to join the Royal New Zealand Navy.”
On taking command of HMNZS Manawanui, Cdr Gray said: “It was that opportunity that made my eyes light up.”
