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HMNZS Tui, formerly USNS Charles H. Davis (T-AGOR-5), was one of nine Conrad class oceanographic ships built for the United States Navy (USN), that later saw service in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).

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HMNZS Tui, formerly USNS Charles H. Davis (T-AGOR-5), was one of nine Conrad class oceanographic ships built for the United States Navy (USN), that later saw service in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Serving with the USN from 1963 to 1970, these ships were designed to perform acoustic experiments on sound transmission underwater, and for gravity, magnetism and deep-ocean floor studies.

The ship was recommissioned into the RNZN in late 1970, and as HMNZS Tui served as an oceanographic survey and research ship until her decommissioning in 1997. In 1999, the ship was scuttled as a dive wreck.

Construction[edit]

The fourth ship to be so named by the Navy, Charles H. Davis (T-AGOR-5) was laid down by Christy Corporation, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, 30 June 1962; launched 30 June 1962; sponsored by Mrs. Roy Alexander Gano, wife of Admiral Roy Alexander Gano, Commander MSTS; delivered to the Navy 25 January 1963 and turned over to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) 25 January 1963.

Operational history[edit]

USN[edit]

RNZN[edit]

In 1970, she was transferred to the RNZN, and was commissioned on 11 September 1970 as HMNZS Tui. Tui was named after the Tūī bird, and was the second of two ships with this name to serve in the RNZN.

After a partial refit and the installation and testing of scientific equipment, Tui began a program of work for the Defence Scientific Establishment in Auckland. For years Tui went unobtrusively about the kind of work she was designed for, primarily underwater acoustics.

Tui worked in Australian, Indian Ocean and South Pacific waters. She worked on Auckland University research, with DSIR scientists, and with other oceanographic ships. Tui also took part in several American research programs. Her acoustic research was mainly to do with the detection and tracking of submarines.

During the 1970s she made an extensive search for the Maria Theresa Reef.

Decommissioning and fate[edit]

In 1997, Tui was decommissioned and was replaced by the hydrographic ship HMNZS Resolution.

In February 1999, Tui was scuttled 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Tutukaka Heads to serve as a tourist attraction and wreck for divers, following a period of work on her which removed any objects in danger of breaking free and welding shut any areas that may have posed a hazard for wreck divers.[1] Her anchor was presented to the City of Napie

HMNZS Tui (T234) was a Bird-class minesweeper of the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was commissioned in 1941 for minesweeping and anti-submarine roles. Tui was the first of two ships with this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy and was named after a native bird from New Zealand.

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HMNZS Tui

War service

In March 1942 in Scotland, Tui and the four Isles-class trawlers, Killegray, Inchkeith, Sanda and Scarba had been newly built for New Zealand. They were formed into a flotilla and departed from the River Clyde with a convoy bound for Canada. The trawler flotilla then left for Auckland, arriving there in August.

In Auckland, Tui was assigned to the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla and sailed for Suva to replace Matai. In December she joined her sister ships Kiwi and Moa at Nouméa. The 25th Minesweeping Flotilla had been offered to COMSOPAC, and by early December Tui, Moa, and Kiwi with Matai as flotilla leader, were all together at Nouméa ready to move north. They sailed for the Solomons, escorting a convoy some of the way. Making Tulagi their base they began anti-submarine screen patrols on 19 December 1942 off Tulagi and Lunga Point, Guadalcanal.

Landing barges[edit]

On 21 January 1943, Tui and Moa came across four Japanese landing barges stopped close inshore. When Tui and Moa closed in, those aboard the barges opened fire with machine guns and small arms and got underway. At close range Moa fired on the leading barge, but a fluke shot passed through the 4-inch (102 mm) gun aperture, ignited a cordite charge and injured all seven in the gun crew. Moa managed to silence the first barge and sink the last in line with 20 mm (0.79 in) gunfire, then withdrew and attended to the cordite fire and injuries. Tui then opened fire on the barges, sinking one with her 4-inch gun, and the remaining two escaped inshore in the darkness.[1]

Submarine I-17[edit]

On 19 August 1943, while escorting a convoy from Nouméa, Tui picked up a submarine contact. She made an initial run over it without using depth charges, a second run dropping two depth charges, and a third run throwing another two depth charges. Contact was lost and Tui signalled some US Kingfisher seaplanes of US Scouting Squadron VS-57, based in New Caledonia, to join the search. One of these indicated that Tui should investigate smoke on the horizon, where a submarine was sighted on the surface and Tui opened fire at maximum range, scoring one, possibly two hits. The aircraft then dropped depth charges and the submarine sank at 23°26′S 166°50′E.

The submarine was the Japanese submarine I-17, 2,190 tons, 108 metres (354 ft) long, built in 1939. Ninety-one crewmen were lost and Tui picked up six survivors who said that Tui‘s depth charge attacks had damaged the submarine and forced it to the surface.

The commanding officer and anti-submarine control officer on Tui had doubted whether the contact was really a submarine, so the depth-charge attacks were not properly carried out. A later Naval Board report concluded that “had the proper procedure been followed and a full depth-charge pattern fired in the original attack, there is little doubt but that the submarine would have been destroyed.”[2]

I-17 was the first Axis ship to shell the United States mainland when she shelled an oil refinery near Santa Barbara on 23 February 1942.[3]

Other service[edit]

COMSOPAC released the New Zealand ships in June 1945, and Tui departed the Solomons escorting a group of six RNZN Fairmiles. On her return to Auckland, Tui worked with Kiwi and the 7th Trawler Group on the final clearing of the German minefield in the outer Hauraki Gulf.

Post-war service[edit]

Tui was put in reserve in June 1946.

Training[edit]

In 1952 the Navy wanted to free some Loch-class frigates for service in the Korean War. Tui was recommissioned in February 1952 to take over training duties previously undertaken by the frigate Kaniere. This training was carried out for the Naval Volunteer Reserve and included training for compulsory reservists as well as volunteer reservists and sea cadets.

She was also used part-time by the DSIR and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

Oceanographic research[edit]

In October 1955 Tui was docked for conversion to an oceanographic research ship. On 5 March 1956, the now disarmed Tui was recommissioned and reclassified as a fleet auxiliary. She made many scientific cruises for the DSIR and NRL to places around New Zealand and Pacific islands. She investigated shipwrecks, notably MV Holmglen off Timaru in 1959 and MV Kaitawa off Cape Reinga in 1966.

Fate[edit]

Tui was decommissioned for the last time on 22 December 1967. She was stripped of her equipment and sold in December 1969 to Pacific Scrap Ltd who demolished her. She was replaced in 1970 by a purpose-built oceanographic ship with the same name.

HMNZS Tarapunga was a modified Moa class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).

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HMNZS Takapu (A07) and HMNZS Tarapunga (A08)

HMNZS Tarapunga was a modified Moa class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).

She was built by 1980 by the Whangarei Engineering and Construction Company as a version re-engineered for use as an inshore survey vessel.

After decommissioning, she was purchased by North American owners and can be seen in Harper’s Island Episode 1, as the charter boat that brings the wedding party to the island.[1] Can also be seen in season 2, episode 9, of Psych, from 2007

HMNZS Takapu (A07) was a modified Moa class inshore patrol vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).

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HMNZS Takapu (A07) and HMNZS Tarapunga (A08)

She was built by 1980 by the Whangarei Engineering and Construction Company as a version re-engineered for use as an inshore survey vessel.

HMNZS Takapu completed service in 2000 and was sold into private ownership. The vessel was converted for private use following an extensive refit. HMNZS Takapu was renamed Takapu 2 following her decommissioning from the New Zealand Navy.

HMNZS Resolution (A14) was a hydrographic ship of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).

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Originally the United States Naval Ship USNS Tenacious (T-AGOS-17), the Stalwart-class ocean surveillance ship was used by the United States to locate and track Soviet submarines from 1989 to 1997, when she was transferred to the RNZN for use as a hydrographic survey ship. She served until 27 April 2012. She was subsequently sold to EGS Group, a private surveying company, and renamed RV Geo Resolution.

Construction[edit]

The ship’s construction contract was awarded 20 February 1987 to VT Halter Marine, Inc. of Moss Point, Mississippi, under then name Intrepid. Her keel was laid down 26 February 1988, she was launched 17 February 1989 and commissioned as USNS Tenacious on 29 September 1989. The renaming was prompted by protests from veterans of the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, who felt that the surveillance ship was not a fitting vessel to carry on the carrier’s name.[2]

Operational history[edit]

United States[edit]

Tenacious (foreground) and sister ship Contender tied up at Bishop’s Point, Pearl Harbor, in 1991

During the Cold War, Ocean Surveillance Ships patrolled the world’s oceans searching for Soviet Navy submarines. Data was collected using the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), consisting of listening devices and electronic equipment that transmit the acoustic data via satellite to shore for analysis. SURTASS is a linear array of 8,575 feet (2,614 m) deployed on a 6,000-foot (1,800 m) tow cable and neutrally buoyant. The array could operate at depths between 500 and 1,500 feet (150 and 460 m).

Tenacious was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and sold to New Zealand on 6 February 1997.

New Zealand[edit]

On commissioning into the RNZN on 13 February 1997, the ship was renamed HMNZS Resolution, after the sailing sloop HMS Resolution, used by James Cook during his second and third voyages of exploration, in recognition of the extensive hydrographic survey work done by Cook.[3] Resolution replaced HMNZ Ships Tui and Monowai as the navy’s primary survey and acoustic research vessel.[3] She undertook various marine survey tasks, including for the Land Information New Zealand agency.[1] SMB Adventure was operated by Resolution as a tender and survey motor boat.

Resolution sponsored a scholarship for under-privileged high school students to participate in a 10-day passage on the sail training ship Spirit of New Zealand. On occasion, university and high school students were embarked aboard Resolution as part of the ‘Students at Sea’ programme.[1]

On 22 February 2011, Resolution was underway off Christchurch when the 2011 Canterbury earthquake occurred. NZ Navy Today said later : ‘..the feeling onboard was that the engines had been set in full astern with associated shuddering and shaking. It was only when a dust cloud over Christchurch was observed and chatter on VHF soon alerted the bridge team of the enormity of the disaster. With Captain Dean McDougall (CTU 654.0.1, Captain Fleet Operational Support) in an established headquarters on HMNZS Canterbury in Lyttelton, Resolution reported for duty and was subsequently called in to conduct a hydrographic confidence survey of the main channel into the Port of Lyttelton.[4]

Resolution was decommissioned at Devonport Naval Base on 27 April 2012.[3] She was subsequently sold to EGS Group, a private surveying company, and renamed RV Geo Resolution. Following the sale she left Devonport Naval Base for the final time on 11 October 2014