Category Archives: new zealand

Pre-owned RNZN dive ship up for grabs

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HMNZS Manawanui (A09), a 141-foot diving support/mine countermeasures ship was decommissioned 23 February 2018 after 30 years of service to the Kiwi fleet. Prior to that, she had been built in 1979 for commercial service as Star Perseus by Cochrane Shipbuilders Limited, Selby, for the North Sea oil rig service.

HMNZS Manawanui (A09), (Photo: RNZN)

Needing a canceled $14 million overhaul, the New Zealand Navy has put the nearly 40-year old ship on the block and one publication says she would make the perfect fishing vessel:

“It comes with a triple-lock compression chamber and a wet diving bell if you’re keen to go diving for crays. The 13.6-tonne crane means you’ll be able to pull anything on board – and with a range of 5000 nautical miles, trawling for marlin will be no problem,” says Newshub.

The vessel is up for sale “as a going concern, as-is where-is” alongside Devonport Naval Base, Auckland.

RNZN LCDR Muzz Kenneth told The Stuff there has been some interest:

“We’ve already had a guy from Singapore come and have a look, and he wants to take it up to Malaysia and moor it permanently as an accommodation and dive support vessel for dive training,” said Kenneth. “I also know the Mayor of Thames-Coromandel is very keen to get her hands on the ship and sink it as a dive attraction somewhere out in the Hahei reserve.”

The mighty five-ship Kiwi battle force

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Here we see the full Royal New Zealand Navy Task Group back in the day off Hauraki Gulf, sometime in the early to 1990s, with four aging but well-maintained steam-powered frigates clustered around the fleet’s new oiler. Note the three airborne Wasp helicopters.


The ships are the HMNZS Canterbury (F421), HMNZS Southland (F104)— formerly HMS Dido, HMNZS Endeavour (A11), HMNZS Waikato (F55), and HMNZS Wellington (F69)— formerly HMS Bacchante.

The four frigates are Leander-class vessels, which proved the backbone of the RN and Commonwealth fleets in the Cold War. Waikato and Canterbury were purpose-built Batch 3 Leanders to replace WWII-era NZ ships such as the old light cruiser Royalist. Notably, these two Kiwi frigates relieved British ships of the Persian Gulf Armilla Patrol during the 1982 Falklands conflict, freeing British ships for deployment.

This latter fact led to the RN transferring HMS Dido and HMS Bacchante to New Zealand in 1983 as payback.

All four of these frigates were retired post-Cold War, replaced two-for-one by a pair of more modern ANZAC-class ships of a modified German MEKO 200 design (although they had been offered two FFG-7s shorthulls of 15–17 years age for a song.) The two Australian-built frigates arrived between 1997-99 and the New Zealand navy has stuck to a two-frigate force since then.

Ex- HMNZS Wellington (F69) prior to sinking as an artificial reef, Nov 2005

*HMS Dido/HMNZS Southland was decommissioned 1995 and scrapped at Goa.
*HMNZS Waikato was decommissioned in 1998 and sunk as an artificial reef off the coast of Tutukaka.
*HMS Bacchante/HMNZS Wellington was decommissioned 1999 and sunk in Wellington Harbour as a reef in 2005.
*HMNZS Canterbury decommissioned 2005 and was herself reefed in 2007.

The 12,300-ton Endeavour, a commercial design from South Korea commissioned 8 April 1988, is still active and is a common sight during RIMPAC exercises. She deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce twice.  She is the last of the vessels in the image above still afloat.

Aussie Spec Ops WO1 weighs in on the new and improved EF88

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Australia went against the Commonwealth grain when they ditched the then-standard FN FAL (L1A1 semiauto) pattern SLR (and some M16s) for the Austrian Steyr in the 1980s, naming the rifle the F88 Austeyr as they were built under license at the Thales Lithgow Small Arms Factory. Now, after an extensive redesign that has produced the EF88 with lots of new upgrades (rails, internals, ergonomics, etc), the Australians are set to keep the Steyr for generations longer while Australia’s closest ally, the U.S., rock the M4/M16.

EF88 steyr aug australian

Some of the troops down in Oz think that’s a mistake. From ASPI:

I am a senior warrant officer who has been fortunate to serve in an Australian Special Forces unit for over 25 years, including more than 13 years in combat roles, and, most recently, as head of my unit’s combat and firearms training program. I’m writing this because I respectfully disagree with John Coyne’s recent assessment that the EF88 (the designation of the rifle in Australian Army service, not ‘F90’ which refers to Thales’ export version) ‘seems to make perfect sense’, when compared to the M4/AR-15.

I’ve had the opportunity to fire the EF88 and while it’s an improvement on the current Steyr, it’s definitely not a good combat weapon. The Steyr has many aspects that are less than desirable—some I will discuss below—but I’ll acknowledge that for the majority of the Australian Defence Force, it’s adequate for self defence. However, for our combat soldiers (not just Special Forces) we could do a great deal better.

More here

Kiwis ditch SIG, go Glock

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The New Zealand Defense Force has decided to replace the Sig Sauer 9mm pistols they have issued for almost a quarter century with Glock 17s within the next calendar year.

What is the NZDF?

nzdf anzac day
The combined military service for New Zealand, the 9,000 members of the Defense Force make up the New Zealand Army, Royal New Zealand Air Force, and Royal New Zealand Navy. With a history that dates back to 1845 with the formation of the Wellington Battalion of the Militia and before that to the Maori martial traditions, the Kiwis have fought far and above the comparative size of their country.

During World War I, over 100,000 soldiers from the Dominion fought the Turks, Austrians, and Germans, suffering a staggering 58 percent casualty rate in slaughterhouses such as Gallipoli, the Somme, and Passchendaele.

In the Second World War, the country mobilized even deeper, sending 150,000 men to Europe and the Middle East while another 150,000 remained at home to prepare for a possible Japanese invasion. As in the Great War that preceded it, the small country’s butcher’s bill was enormous, with over 11,000 killed in action– the highest loss rate per capita in the Commonwealth.

Since 1945, the Kiwis were on the ground in Korea, the Malayan Emergency, and countless UN peacekeeping operations as well as sending 4,000 men and women to help the U.S. in the Vietnam conflict. Earlier this month a 105-soldier contingent returned home from Iraq, proving that the NZDF has and continues to remain at the sharp end of the stick.

Moving to Glock

nzdf sig

The current handgun of the NZDF, adopted in 1992, is the Sig Sauer P226 in 9mm, designated as the P226AL. The Sig is a great 15-shot DA/SA handgun with an aluminum frame and a steel slide. It was so good that back in the 1980s, the U.S. Army wanted them instead of the Beretta 92 for the new M9 pistol program, but the Italian stallion won out due to cost issues with the Swiss/German design. Still, the SEALs have long used them, as have the militaries of many other NATO and allied countries.

However the Sigs are getting long in the tooth and New Zealand is taking a page from the UK’s armed forces and has chosen the Gen 4 Glock 17 as a replacement.

rnzdf glock

Read the rest in my column at Glock Forum