HMNZS ''Inchkeith'' was an
minesweeper of the
Royal New Zealand Navy. She was one of the first ships to be commissioned into the newly created Royal New Zealand Navy. She was bought alongside three other ships for a price of £65,000 each. On 15 March 1942 ''Inchkeith'' was involved with a collision with
HMS ''Marsdale'', damaging her superstructure.
During World War II, HMNZS ''Inchkeith'' worked escorting various convoys in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres before transitioning to a primarily
minesweeping role around the
Hauraki Gulf and the
Bay of Islands, although filling some escort duties.
Due to coal shortages ''Inchkeith'' along with her
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
s were laid up in October 1945, and by February 1946 the
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
s and were fitted with minesweeping gear, and the four Isles-class ships were placed in
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
. By 1957, ''Inchkeith'' was declared surplus and were sold for
scrapping in August 1958, and was broken up along with her sister ships at the Lighter Basin in
Freemans Bay
Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The bay has been filled in to a considerable extent, with the reclamation area now totally concealing the ancient shoreline. Hist ...
, Auckland.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inchkeith
Isles-class trawlers
World War II minesweepers of New Zealand
1941 ships