HMNZS ''Te Mana'' (F111) is one of ten frigates and one of two serving in the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

(RNZN). The name ''Te Mana'' is

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, approximately translating as 'status' or 'authority' (for further information on this term, see

Mana According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being ...

). The ship was laid down under the joint Anzac project by

Tenix Defence Tenix Defence was Australia's largest defence contractor with core capabilities in Aerospace, Land, Marine and Electronic Systems applications. BAE Systems announced its intention to acquire the company from Tenix in January 2008 and the acquisiti ...

Williamstown, Victoria Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Williamstown recorded a population of 14,407 at the 2021 census. ...

in 1996, launched in 1997, and commissioned into the RNZN in 1999. In 2003 and 2004 and 2013–2014, ''Te Mana'' was deployed on operations in the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

. In 2005, she became the first New Zealand warship to visit a Russian port,

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

. On 5 August 2015, the ship emerged from the dry dock at Devonport Naval Base wearing the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

'Haze Grey' coating, following a major systems upgrade which involved a long refit. ''Te Mana'' represented New Zealand in the 2018

Rim of the Pacific RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, is the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exception of 2020 where it was held i ...

exercise in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

and was crowned the winner of RIMPAC's Naval Surface Fire Support Rodeo competition, with the ship landing her shells closer to the target than any other ship.

Design and construction

During the mid-1980s, the RNZN began considering the replacement of their four frigates.Greener, ''Timing is everything'', pp. 23–5 Around the same time, a deterioration in

New Zealand-United States relations New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

forced the New Zealand government to improve ties with local nations. As the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN) was seeking to replace their s with ships nearly identical to what the RNZN wanted, the two nations decided to collaborate on the acquisition in early 1987. Tenders had been requested in 1986, and 12 ship designs (including an

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

) were submitted.Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 244Greener, ''Timing is everything'', p. 30 By August 1987, these were narrowed down in October to Blohm + Voss's

MEKO 200 The MEKO 200 is a frigate design by the Blohm + Voss shipyard of Germany, as part of the MEKO family of warships. Variants ''Anzac'' class (MEKO 200ANZ) Ten MEKO 200 frigates were built to the ''Anzac''-class design: eight for the Royal Au ...

design, the M class (later ) offered by

Royal Schelde The Damen Group is a Dutch defence, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate company based in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Though it is a major international group doing business in 120 countries, it remains a private family-owned company. Dame ...

, and a scaled-down

Type 23 frigate The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, , was commission ...

proposed by

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also op ...

.Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 245Greener, ''Timing is everything'', p. 31 In 1989, the Australian government announced that Melbourne-based shipbuilder AMECON (which became

) would build the modified MEKO 200 design.Grazebrook, ''Anzac frigates sail diverging courses'' However, the decision to buy the frigates had been highly controversial in New Zealand, primarily because of the cost of purchasing frigate-type ships, plus the idea that the high-capability warships would be too few and too overspecialised for the fisheries and economic exclusion zone (EEZ) patrols expected to be the RNZN's core operations. Despite ongoing debate, the New Zealand government agreed to purchase two frigates in addition to the RAN's eight, and had an option for two more.Wertheim (ed.), ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World'', p. 504 This option expired in 1997 without the New Zealanders acting upon it; there were proposals to buy a new or second-hand ''Anzac'' outside the terms of the original contract, but a lack of political support stopped this developing, and the number built for the RNZN remained at two. The drop in capability and the issue of tying up the ''Anzac''s on EEZ patrols when they could be deployed more suitably elsewhere were factors leading to the RNZN's Project Protector acquisition program.McKinnon, ''New Zealand's navy follows a new heading'' The ''Anzac''s are based on Blohm + Voss' MEKO 200 PN (or ) frigates, modified to meet Australian and New Zealand specifications and maximise the use of locally built equipment. Each frigate has a

full load displacement The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...

.Sharpe (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1998–99'', pgs. 25, 470 The ships are long at the

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that indi ...

, and

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of , and a full load draught of . The ships are fitted with a

Combined Diesel or Gas Combined diesel or gas (CODOG) is a type of propulsion system for ships that need a maximum speed that is considerably faster than their cruise speed, particularly warships like modern frigates or corvettes. For every propeller shaft there is ...

(CODOG) propulsion machinery layout, consisting of two

controllable-pitch propellers In marine propulsion, a variable-pitch propeller is a type of propeller with blades that can be rotated around their long axis to change the blade pitch. Reversible propellers—those where the pitch can be set to negative values—can als ...

driven by a single

General Electric LM2500 The General Electric LM2500 is an industrial and marine gas turbine produced by GE Aviation. The LM2500 is a derivative of the General Electric CF6 aircraft engine. As of 2004, the U.S. Navy and at least 29 other navies had used a total of more ...

-30 gas turbine and two MTU diesel engines: initially the TB83 model, but these were replaced in 2010 with more powerful TB93s.Scott, ''New Zealand invests in ANZAC upgrade path'' Maximum speed is , and maximum range is over at ; about 50% greater than other MEKO 200 designs. The standard ship's company of an ''Anzac'' consists of 22 officers and 141 sailors. Te Mana VLS

As designed, the main armament for the frigate is a 5-inch 54 calibre Mark 45 gun, supplemented by an eight-cell

Mark 41 vertical launch system The Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (Mk 41 VLS) is a shipborne missile canister launching system which provides a rapid-fire launch capability against hostile threats. The Vertical Launch System (VLS) concept was derived from work on the Aegis Co ...

for

RIM-7 Sea Sparrow RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a U.S. ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile as ...

, two machine guns, and two Mark 32 triple torpedo tube sets firing Mark 46 torpedoes. They were also designed

for but not with In military usage, fit to receive or fitting "for but not with" describes a weapon or system which is called for in a design but not installed or is only partially installed during construction, with the installation completed later as needed. This ...

close-in weapons system A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of la ...

Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS (often spoken as "sea-wiz") is a gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the Gen ...

installed shortly after the frigate's completion, supplemented by two Mini Typhoons from 2006 onwards), two quad-canister

Harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal ...

missile launchers, and a second Mark 41 launcher (neither of which have been added to the New Zealand ships).Greener, ''Timing is Everything'', p. 46Scott, ''Enhanced small-calibre systems offer shipborne stopping power'' The New Zealand ''Anzac''s initially operated with a

Westland Wasp The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the earlier piston-e ...

helicopter, which were later replaced by

Kaman SH-2 Seasprite The Kaman SH-2 Seasprite is a ship-based helicopter originally developed and produced by American manufacturer Kaman Aircraft Corporation. It has been typically used as a compact and fast-moving rotorcraft for utility and anti-submarine warfar ...

s, then

Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite The Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite is an American ship-based helicopter with anti-submarine, anti-surface threat capability, including over-the-horizon targeting. This aircraft extends and increases shipboard sensor and weapon capabilities agains ...

helicopters. ''Te Mana'' was laid down at

on 18 May 1996. The ship was assembled from six hull modules and six superstructure modules; the superstructure modules were fabricated in Whangarei, New Zealand, and hull modules were built at both Williamstown and

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

, with final integration at Williamstown. She was launched on 10 May 1997 by the Maori Queen, Dame

Te Atairangikaahu Dame Te Atairangikaahu (23 July 1931 – 15 August 2006) was the Māori queen for 40 years, the longest reign of any Māori monarch. Her full name and title was Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu. Her title Te Arikinui (meaning ''Paramount ...

, and commissioned into the RNZN on 10 December 1999 in her ceremonial homeport of

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

. In early 2002, microscopic cracks in ''Te Mana''s bilge keel and hull plating were discovered.Wertheim, ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World'', p. 21 This problem, which was common to the first four ships of the ''Anzac'' class, was later rectified.

Operational history

''Te Mana'' was sent to the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

in 2000, in preparation to evacuate around 225 New Zealanders from the ethnic conflict on the islands. A sailor died at sea aboard the frigate on 29 March 2001; the death was investigated by the New Zealand Police but treated as not suspicious. In February 2002, a Seasprite helicopter flown by a

test pilot crashed into ''Te Mana''s deck. The ship was operating during high seas in

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A ...

, a court of enquiry later found that no single event was to blame for the accident. The repairs to the Seasprite cost an estimated $7.4 million. ''Te Mana'' went to the aid of in July 2002, when ''Nottingham'' ran aground on the submerged Wolf Rock, and provided manpower, supplies and salvage equipment to the stricken vessel. From 28 January 2003 until 4 August 2003, ''Te Mana'' was deployed to the Gulf of Oman and the

, conducting Maritime Interdiction Operations as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. ''Te Mana'' deployed to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman for a second time in 2004, again to undertake Maritime Interdiction Operations, as part of

Combined Task Force 150 Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to p ...

. In May the helicopter was damaged, at a cost of up to $4 million; a court of enquiry later found the pilot and co-pilot had failed to lash the aircraft down to the deck correctly. In the Gulf of Oman on 14 July 2004, a crew member aboard a merchant bulk chemical carrier fell into a tank while cleaning it. ''Te Mana'' responded to the emergency call and sprinted to the scene, the ship's medic was flown over to the bulk carrier, but the patient was unable to be revived. She returned to Devonport on 10 September 2004, having queried 380 ships and boarded 38. ''Te Mana'' and were the first RNZN vessels to visit Russia, arriving in the Pacific port of

on 10 June 2005 on a diplomatic mission. A fire broke out about ''Te Mana'' in February 2006, while it was participating in an exercise off the coast of Australia. The ship's Seasprite helicopter was diverted to sister ship and the fire was put out by the crew. The breeding ground of the Kermadec Storm Petrel was discovered with the assistance of ''Te Mana'' in August 2006, when the ship transported an ornithologist to a rocky outcrop in the

Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( mi, Rangitāhua) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total ar ...

group, enabling him to find a nest. The ship was on the annual mission to resupply

Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island'') is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity ...

for the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

. Early in 2007 the vessel's diesel engines developed a problem as she crossed the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

to Sydney. The engines became unusable and the ship had to use the gas turbine for propulsion. Sister ship ''Te Kaha'' suffered a similar problem one month later. ''Te Mana'' deployed from Devonport to the Central and Southern Persian Gulf on 7 April 2008, as part of Coalition Task Force 152. Sailing via Singapore, she arrived on 11 May 2008, beginning a three-month patrol of the region's waterways, including guarding against threats to the oil industry infrastructure, as well to prevent smuggling and piracy.''Welcome to the Arabian Gulf'' – ''Navy Today'', Defence Public Relations Unit, Issue 133, 8 June, pages 4–6 In October 2013, ''Te Mana'' participated in the

International Fleet Review 2013 The International Fleet Review 2013 was a review that took place on the week 3 to 11 October 2013, as part of the celebrations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the entry of the first Royal Australian Navy fleet in Sydney Harbour, on 4 Octob ...

in Sydney. On June 14, 2017, Commander Lisa Hunn became the first female commanding officer of a RNZN warship, when she took command of ''Te Mana''. In 2018, a comprehensive mid-life refit of both ''Te Mana'' and her sister ship was initiated. The refit provided for the replacement of the Sea Sparrow air defence missiles with

Sea Ceptor The CAMM (Common Anti-Air Modular Missile) is a family of surface-to-air missiles developed by MBDA UK for the United Kingdom. CAMM shares some common features and components with the ASRAAM air-to-air missile, but with updated electronics and an ...

as well as other comprehensive system upgrades carrying a total cost of some $600 million. The refit of ''Te Mana'' was being undertaken by the Seaspan shipyard in Canada as of 2020. On 16 April 2021, six RNZN personnel and six family members assigned to ''Te Mana'' tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. At the time, the naval personnel and their family were stationed at an accommodation block 12 kilometers away from the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

's base at

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquim ...

near

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

. ''Te Mana'' was undergoing a major upgrade in Canada. In May 2022, the ship sailed for New Zealand having completed her upgrade.

Citations

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Mana Anzac-class frigates of the Royal New Zealand Navy Frigates of New Zealand Ships built in Victoria (state) 1997 ships