HMNZS ''Wellington'' (P55) is a 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 ...

History

The ship was built by

Tenix Tenix is a privately owned Australian company involved in a range of infrastructure maintenance and engineering products and services to the utility, transport, mining and industrial sectors in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and the ...

as part of the New Zealand government's Royal New Zealand Navy plans, and was originally expected to enter service during the winter of 2008. However, in late 2008, it became known that the vessel was considered "non-compliant", and did not fulfill a number of specifications, such as being 100 tonnes over its design weight, resulting in revisions to its operating conditions during Antarctic duties. The future crew that was already stationed with the vessel was sent back to New Zealand after the ship returned to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, until the dispute with the contractor was resolved. ''Wellington'' was accepted into the Royal New Zealand Navy on 6 May 2010 and arrived at the Devonport (Auckland) Naval Base the following month. The ship was also involved in the search for the crewmembers of the yacht ''Berserk ''in 2012, but had to turn back due to the weather which the captain called the worst storm he had ever seen in 19 years. During that mission the ship lost three 50-person life rafts of which one was discovered by the

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor, Washington, Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action t ...

vessel . On 14 January 2015 ''Wellington'' intercepted three fishing vessels, ''Songhua'' ''Kunlun'' and ''YongDing'', which were allegedly fishing illegally in Antarctic waters. The fishing vessels refused to be boarded and poor weather and sea conditions prevented ''Wellington'' from forcing the issue. ''Wellington'' was involved in seabed surveys off

Kaikōura Kaikōura () is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1, 180 km north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of (as of ). The town is the government ...

after the

2016 Kaikōura earthquake The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake was a magnitude 7.8 (Mw) earthquake in the South Island of New Zealand that occurred two minutes after midnight on 14 November 2016 NZDT (11:02 on 13 November UTC). Ruptures occurred on multiple faults and the e ...

. The ship is named in honour of , a

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1982 until 1999. On 19 July 2021 HMNZS ''Wellington'' delivered 120 vials of the

Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine The Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine ( INN: tozinameran), sold under the brand name Comirnaty, is an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by the German biotechnology company BioNTech. For its development, BioNTech collaborated with Amer ...

to Tokelau's

Nukunonu Nukunonu is the largest atoll within Tokelau, a dependency of New Zealand, in the south Pacific Ocean. It comprises 30 islets surrounding a central lagoon, with about of land area and a lagoon surface area of . Motuhaga is the only islet that ...

atoll, which is sufficient to vaccinate 720 people. In response to the

2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami On 20 December 2021, an eruption began on Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai, a submarine volcano in the Tongan archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean. The eruption reached a very large and powerful climax nearly four weeks later, on 15 January 2022 ...

, ''Wellington'' and

HMNZS Aotearoa HMNZS ''Aotearoa'' (), formerly the Maritime Sustainment Capability project, is an auxiliary ship of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Builder Hyundai Heavy Industries delivered the ship to the Navy in June 2020, and she was commissioned into service o ...

were deployed to provide water supplies, survey teams, and helicopter support.

Upgrades

Both and HMNZS ''Wellington'' have recently gone through minor upgrades, including sensors and weapons, and replacing the 25 mm Bushmaster with the Rafael Typhoon 25 mm stabilised naval gun.

References

External links

Official website
Protector-class offshore patrol vessels 2010 ships {{NewZealand-stub

History

Upgrades

See also

References

External links