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HMNZS Kiwi (T102)
HMNZS ''Kiwi'' (T102) was a ''Bird'' class minesweeper of the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was commissioned in 1941 for minesweeping and anti-submarine roles. From 1948 to 1956 she functioned as a training ship. On 29 January 1943, with her sister ship ''Moa'', ''Kiwi'' rammed and wrecked the Japanese submarine ''I-1''. At the time ''Kiwi'' was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Gordon Bridson who was awarded the DSC and the United States Navy Cross for this action. ''Kiwi'' was the first vessel with this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy and is named after the of |
Henry Robb
Henry Robb, Limited, known colloquially as Robbs, was a Scottish shipyard, shipbuilding company based at Leith, Leith Docks in Edinburgh. Robbs was notable for building small-to-medium sized vessels, particularly tugboat, tugs and dredgers. History The company was founded on 1 April 1918 by Henry Robb, a former yard manager for Ramage & Ferguson shipbuilders, who lay around 1km to the east. Robb was born in Partick, Glasgow in 1874 to Henry Robb (1843-1894), a ships caulker, and his wife Martha Simpson (1840-78). He married Mary Baird Mcintosh Cowan in 1903 and their son, Henry Cowan Robb (1932-2018), became a Director of the firm. Henry Robb died in Edinburgh in 1951. Robbs grew by buying berths from R and W Hawthorn, Hawthorns in 1924, the business of Cran and Somerville in 1926 and the yards of Ramage and Ferguson in 1934. The site became known as Victoria Shipyard. Robbs closed its Arbroath and River Clyde, Clyde operations in the 1920s and focused its activities on Leith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Class Minesweeper
The Bird-class minesweeper was a class of naval trawlers built for the Royal New Zealand Navy and which served during the Second World War. A total of three vessels in the class were built: , and . All were named for New Zealand native birds and were also referred to as corvettes. Design In late 1939, the New Zealand government contracted Henry Robb, Henry Robb Ltd, a Scottish shipbuilding firm, to build three naval trawlers for the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. These vessels were intended for training naval personnel in seamanship, gunnery skills and minesweeping work. Henry Robb Ltd had built the minesweeping trawlers HMS ''Basset'' and HMS ''Mastiff'', in 1935 and 1938 respectively, and this experience influenced the design of the Bird-class vessels. Although similar in appearance to the later minesweeping trawlers, derived from ''Basset'' and ''Mastiff'', the Bird-class ships had an extended forecastle. They were slightly larger and more powerful than the Isles-c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Depth Charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use explosive, high explosive charges and a fuze set to detonate the charge, typically at a specific depth. Depth charges can be dropped by ships, patrol aircraft, and helicopters. Depth charges were developed during World War I, and were one of the first viable methods of attacking a submarine underwater. They were widely used in World War I and World War II, and remained part of the anti-submarine arsenals of many navies during the Cold War, during which they were supplemented, and later largely replaced, by anti-submarine homing torpedoes. A depth charge fitted with a nuclear warhead is also known as a "nuclear depth bomb". These were designed to be dropped from a patrol plane or deployed by an anti-submarine missile from a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of the naval mine dates to the Ming dynasty.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 203–205. Dedicated minesweepers, however, only appeared many centuries later during the Crimean War, where they were deployed by the British. The Crimean War minesweepers were rowboats trailing grapnels to snag mines. Minesweeping technology picked up in the Russo-Japanese War, using aging torpedo boats as minesweepers. In Britain, naval leaders recognized before the outbreak of World War I that the development of sea mines was a threat to the nation's shipping and began efforts to counter the threat. Sir Arthur Wilson noted the real threat of the time was blockade aided by mines and not invasion. The function of the fishing fleet's trawlers with their trawl gear was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 1913, and the subsequent purchase of the cruiser , which by 1921 had been moored in Auckland as a training ship. A slow buildup occurred during the Interwar period, and then perhaps the infant Navy's finest hour occurred soon after the beginning of World War II when fought alongside two other Royal Navy cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939. History Pre–World War I The first recorded maritime combat activity in New Zealand occurred when Māori in war waka attacked Dutch explorer Abel Tasman off the northern tip of the South Island in December 1642. The New Zealand Navy did not exist as a separate military force until 1941. The association of the Royal Navy with New Zealand began with the arrival of Lieutenant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-submarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapon is usually a projectile, missile or bomb that is optimized to destroy submarines. History Before World War I Prior to about 1890, naval weapons were only used against surface shipping. With the rise of the military submarine after this time, countermeasures were considered for use against them. The first submarine installation of torpedo tubes was in 1885 and the first ship was sunk by a submarine-launched torpedo in 1887. There were only two ways of countering the military submarine initially: ramming them or sinking them with gunfire. However, once they were submerged, they were largely immune until they had to surface again. By the start of the First World War there were nearly 300 submarines in service with another 80 in production ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMNZS Moa (T233)
HMNZS ''Moa'' (T233) was a ''Bird'' class minesweeper of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) that served during World War II. Construction and design The first of three ''Bird''-class minesweepers, ''Moa'' displaced 607 tons standard and 923 tons at full load. She was long overall, had a beam of and a draught of . She had a top speed of and a crew of between 33 and 35 personnel. ''Moa''s main armament was a single 4-inch Mk IX naval gun, which was supplemented by anti-aircraft guns. She also carried minesweeping equipment and 40 depth charges for anti-submarine operations. Operational history Commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Navy on 12 August 1941, ''Moa'' was the first of two vessels with this name to serve in the RNZN and was named after a native bird from New Zealand. On 29 January 1943, in concert with her sister ship , ''Moa'' helped to ram and wreck the . At the time ''Moa'' was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Peter Phipps, later to become a vice a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Submarine I-1
''I-1'' was a J1 type submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was a large cruiser submarine displacing 2,135 tons and was the lead unit of the four submarines of her class. Commissioned in 1926, she served in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict she operated in support of the attack on Pearl Harbor, conducted anti-shipping patrols in the Indian Ocean, and took part in the Aleutian Islands campaign and the Guadalcanal campaign. In January 1943, during the Japanese evacuation of Guadalcanal, Operation Ke, the Royal New Zealand Navy minesweeper corvettes and intercepted her, and she was wrecked at Kamimbo Bay on the coast of Guadalcanal after the ensuing surface battle. Construction and commissioning Built by Kawasaki at Kobe, Japan, ''I-2'' was laid down on 12 March 1923 with the name ''Submarine Cruiser No. 74''. She was launched on 15 October 1924. Renamed ''I-1'' on 1 November 1924, she was completed in late February 1926 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon Bridson
Commander Gordon Bridson, (2 December 1909 – 6 December 1972) was a New Zealand swimmer who won two silver medals at the 1930 British Empire Games. He was also in the New Zealand Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and in the Second World War, he served in the Royal New Zealand Navy. Seconded to the Royal Navy in 1940, he commanded a minesweeper vessel that accompanied coastal convoys along the English Channel. He was later the commander of the minesweeper which, with her sister ship ''Moa'', sunk the Japanese submarine ''I-1'' off Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Early life Gordon Bridson was born in Wellington in New Zealand on 2 December 1909. His parents were William Bridson, a manager, and Agnes Bridson . The Bridson family later moved to Auckland where he grew up. He was educated at Auckland Grammar School up to six form level. He then started working at a metal merchant. He began his naval career in 1927 by enlisting in the Auckland Division of the New Zealand Royal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a third-level military decoration awarded to officers; and, since 1993, Naval rating, ratings and other ranks of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and the British Merchant Navy have been included. Additionally, the award was formerly awarded to members of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The DSC is "awarded in recognition of an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy at sea." Since 1979, it can be awarded posthumously. History The award was originally created in 1901 as the Conspicuous Service Cross, for award to warrant officer, warrant and subordinate officers, including midshipman, midshipmen, ineligible for the Distinguished Service Order. It was renamed the Distinguished Service Cross in October 1914, eligibility being extended to all naval officers (commissioned and warrant) below the rank of lieutenant commander.Abbott & Tamplin, pages 107-109. From March 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Navy Cross (United States)
The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is equivalent to the Army's Distinguished Service Cross, the Air Force and Space Force's Air Force Cross, and the Coast Guard Cross. The Navy Cross is bestowed by the Secretary of the Navy and may also be awarded to members of the other armed services, and to foreign military personnel while serving with the U.S. naval services. The Navy Cross was established by Act of Congress ( Public Law 65-253) and approved on February 4, 1919. History The Navy Cross was instituted in part due to the entrance of the United States into World War I. Many European nations had the custom of decorating heroes from other nations, but the Medal of Honor was the sole U.S. award for valor at the time. The Army instituted the Distinguished Service Cross and Disti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiwi (bird)
Kiwi ( ) are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the order Apterygiformes. The five extant species fall into the family Apterygidae () and genus ''Apteryx'' (). Approximately the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites (which also include ostriches, emus, rheas and cassowaries). However, the ratite group is polyphyletic, and cladistically also includes tinamous, which can also be of moderate size. Members of this expanded group are known as paleognaths. DNA sequence comparisons have yielded the conclusion that kiwi are much more closely related to the extinct Malagasy elephant birds than to the moa with which they shared New Zealand. There are five recognised species, four of which are currently listed as vulnerable, and one of which is near-threatened. All species have been negatively affected by historic deforestation, but their remaining habitat is well-protected in large forest reserves and national parks. At present, the greates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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