Devonport Naval Base is the home of 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 ...

, located at Devonport, New Zealand on

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

's North Shore. It is currently the only base of the navy that operates ships, and has been in use as a navy base since 1841. The base consists of HMNZS ''Philomel'' (the administration centre for the base), the Fleet Support Organisation, and the Fleet Personnel and Training Organisation.

Operation

All operational units of the

are based at Devonport. The Navy's munitions are stored and maintained at

Kauri Point Armament Depot The Defence Armament Depot, named the Kauri Point Armament Depot until 2010, is a New Zealand Defence Force munitions storage facility in the Auckland suburb of Chatswood which was originally built for the Royal New Zealand Navy. The Depot has ac ...

in Auckland. Senior naval staff are located at the NZDF headquarters in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. The operational headquarters, and the effective fleet commander, the Maritime Component Commander are both located at

Headquarters Joint Forces New Zealand Headquarters Joint Forces New Zealand (HQ JFNZ) is the New Zealand Defence Force's (NZDF's) operational level headquarters and is responsible for the command and control of NZDF operations worldwide. It was established in 2001 at Trentham Military ...

adjacent to

Trentham Military Camp Trentham Military Camp is a New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) facility located in Trentham, Upper Hutt, near Wellington. Originally a New Zealand Army installation, it is now run by Defence and accommodates all three services. It also hosts Jo ...

in the

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city cent ...

suburb of Trentham. Within the Royal New Zealand Navy many land-based facilities and services ensure support for ships and personnel when deployed.

Facilities

Shore based support is predominantly based at the Devonport Naval Base, Auckland, with a long and varied list of services and facilities, including facilities for training, sports, and cultural activities, dry dock, as well as engineering and flight support and the Navy Hospital (and Hyperbaric Unit).

Maritime Engineering Support Team

The Navy’s fleet of ships are maintained by the Maritime Engineering Support Team (MEST). The MEST is based at Devonport Naval Base and is a blended workforce of Navy personnel in the Defence Logistics Command (Maritime) and Babcock New Zealand employees. Babcock New Zealand is the Strategic Maritime Partner for the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). The base also has a modern converter system to supply the substantial power even a berthed navy ship requires. As NZ's navy ships use

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

standard 60-hertz power, such converters were needed to enable the base to use power supplied by the national grid. The new converters were installed in the late 2000s for $10 million, and will offer significant savings over using diesel generators, or having the vessels use their own power systems while in port.

RNZN College

The RNZN College is also situated at Devonport Naval Base. Navy training encompasses numerous disciplines, from Recruit Training Squadron, Junior Officer Common Training and Sea Survival Training Squadron to specialised training for Operational, Technical and Trade, and Support Logistics branches.

Calliope Dock

One of the more famous elements of the base is the Calliope Dock, a

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

built in 1888 and still in use. At that time, it was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and a strategic asset for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. It was named for Calliope Point, out of which it had been hewn by hand over three years. Coincidentally, one of the two first ships to enter it (as a show of her capacity) was . Administered at first by the

Auckland Harbour Board The Auckland Harbour Board was a public body that operated the ports of both Auckland and Onehunga from 1871 to 1988 and was dissolved in 1989. Its successor organisation is Ports of Auckland, which assumed the possessions and responsibilities of ...

, the dock was transferred to the navy when the Auckland naval base moved from Torpedo Bay to Devonport, into a swamp area next to the dock.Devonport Naval Base
(from the New Zealand Naval Museum website. Accessed 2015-07-05.)

'' - Bell, J.A.; AMRINA Deputy Constructive Manager HMNZ Dockyard

References

External links

(official base website)
Navy Museum
(official museum website) ''(accessed 2014-01-27)''
Auckland Naval Base Murders
(from the crime.co.nz website)

held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. {{Authority control Royal New Zealand Navy bases Buildings and structures in Auckland North Shore, New Zealand Waitematā Harbour