The Naval Communications Station Irirangi 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 ...

, which is 2 km south of

Waiouru Waiouru is a small town in the Ruapehu District, in New Zealand's Manawatū-Whanganui region. It is located on the south-eastern North Island Volcanic Plateau, north of Palmerston North and 25 kilometres south-east of Mount Ruapehu. The town ...

and near the

Waiouru Army Camp Waiouru Military Camp is a camp of the New Zealand Army in the central North Island of New Zealand near Waiouru. All New Zealand Army soldiers complete their initial basic training, the All Arms Recruit Course (AARC), at Waiouru Military Cam ...

, was established in World War II (1943) as the Waiouru W/T (Wireless Telegraph) Station. Its location, in the middle of the North Island, put it far away from the sea. The station was commissioned in July 1943, and at the peak period of the war had an establishment of about 150 personnel, of whom more than eighty were women, many from the

Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service The Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service (WRNZNS) was the female auxiliary of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Raised during the Second World War, most of its personnel, known as Wrens, served as signallers and operators of naval equipment o ...

. Tens of thousands of code groups were handled each day, mostly for the

British Pacific Fleet The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. The fleet was composed of empire naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944 from the remaining ships o ...

in Japanese waters. A dozen or more circuits were manned simultaneously and teleprinter land lines fed the signals to the Navy Office in Wellington. In 1951 the station was designated HMNZS Irirangi. ("Irirangi is a Māori-language word, meaning "spirit voice".) In the late 1980s the equipment was modernised, and in October 1991 a feasibility study into the remote controlling of all facilities from the

Devonport Naval Base Devonport Naval Base is the home of the Royal New Zealand Navy, located at Devonport, New Zealand on Auckland'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 ba ...

was completed. The Chief of Naval Staff issued a directive that "the remoting of ''Irirangi'' is to be implemented forthwith." ''Irirangi'' was decommissioned on 20 May 1993. The

Government Communications Security Bureau The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) ( mi, Te Tira Tiaki) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. ...

(GCSB) is now responsible for signals intelligence, with a radio communications intercept station at

Tangimoana Tangimoana is a community in the Manawatū-Whanganui Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It had a population of 303 permanent residents in 2018. It is located 15 kilometres southwest of Bulls, and 30 kilometres west of Palmerston North. Th ...

and a satellite communications intercept station at Waihopai. The previous functions of ''Irirangi'' are now carried out by a small contingent of Naval maintenance staff.

References

* Davies, David (2007) ''Morse code and snowflakes: The Story of HMNZ Irirangi'' * Waters, Sydney (1956)''The Royal New Zealand Navy'
page 447
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irirangi Royal New Zealand Navy bases Buildings and structures in Manawatū-Whanganui

See also

References