HMNZS CHARLES UPHAM

Built: Completed 6 April 1984 Frederikshavns Vft, Frederikshavn
Type Sealift ship
Pennant No.:A02
Displacement: 7,955 light, 10,500 full load
Length: 131.7 metres (432 feet) Beam: 21.1 metres (69 feet) Draft: 6.2 metres (20 feet)
Propulsion: 1 x MaK M 453AK diesel; 4,890 hp, 1 shaft, bow thruster
Speed: 14 knots
Range : 7,000 nautical miles
Complement : 32 (8 officers)
Armament: 4 x 0.5 calibre HMG
Launched: 12 December 1983, completed: 6 April 1984.

Renamed: Continental Queen II (1992), Mercandian Queen II (1992), Charles Upham (1995), Don Carlos (1998), Don Carlos II (2007)

Following a Defence review recommending that the NZDF acquire a commercial roll-on/roll-off vessel “as a matter of priority”, the NZ Government approved the purchase of a second hand ship on 28 November 1994. The ship was purchased ship on 16 December for a cost of Danish Kroner 55 000 000 or NZ$14.15 million. She was modernised and fitted with naval communications equipment costing an additional NZ$ 7 million and arrived in New Zealand on 14 March 1995 carrying a commercial cargo on her delivery voyage to offset some of the costs of her purchase.

She was commissioned on 18 October 1995 as HMNZS Charles Upham, named after Charles Upham VC & Bar. Further modifications were planned after some operational experience.Two trips were made but she rolled so heavily that she was taken out of service in August 1996 to be modified to improve both her stability and the reliability of her engines. She received ballast tank modifications and a STP was installed.[ Studies showed that the ship required at least 3,500 tons of cargo or ballast to limit her motion to an acceptable level for helicopter operations No further work was undertaken on the shipdue to financial constraints and she remained tied up at Devonport Naval Base.

Funding shortfalls led to Charles Upham being leased to a commercial operator in 1998 and she left Auckland on 12 May that year under lease to a Spanish company for two years. The Sustainable Defence Review of December 2000 recommended that the ship be sold, the Government agreed and decided to sell her on 2 April 2001. In July Charles Upham was sold to the Spanish company she was under charter to, renamed Don Carlos and remained in commercial service as of 2008.