An ALC 40 Landing Craft, number AB 2180, was purchased in November 1952 from the Australian Army surplus stores in Colmslie, Queensland to improve the transportation of stores around the Hauraki Gulf. AB 2180 was shipped to Auckland on the freighter Waimate, arriving on 20 March 1953 and relieved the Fleet Auxiliary Endeavour for other duties. Renamed Lander 1, she was delivered without engines and used as a towed barge until new engines were installed in November 1954.
Capable of transporting a maximum load of 36.3 tonnes (40 tons – hence Assault Landing Craft, ALC 40) she was used to supply HMNZS TAMAKI on Motuihe Island, Motutapu and other outlying islands in the gulf. Her last duty was moving HMNZS TAMAKI from Motuihe island to Narrow Neck on the North Shore during August and September 1963. Lander 1 was sold around 1963-64 and probably became the Silver Fern at Auckland before sinking on 28 June 1969 of Rockhampton in Queensland.
Length: 20.3 m
Beam: 5.9 m
Displacement: 27 tonnes
Load: 36.3 tonnes (40 tons)
Engines: 2 x diesel, 210 bhp ea
Speed: 7 knots
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