HMNZS Gale (T04) was a coastal cargo boat which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and converted into a minesweeper. She was the first New Zealand vessel to go into action against Japan Gale was owned by the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company. She was one of four ships requisitioned as a consequence of the Orion‘s minefield and the loss ofContinue reading “Converted Merchant Ships – HMNZS Gale (T04)”
Category Archives: Converted Merchant Ships –
Converted Merchant Ships – HMNZS Rata (T03)
HMNZS Rata (T03)Converted merchant Ship for use as a minesweeper (no photos of her as a naval ship – have you any?)
Converted Merchant Ships – HMNZS Muritai (T05)
HMNZS Muritai Minesweeper Converted merchant boat 1940-1946 Training and cable-lifting shipHMNZS Muritai, auxiliary minesweeper and anti-submarine patrol vessel, is the RNZN Ship Of The Week.The 462 ton Muritai was a Wellington harbour ferry built for Eastbourne Borough Council in 1922-23, and from a brief scan of some manuscript items in the Borough archives I gatherContinue reading “Converted Merchant Ships – HMNZS Muritai (T05)”
Converted Merchant Ships – HMNZS Matai (T01/T372)
HMNZS Matai (T01/T372) was a Marine Department lighthouse tender which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and converted into a minesweeper. Operational history[edit] Matai was the government’s lighthouse tender servicing the marine lights around New Zealand and offshore islands, and had been used for cable laying in the 1930s. She was named after the native mataī tree. She was requisitioned on 3 March 1941 andContinue reading “Converted Merchant Ships – HMNZS Matai (T01/T372)”
