HMNZS Black Prince (81)

HMNZS Black Prince – HMCS Ontario, HMS Ceylon and HMNZS Black Prince at Hobart in February 1954 with Royal Yacht Gothic (not in pic). HMAS Quadrant can just be seen behind Ontario. Four different shades of grey. Picture scanned from original slide taken by Reg Wilson – Courtesy of Russell Priest
HMNZS Black Prince
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HMS Black Prince was a Dido-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, of the Bellona subgroup. The cruiser was commissioned in 1943, and served during World War II on the Arctic convoys, during the Normandy landings, and as part of the British Pacific Fleet. In 1946, the cruiser was loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy, becoming HMNZS Black Prince. The cruiser was docked for modernisation in 1947, but in April, her sailors walked off the ship as part of a series of mutinies in the RNZN. The shortage of manpower resulting from these mutinies meant that the modernisation had to be cancelled, and Black Prince was placed in reserve until 1953. She returned to service after refitting with simplified secondary armament with a single quad “pom pom” in Q position and eight Mk3 40mm Bofors guns. The ship was decommissioned again two years later, and returned to the Royal Navy in 1961. Black Prince did not re-enter service, and was towed from Auckland to Osaka for scrapping in 1962.

Design and co

HMNZS Tui (T234) was a Bird-class minesweeper of the Royal New Zealand Navy.

She was commissioned in 1941 for minesweeping and anti-submarine roles. Tui was the first of two ships with this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy and was named after a native bird from New Zealand.
Oceanographic research
. On 5 March 1956, the now disarmed Tui was recommissioned and reclassified as a fleet auxiliary. She made many scientific cruises for the DSIR and NRL to places around New Zealand and Pacific islands. She investigated shipwrecks, notably MV Holmglen off Timaru in 1959 and MV Kaitawa off Cape Reinga in 1966.

In October 1955 Tui was docked for conversion to an oceanographic research ship

Fate
Tui was decommissioned for the last time on 22 December 1967. She was stripped of her equipment and sold in December 1969 to Pacific Scrap Ltd who demolished her. She was replaced in 1970 by a purpose-built oceanographic ship with the same name.

Minesweeper Bird Class Trawler, HMNZS Tui had a near miss whilst patrolling off Guadalcanal when a Japanese torpedo bomber fires at her, narrowly missing. Only her slow speed, 8 knots, saved her.
Photo: HMNZS Tui Red Watch c1940s ABJ 0171

HMNZS Taranaki at Sydney 28 October 1966 after Exercise Sword Hilt. All the small ships went up under the bridge and around Cockatoo Island while the carriers berthed

HMNZS Taranaki at the Buoy, Sembawang, Singapore, in 1967

HMNZS Taranaki (F148) at the Buoy, Sembawang, Singapore – 1967

HMNZS Taranaki at the Buoy, Sembawang, Singapore, in 1967

Lander 1- Used to supply HMNZS TAMAKI on Motuihe Island

Lander 1 – supplied by Bruce Clunies-Ross‎

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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