Leander Class Frigates – The backbone of the RNZN for nearly 40 years.
Canterbury F421 – ZMCR
Southland F104 – ZMSD
Waikato F55 – ZMPS
Wellington F69 – ZMFS
Broad beamed improved Type 12s:
Dimensions: 372ft x 41ft (Canterbury and Wellington 43ft) x 18ft.
Displacement: 2450 tonnes standard, full load higher, depending on fitout.
Propulsion: 2-shaft double reduction steam turbines, 30,000 hp.
Auxiliary machinery: Turbo-alternators/diesel generators providing 1400 kW at 440V.
Speed: 30 kts.
Complement: 245 – 260
Armament: Canterbury, Waikato and Wellington – 2 x 4.5” DP guns, 1 x quadruple Seacat SAM launcher, two x 20mm Oerlikons, 2 x 3 stack torpedo tubes.
Southland – 1 x Ikara A/S rocket launcher, 2 x quadruple Seacat SAM Launchers, 2 x 40/60 Bofors.
Aviation: one Westland Wasp A/S helicopter armed with homing torpedoes.
Canterbury last equipped with the SH-2G Seasprite helicopter.
Sonar: the original Type 184 was replaced with the Graseby Dynamics Type 750 sonar.
Radar: Type 993 early warning – foremast
MRS3 x 2 gunnery radar – seacat and turret
Type 965 – long range air early warning – mainmast. Replaced with a Dutch model - Signaal LW-08 D Band.
The improved Type 12 frigate had a number of changes to it. No scuttles in the hulls and a washdown system to protect against nuclear fall-out.
The first Leander for the RNZN was Waikato – a Batch 2 Leander. Commissioned at Belfast 16 September 1966, went to Portsmouth and Portland for workup and exercises. Sailed from Portsmouth 8 April 1967 and arrived in her home port at Mount Maunganui 2 June 1967. Decommissioned in 1998 and sunk as a diving attraction off Tutukaka. This ship has already broken in half.
Canterbury (Batch 3) commissioned at Scotstoun 22 October 1971, worked up at Portsmouth and Portland and sailed for NZ 1 June 1972, arriving at her home port, Lyttelton 4 August 1972. Decommissioned end of March 2005. Sunk in the Bay of Islands as another diving attraction - Deepwater Cove 3 November 2007.
_1977.jpg){kind=icon}
HMNZS Canterbury - one of three General Purpose Leanders in the RNZN
Wellington (Batch 2) (ex-Bacchante) commissioned into the RNZN 1 October 1982 at Portsmouth and departed for NZ 11 October 1982, arriving at Auckland 2 December 1982. Wellington went into refit early 1983 and stayed in refit until 1986. Decommissioned in 2000 sold for $1 and sunk November 2005 in the Cook Strait, Wellington, as a diving attraction.
Debris from the wreck was washed ashore in Island Bay after a storm - the weekend of 3/4/5 March 2006. 8 March 2006 ship found to have broken in two - identical to Waikato - between the gun turret and the bridge. The ship has now broken into three major pieces and has been declared off limits to divers by the Wellington Harbourmaster.
Southland (Batch 1) (ex-Dido) transferred to the RNZN at Portsmouth 18 July 1983 and commenced refit at the Vosper Ship builders, Southampton, on the next day. Commissioned at Southampton 21 December 1983, worked up and sailed for NZ 9 May 1984. She called in to Wellington briefly 14 July 1984 before going on to her home port at Bluff, 16 July 1984. Decommissioned in 1995 and sold for scrap. She was towed from Auckland to the Philippines, where she had her engines removed for use in a rubber plantation. After that, towed to Singapore and purchased by an Indian salvage firm, towed to Goa and scrapped on the beach.
HMNZS Southland - the only Ikara equipped Leander in the RNZN
All four Leanders served in South East Asia, Canterbury at Mururoa, Canterbury, Wellington and Waikato in the Middle East, Canterbury to East Timor and Canterbury, Wellington and Waikato to Bougainville. Great sea-keeping qualities as were the Type 12/Whitby class before them.
Communications Fit:
Waikato, Wellington and Southland originally ICS I (Integrated Communications System)
Canterbury originally ICS II
HF Receivers CJA - there were four banks of two on the Leanders.
A couple of stories:
In October 1970, AUCKEX/LONGEX involved HMNZ Ships Taranaki and Waikato (OTC) and the RN Leanders HM Ships Minerva and Charybidis. I can't remember who the other participants were. The CRD on Waikato at the time was Bryan (Bonga) Crengle.
We had finished AUCKEX and had started LONGEX and I was on watch in the MCO on Waikato. Next thing, I saw smoke coming through the ventilation shafts - I informed the Ops Room and within 60 seconds, the whole of the MCO was completely engulfed in smoke. The Watch left the MCO and made their way up to the upper deck and mustered on the focsle with the rest of the Ship's Co who were not involved in the firefighting.
It appeared that a pin prick sized hole had appeared in the stardboard stabiliser hydraulic hose and sprayed a fine jet of hydraulic fluid onto the hot plates in the engine room. The fire spread rapidly through the engine room and smoke filled the entire interior of the ship. The firefighting teams quickly went through all the foam on the ship and one of the other frigates came alongside and transferred foam to us. This wasn't enough to stop the fire and in the end the CO ordered that steam drenching be used to put out the fire in the engine room in order to save the ship.
There was no loss of life but a couple of ratings suffered from smoke inhalation.
Waikato had to be towed back to Auckland by Minerva and Taranaki took over as OTC. Prior to Minerva and Waikato departing the scene, Taranaki (CRD John Paull) asked for personnel to help in Comms and EW. The two LRD's, myself and Pete Hinton and the two LEW's, Red Scanlan and Lionel Tuhiwai, went across to Taranaki by boat. The exercise still had about 10 days to run and Pete and myself were put in charge of Port and Starboard sparkers watches, respectively.
On our return to Auckland, Waikato's crew had been busy and had stripped the ship ready for a mini refit. The superstructure above the engine room had been cleared in order to take the engines out. This of course meant that the HF and MF main roof broadband aerials had been taken down. Someone in their wisdom decided that the aerials weren't worth keeping and they were ditched - insulators and all. Some of the crew were drafted off, including the Comms Senior Rates. I was given a temporary PO's rate and along with Buck Rodgers we had the task of supervising the cleaning and painting of the Comms messdeck 3LZ1, the CCR Annex, CCR, MCO, EWO, Flag Deck and Foremast. The entire ship had to be cleaned internally and externally and painted throughout.
Would you believe that there were no ship's drawings at all showing the measurements of the MF and HF Broadbands??!! This was a real hit and miss constructing it and putting it up. These aerials became my nemesis in the following year. En route to Pearl Harbour for a workup, we hit a storm and the HF Broadband came down - the dead end eye grips had come apart. Never used those things again after that - used marconi splices instead. The next time was in Pearl Harbour - just got to Ford Island to de-ammunition and the watch on deck (I think Rod Derret was in charge) decided that they would do us a favour and clean the insulators for us as they were covered in soot! There was an almighty crack as the hot insulators above the funnel came into contact with the cold jet of water, they broke and the whole caboodle came crashing down.
During an exercise off Pearl Harbour we received a signal from Cincpacflt that a container of NZ beer was waiting for us on one of the commercial piers at Honolulu. If we didn't want to pay enormous storage fees it would be advisable to go in and pick up the beer. This we did.
Eleventh Frigate Squadron - Eleven FS
The Squadron commander was known as F11 and was normally a four ring Captain. The ship that had F11 onboard could be identified by the big black band at the top of the funnel. See below:
Operation Armilla
The Armilla patrol is the Royal Navy's permanent presence in the Persian Gulf.
The Royal Navy had withdrawn its forces from the Persian Gulf in 1971 in line with the UK's general retreat from imperial commitments. However, tensions in the area remained high and Royal Navy ships were still a frequent sight in the area. In 1980 war broke out between Iraq and Iran. In response to the increased danger to British shipping and other British interests, a Royal Navy escort vessel was sent to the Gulf and at least one has remained there ever since. In addition to the surface combatant, the RN has also maintained an auxiliary of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in the Gulf.
(The above courtesy of Wikipedia)
During the Falklands War, New Zealand offered assistance to the British Government and HMNZS Canterbury, which was the only operational frigate at the time, was the first RNZN frigate to participate in Operation Armilla. She was relieved by Waikato. Both ships then did another patrol each, making a total of two patrols per ship.
The story starts with HMNZS Canterbury sitting alongside Hong Kong, May 1982 and I was having breakfast in the Senior Rates Mess when the 0700 local news came on.
“It has just been announced that the NZ Frigate, HMNZS Canterbury, currently sitting alongside at the Naval base in Hong Kong, has been seconded to the Royal Navy for duties in the Falklands conflict.”
I remember eating cornflakes at the time. These I managed to spray over the Chief sitting opposite me. Shortly thereafter, I was piped to go to the CO’s cabin. I assured him that nothing unusual of very high precedence had come in by signal during the night. The Right Honourable Muldoon had been dining with Maggie Thatcher at 10 Downing Street and had promised her an operational frigate to help out.
Anyway, sometime thereafter, and a little way down the coast in a place called Singapore, we eventually discovered that we were not going to the Falklands but to help in something called Operation Armilla. The RN frigate, whose place we were taking on patrol, departed for UK to have some armament changes done prior to going to the South Atlantic. The biggest threat during Operation Armilla could come from Iranian or Iraqi fighter jets and in order to reduce this threat, the NZ Ensign was painted on top of the upper bridge. This allowed for national identification from the air and thus reduce the possibility of being shot at.
Bobby's food stall, Sembawang, Singapore - this particular menu has had Tiger Beer, Curry Soup and Chilli Crab spilt over it.
In June, we departed from Singapore in company with a RN Ikara equipped Leander class frigate (HMS AJAX), who also had SATCOM, and RFA Gold Rover. We transitted the Indian Ocean to the point that juts out on the bottom left hand side of the Red Sea - the French protectorate of Djibouti. Stayed there for a couple of days and then escorted the two RN ships up the Red Sea. If any of you sparkers remember anything about Ducting we were achieving distances of up to 1200 miles on VHF Channel 16. The winds would whip the sand up from the desert and carry it across the Red Sea in the atmosphere. Watch on deck had to continuously keep the air intakes clear from the sand and the buntings had to change the NZ white ensign on several occasions because it kept turning pink.
After leaving the 2 RN units to make their way through the Suez Canal, we had to wait in the area for a while until the other frigate (HMS AURORA) and RFA Grey Rover came through the Canal to join up with Canterbury. This meant that we were now without our SATCOM link. However, we had pre-arranged to go onto a duplex MRL with the RAF base at Episkopi in Cyprus. We stayed on this MRL throughout the Patrol.
RFA Grey Rover - great swimming pool in front of the Bridge!
Whilst waiting for the other two units to join us, we visited Port Sudan and some of us had the opportunity to visit Suakin, which is about 35 miles down the coast. Suakin used to be the departure point for Muslims heading to Mecca. Apart from the fortifications, most of the city was made out of coral. Framework, window frames and doors were made out of wood and over the years, the inhabitants used the wood for fires there being no trees around for hundreds of miles. Consequently, most of the buildings have collapsed and the area looks like the aftermath of a nuclear explosion.
Suakin, Sudan
The RN frigate (Aurora) coming out to join us broke down and returned to Gibraltar. Our patrol consisted of Canterbury and RFA Grey Rover. We departed the Red Sea and went into the Gulf of Oman. Our job was to protect merchant shipping in the area by conducting patrols, monitoring merchant shipping and belligerent activities. Our helo visited the International airport at Oman a couple of times a week and so we were able to get mail regularly. Radfones were held as often as operationally possible, but with the Task Force coming back from the Falklands, it wasn’t uncommon to be told that you were 54th in the queue.
Old British fort, Suakin, Sudan
Communications duties included maintaining the MRL with RAF Episkopi and monitoring all the International Distress Frequencies on the MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands. The patrol concluded when we rendezvoused with HMNZS Waikato off Colombo, Sri Lanka. We stayed there for about 8 hours to do our handovers and refuel with Waikato staying on for a few more days.
Shortly after entering the Gulf for the first time, I was shaken by the Duty LRO during the early hours of the morning and informed that we had received a FLASH grouper (an encrypted message in five letter groups). He was unable to set up the KL-7 crypto machine as the message had been encrypted in a special keylist which was held by the Captain. I hadn't seen a FLASH message since my days on the Royalist in 1965 so I was keen to see what this was all about. I raced up to the CO's cabin, woke him up (fortunately he was a light sleeper) and requested if I could have the special crypto settings that were held in his safe.
I took this material back down to the MCO (Wireless Office) and instructed the LRO to set up the rotors using the CO's keylist. When it was ready, I decrypted the message whilst the CO looked over my shoulder. It was a message from MOD(UK) Intelligence that a Soviet Tupolev TU-95 bomber had left its base in Aden and would be in our area at daybreak. Sure enough, this huge bomber flew over us and came around for a close up. It was near enough to see the crew in the cockpit and the gunner in the rear turret. A friendly wave was given by both sides (and probably photos) and the bomber went on its way. This was to become a regular occurrence during the patrol.
Tupolev TU-95 - codename "BEAR"
Operation Armilla 1982: Communications Circuits for the Patrol:
1. MRL with Cyprus - utilising broadband antennae.
2. Simplex Orestes HF with RFA Grey Rover - 643/CJP - 16ft whip
3. Radfones with NZ - via UK - 32ft whip.
4. Monitor:
(a) 500 kHz - FM16 with MF Broadband if/as required. (b) 2182, 4125 kHz, 6 and 8 MHz - 32ft whip as required. (Remember these are predominantly ground wave signals) (c) Channel 16 – Type 689
(d) 121.5 MHz - AN/ARC182
(e) 243.0 MHz - AN/ARC159’s could all be set to “GUARD” as well as monitor the frequency in use.
I had asked for support from Waiouru between Singapore and the Gulf and the return passage. They were unable to assist as they were concentrating all their support on the ships in the Falklands. Between the Gulf of Oman and passage through the Indian Ocean to Singapore, we had to rely on the limited resources of the RAN station at North West Cape (NAVCALS Exmouth). This Station provided us with excellent support until we were able to establish communications with Navcommsta Darwin.
Operation Big Talk
The first major peace support operation for the Navy was at
Bougainville in 1990. Conflict had broken out on the island in the late
'80s - in an effort to seek a settlement, New Zealand offered HMNZ Ships
WELLINGTON, WAIKATO and ENDEAVOUR as the site for a conference between the warring parties. The advantage of ships compared to land sites for a
conference, were that security could be assured; neither of the two parties had to go into the other's territory, while the ship that hosted the rebels was able to go into harbour at Bougainville. This contribution paved the way for New Zealand's efforts in eventually assisting with the peace process in Bougainville.
There was no medallic recognition for this peacekeeping operation.
bravenet.com