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Article: R.N.Z.N's 'Bird' Class Ships and much more.....

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    R.N.Z.N's 'Bird' Class Ships and much more.....

    0 Comments by Brian Probetts (Site Admin) Published on 21st April 2016 09:17 AM
    Hi Team
    In this month's Maritime News we look at the RNZN's Bird Class ships, the life of CDR CHARLES (Bunty) PALMER DSC & Bar RNZVR and the history of Devonport's Calliope Dock.
    Then a stirring short video of the Naval Hymn 'Eternal Father' for this weekend's Anzac Day as we remember our shipmates over the past century.

    Most readers will be aware that the RNZN is celebrating it's 75th Anniversary this year. To keep up with the play I recommend that you add your contact details to the mailing list of the
    "Old Salts ex RNZN 75th". Please click the link below.
    join the mailing list.

    Yours aye
    Peter Hogg
    Royal NZ Naval Assoc South Canterbury Branch N.Z.

    "peterhogg222@gmail.com"

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    Royal NZ Navy's Bird-class ships


    HMNZS Kiwi attacking a submarine
    When the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy became the Royal New Zealand Navy on 1 October 1941, it had three brand-new ships working up or fitting out in Scotland.
    Moa, Kiwi and Tui – the Bird class, sometimes also called the ‘Admiralty type’ – were not big or powerful. Nor were they the first warships to be owned by the New Zealand government. Colonial governments had bought a few small ships and in 1926 New Zealand had acquired a former minesweeper, the Wakakura, for training purposes. But in contrast to the cruisers borrowed from the Royal Navy or the imperial sloops stationed in New Zealand between the wars, the Birds represented a big local investment.
    Designed primarily to train young Kiwis for service in the expanding Royal Navy, they were perfectly timed for New Zealand’s brand new navy.
    All three ships joined Royal Navy escorts to work up at Tobermory (Isle of Mull) where they were put through their paces under the watchful eye of legendary disciplinarian, Commodore Gilbert Stephenson. ‘The Terror of Tobermory’ was a hard man to please. Author Jack Harker recorded that when inspecting the Moa’s mess deck, Stephenson criticised what he saw as wasteful luxury. ‘Cruet sets, pepper and salt shakers, monogrammed crockery, bunks supplied with sheets, blankets and RNZN monogrammed bedspreads, what next?’ he demanded. ‘Yes, sir, New Zealand has a very socialist government’, Moa’s commander, Lt-Cdr Phil Connelly replied. (Less than a year later Connolly would become a MP in that government.)
    When the ships finally arrived at Auckland between April and August 1942, after lengthy voyages, they joined the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla, whose other members were former coasters and trawlers. By now New Zealand was also at war with Japan, putting on hold earlier plans for training and coastal patrols. The new ships were needed at the front.
    Life aboard the Birds

    Although the ships were newer and better equipped than their flotilla mates, they were still small vessels – and they got more cramped as additional weapons and sensors were crammed in to meet new threats.
    American food


    ‘The dehydrated spuds looked like grey paste when they were mashed up’, Moa Leading Signalman Jack Salter recalled. ‘Cabbage was like chaff, the same colour too by the way, like straw. The best was dehydrated onion, they came up pretty well, they didn’t look like onion, but they tasted alright.’
    They were intended to have a crew of 33-35 officers and men, but numbers grew. By war’s end, the ships’ full load displacement of 915 tons had grown to 1025, and they were sitting lower in the water.

    Cleaning boilers
    In the Pacific the heat and monotony were almost as challenging as the Japanese. Crews had to put up with temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius while patrolling six days out of seven, returning only to refuel and to restock provisions.
    Nor was the grub much good. There was plenty of New Zealand-made canned food, and the Americans were generous with their supplies. But fresh meat and vegetables were very scarce. This unhealthy diet and the overpowering heat produced many stomach and skin complaints.
    By early 1943 the ships of the New Zealand minesweeping flotilla were patrolling along the Guadalcanal coast. The Americans had landed successfully, but Japanese land, air and sea forces held footholds and were still contesting the islands. Although the destroyers of the nocturnal ‘Tokyo Express’ were still active, the Bird-class ships’ usual targets were small craft and submarines attempting to land troops and supplies.
    On the night of 29 January Kiwi and Moa were patrolling along Kamimbo Bay, on the north-western corner of Guadacanal, when Kiwi detected a submarine. It made a depth charge attack, but then lost contact. Kiwi continued to attack and on its third run, the damaged submarine surfaced and attempted to fight it out.

    Damage to HMNZS Kiwi after ramming
    On paper it was two-to-one, but the Japanese sub I-1 was a formidable opponent. At 2135 tons surfaced, the Type J1 class were one and a half times bigger than Moa and Kiwi combined. Undamaged, the sub could outrun them by about five knots. The I-1’s 140-mm gun had greater range and hitting power than the New Zealand ships' 102-mm guns, and it also had powerful torpedoes. No wonder that to theKiwi’s crew in the dark, the Japanese shells sounded ‘like an express train going through’.
    In confined waters the Kiwi’s commander, Lieutenant-Commander Gordon Bridson, decided to get in close to negate some of the sub’s advantages. But that meant braving a hail of fire from light-calibre weapons. Japanese machine-guns bullets sprayed theKiwi, mortally wounding Acting Leading Signalman C.H. Buchanan. In pain and bleeding, he remained at his post, lighting up the sub for the gunners with his searchlight.

    Remains of theJapanese submarine
    With a graunching sound, the Kiwi rammed the I-1 right behind the conning tower. Locked together, the vessels continued to blaze away at each other with light weapons. Twice more Brisdon pulled his ship away from the huge submarine only to ram it again, badly damaging his opponent and crumpling his own bows. When Kiwi’s main gun overheated, Moa took over, chasing the submarine until it ran aground on a reef.

    Early in April 1943 the HMNZS Moa was detached from the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla. On 7 April, while refuelling from the American oil barge Erskine M. Phelps at Tulagi Harbour, in the Solomons, the anchorage came under attack from Japanese aircraft. Although a nearby American task force had sighted the raiders, it did not pass on a warning. Both vessels were caught by surprise by a force of Aichi D3A ‘Val’ dive bombers which swooped in from over the hills surrounding the harbour.
    Moa crewmen scrambled to disconnect hoses and get underway. The gunners got in a few bursts of anti-aircraft fire before a Val bracketed the ship. Contemporary newspaper reports and one book say that two bombs hit the Moa; other books say one direct hit and two near-misses. Either way, the fatal blow came from a bomb which plunged through the captain’s cabin and detonated in the bowels of the ship. The Moa listed over and sank by the bow within four minutes.

    Lieutenant-Commander Peter Phipps

    One rating was blown unharmed into the sea from his post on the bridge. The ship’s commander, Lieutenant-Commander Peter Phipps, also had a miraculous escape. He was in his cabin when a bomb passed through it and exploded below. The blast felt like an earthquake and he only narrowly avoided being struck by his safe, which hurtled through the air.
    Other men were not so lucky. Five seamen died and 15 were wounded, including Phipps. Leading Signalman Jack Salter and Ordinary Telegraphist Walter Bright were praised for risking their lives to rescue Ordinary Signalman Arthur Thomas, pinned on the deck unconscious by part of the bridge structure. They released him, fastened a lifejacket around him and floated with their patient as the Moa sank beneath them.

    The Royal New Zealand Navy downsized after the war, although it remained much bigger than the pre-war New Zealand Division.

    Naming ships


    The RNZN recycles distinguished ship names. Within months of Tui going under the scrapper’s torch in 1970, it gave the name to a modern oceanographic research ship, formerly the Charles H. Davis, chartered from the United States. This Tui was withdrawn in 1997 and scuttled as a fish reef two years later.
    The navy later assigned Moa andKiwi to two of the four inshore patrol craft built at Whāngārei in 1983 and 1984 respectively. They served with South Island volunteer reserve divisions until 2007.
    Even so, shortages of crews, coal and cash sent many war-built ships to the mothball fleet. This fate befell Kiwi and Tui in 1946, when, after sweeping German mines from the Hauraki Gulf, they paid off.
    In a tribute to their quality, however, both were reactivated, unlike the war-built Castle-class minesweeping trawlers and the Isles-class ships (scrapped in 1958 after languishing in reserve since 1946).

    HMNZS Kiwi in 1951
    Kiwi and Tui saw useful post-war service, initially as training ships. Recommissioned in 1949 and 1952 respectively, they helped to train men to fill New Zealand’s two-frigate commitment to the Korean War as well as an influx of Compulsory Military Training Scheme personnel. Kiwi was laid up for the last time at the end of 1956 and was scrapped at Auckland in 1964-5.
    Tui went on to have a second life as an oceanographic research ship. Disarmed, it cruised widely, carrying out surveying work for the Naval Research Laboratory, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and other institutions. Tui was laid up in 1967 and was stripped and scrapped at Auckland in 1969-70.
    THIS ARTICLE COURTESY OF THE HISTORY GROUP OF NZ MINISTRY FOR CULTURE AND HERITAGE

    WWII: Commander Charles G. Palmer DSC & Bar MID RNZNVR


    Born 30 April 1910, a with a father so prominent in the formation of the Auckland Division of the RNVR,and a love of the sea, it is no wonder that his son Charles Palmer (or Bunty as he was known) joined the RNVR as an Ordinary Seaman as soon as he was able to on 4 February 1929. He was promoted to an Able Seaman in July 1929 and commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant on 19 June 1931. He carried out sea training on HMS Wakakura in 1931 and 1932.

    Image Right: Commander Palmer at sea. When the Queen Street riots broke out 14 April 1932 in Auckland, the RNVR were called upon to support the police in quelling the disturbances. They also provided guards for government buildings and food warehouses. The reservists were sworn in as Special Constables. Bunty Palmer marched to the foot of Queen Street with a RN contingent then proceeded up the street in a show of force to any civilians who wished to start any further trouble. He was directed to stand guard over Pascoe’s Jewellers which had been looted in the riots. In 1933, Bunty Palmer, to a leave of absence from the RNVR (NZ) and went to England and worked in firms that supplied his father’s company. From 11 January 1934 to 7 February 1934 he served on HMS Hood for twenty-eight days as part of its spring cruise to Spain, Madeira and Gibraltar. The Captain of Hood noted he was a popular officer and took ‘a keen interest in his work and has identified himself enthusiastically with all the Ship’s activities.’ He was promoted to Lieutenant on 19 June 1934 and passed the first navigation examination. In 1935 on return to New Zealand, he spent time training in aboard the cruiser HMS Diomede and in 1936 he undertook mine warfare training in the Hauraki Gulf aboard the minesweeper HMS Leith. In 1938, he was aboard HMS Achilles when she attended the Sesquicentennial Celebrations in Sydney. The commanding officer Captain Glennie noted that Palmer was ‘most keen and zealous’. By 1939, Bunty Palmer was running a successful Gymnasium business in Auckland with six locations. In 1939, officers in the RNVR (NZD) were expected to attend 2-3 parades per week and assist with the instruction of the ratings. They would also attend Saturday afternoon classes with their men. Lieutenant Bunty Palmer was called up for duty on 9 September 1939 while he was at the Keane Navigation School held in the Ferry Building in downtown Auckland on a refresher course. he passed the second navigation examination as well. The Navy Board had issued the Naval Mobilisation Emergency regulations on 1 September 1939 outlining how the reservists would be called up for duty. The Captain’s Motor Boat from Philomel was the first craft to be used for harbour patrols. Lieutenant Palmer and four ratings were assigned to this boat on 9 September and he was tasked with patrolling the eastern approaches to the Auckland Harbour. One of the crew was Ordinary Seaman Sheffield who would save Palmer’s life in 1943 when the HMS Cromarty blew up. They would patrol from 7pm to 7am along a line from Brown’s Island to Emu point when the channel was closed to all shipping. Palmer subsequently was given command of the requisitioned fifteen metre diesel launch Wirihana. His duty at this time consisted of night patrols and daytime resupply runs to the Port War Signal Station at Tiritiri Island. One night Bunty Palmer stopped the launch of the General Commanding the Auckland Area and ordered him to reverse course and sail through the access channel so it could be cleared as per the protocol. This did not impress the General but in Lieutenant Palmer’s defence he was trying to sail after 7pm and ran the very real risk of being fired upon by the coastal batteries. He carried this patrol duty for six months. In May 1940 all RNVR officers were called up for active service. Lieutenant Palmer left for England aboard Empress of Japan with 27 RNVR officers (including J.G. Hilliard) and 200 ratings in a draft sailing with the Second Echelon. He arrived in Britain on 16 June 1940 after serving as crew with the RNVR officers and ratings for the passage from Capetown after the civilians refused to proceed into a war zone. Once in Britain he would be sent for service with the minesweeping flotillas being appointed to command 23 July 1940. His first command was HMS Pine, a Tree-class trawler as part of the 24th Minesweeping Anti-Submarine Group, consisting of five trawlers. Ten of these ships were made available for command by New Zealand RNVR officers. The ship’s company consisted of four officers and 29 ratings. Part of the function of the flotilla was to escort coastal shipping and sweep for mines during the height of the Battle of Britain. Minesweeping around the British coast was very difficult and dangerous work. For example, in October 1940, the survivors of the minesweeper HMS Hickory were rescued by the Pine at great risk to itself while sweeping large minefields off Falmouth. This task took over two months to complete. In 1941 Lieutenant Palmer was awarded the DSC for gallant and distinguished service in minesweeping duties. The Auckland RNVR officers distinguished themselves by the ‘seamanship, steadiness of nerve, courage and fortitude.’ Palmer relinquished command of the Pine on 31 August 1941. It was during 1941 that he was granted a full watch-keeping certificate. On 27 October 1941, Palmer was appointed to command HMS Cromarty, a Bangor-class fleet minesweeper launched in 1941 as part of the 14th Minesweeping Flotilla. He was the first Lieutenant RNVR to have a command of a fleet minesweeper. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 20 February 1942. Cromarty and the Flotilla was part of the fleet (Force H) tasked with the capture of Diego Suarez, a port on the island of Madagascar, at that time a French Vichy colony. This was successfully seized by 7 May 1942 after a two day assault. The flotilla also supported the landings at Majunga and Tamatave. The minesweepers cleared a channel to the anchorage at Courier Bay and then continued to sweep for mines during the two day battle with the Vichy forces as well as rescuing downed aircrew. Cromarty and her sister ship Cromer were described as the ‘outstanding ships of the 14th Flotilla.’ The Flotilla was then sent to the Eastern Fleet based at Kilindini. In September 1942, the Flotilla participated in the capture of Majunga and completed the occupation of Madagascar. Palmer was Mentioned-in-Despatches for his part in the clearance of 57 mines that had been laid in Courrier Bay that enabled the landing craft and transports to enter the bay.


    HMS CROMARTY Bangor Class Minesweeper

    Cromarty and the 14th M/S Flotilla were then transferred to the Inshore Squadron based in Alexandria just as the Battle of El Alamein opened on 23 October 1942. They were designated to provide support to the Eighth Army as it advanced. On 9 November 1942 Palmer was appointed to be Second Senior Officer of the Flotilla. The eight minesweepers in the Flotilla completed the ‘longest continuous minesweeping operation in naval history, covering 1800 nautical miles (3334kms) and opening six major ports. The Flotilla also escorted convoys to Malta. They would sweep for mines in the daylight and fight off aircraft attacks at night.In February 1943, Palmer was awarded a Bar to his DSC for bravery and enterprise in supporting the advance of the Eight Army in the successful conclusion to the campaign for North Africa. The 14th Flotilla was then assigned to the fleet supporting the invasion of Sicily, Operation HUSKY. The Flotilla’s two divisions were assigned to Operation HON ONE. From 9 July, Palmer’s Division of four minesweepers (HMS Cromarty, Seaham, Boston, and Poole) along with trawlers and motor launches swept the approaches toSyracuse, Augusta, and Catalina, and carried out ASDIC patrol around the anchored transports. On 12 July 1943, the Cromarty and Seaham captured the Italian submarine Bronzo and 36 of her ship’s company assisted by the cruiser HMS Uganda. Cromarty attacked a second contact with HMS Pendant joined by HMS Poole and successfully sank a second Italian submarine. Later on, HMS Boston and Poole attacked a third contact without success. This success was reported in New Zealand: A notable exploit by flour fleet sweepers, all under the command of an Aucklander, Lieutenant-Commander C.G. Palmer, D.S.C. RNZNVR is described in a letter which has been received from another Aucklander Lieutenant W.A.E. Leonard, whose success in taking 15 motor fishing vessels 2500 miles from Britain to Sicily recently earned him widespread attention and praise. Lieutenant-Commander Palmer’s four ships attacked three submarines in less than half an hour while on a Mediterranean voyage during the Sicilian campaign. The sweepers captured on of the submarines, sank another, and attacked the third until it disappeared, although sinking could not be conclusively proved. Anti-Submarine Screen Formed While on his own voyage Lieutenant-Commander Palmer sighted three British cruisers going in the same direction. Without any orders he decided that his ships, equipped as they were for submarine hunting, could strengthen the anti-submarine screen of this valuable collection of big vessels and disposed of his little fleet accordingly. “Within half an hour”, says Lieutenant Leonard, “in the fading light of sunset, one of his [Palmer’s] ships got a contact, went into attack, dropped two patterns of depth charges, forced an Italian submarine to the surface and pursued it at full speed.” “The first shot from the forward gun hit the submarine’s conning tower, killing three officers and mortally wounding the captain. With both vessels still going at full speed a boarding party of one officer and several ratings jumped aboard the submarine and drove two Italians below to stop the engines. Two More Discovered “This done, the Italian crew made a rush and dived over the side, indicating that destructive time bombs had probably been set going inside the hull. Notwithstanding this, a thorough search was made for them, none was found, and the submarine was taken in tow.” “A few minutes later one of the other ships sighted another periscope and the captured submarine was cut adrift while all ships fought this one until they sank it. Yet a third was discovered and attacked. It disappeared, but the sinking could not be conclusively proved.” “Less than half an hour cover all three actions, during which the cruisers sailed serenely on. But for ‘Bunty’ Palmer and his gang it might have been very different. They picked up the derelict submarine again and towed it in to Malta. I saw it there.” On 19 September 1943 Palmer’s Division opened the Italian port of Crotone. For this and his work during Operation HUSKY sweeping the channels into Syracuse and Augusta Palmer received second Mention-in-Despatches for gallant and distinguished service and untiring devotion to duty in operations which lead to the capture of Sicily by Allied forces. On 23 October 1943, while sweeping the Strait of Bonifacio between Sardinia and Corsica in preparation for the landing on the southern French coast, HMS Cromarty struck a mine and sunk with the loss of 25 of the ship’s company. Palmer himself was severely injured after being blown off the bridge and onto the after gun position. He was evacuated to a hospital in North Africa, passing through another six and a trip on a Canadian hospital ship there before being transferred to Sherborne Naval Auxiliary Hospital at Dorset on

    24 December 1943. He was placed on the dangerously ill list in November 1943 and only removed from the seriously ill list in January 1944. By 1945 he was walking again. He recalled the event in a letter to the other surviving officer off the Cromarty:
    ‘We were preceded by a captured Italian shallow draft sweeper. It was not long after ‘Out Sweeps’ that the Italian cut a mine. Suddenly I saw my forward lookout point ahead, turn and shout. I ordered ‘Hard a starboard’ hoping to clear the mine. We actually struck the mine at 11.23. I remember no more. I lost about [five officers], 20 dead [of the ship’s company] and many others were badly injured. I spent many months indeed years in various hospitals and eventually returned to NZ by hospital ship in March 1945.’ Commander W.A.T. Irvine, Commanding Officer of M/S 14th Flotilla noted of Palmer that ‘no man had a finer 2nd Senior Officer than I did in Bunty. He earned far more recognition that he received, his decorations being very well earned indeed.’ He was admitted to Rotorua Hospital on 13 April 1945 after arriving back to New Zealand aboard the Hospital Ship NZHS Maunganui after being discharged from Sherborne in November 1944 and sent to New Zealand on the Hospital ship Oranje. On 16 April 1946, Bunty Palmer was discharged and demobilised as physically unfit for Naval Service. He was formally awarded his DSC and Bar on 1 May 1947 in Auckland. On 16 April 1948 he was promoted to Commander in recognition of his ‘distinguished war record and the especially good service [he] performed in the interest of the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve’ and placed on the Retired List of officers of the RNZNVR. John McEwan remarks in Auckland Rockies that Bunty Palmer ‘typifies the reserve officer at his best, a leader by example in war and in peace; a man of character, charm and distinction.’ Courtesy of RNZN Museum
    CALLIOPE DOCK - AUCKLAND
    The dry dock, along with the pump house, are two of the oldest and most significant maritime related structures in New Zealand. Its construction was one of the largest and most difficult engineering works undertaken in New Zealand during the 19th century.
    In May 1881 the Auckland Harbour Board (AHB) voted in favour of Devonport. Five days later instructions were issued to the officers of the board to purchase Calliope Point and commence surveying. It was agreed by the Board that the dock would be constructed for the use of the Royal Navy as a repair and maintenance facility for the Fleet that protected the Empire. Calliope dry-dock would replace the Sturdee Street dry-dock which was built in 1878.
    In 1885 work commenced under the architect William Errington. The work was carried out by the contractor Pierce Lanigan. The spoil was used to reclaim land on both sides of dock. The 1.5 bricks used were made locally. Rock was supplied from the Auckland Harbour Board quarry on Rangitoto Island. The original dock blocks were pohutukawa. The original dimensions were:
    Length 162m
    Breadth 23m
    Width at dock level 20m

    On 16 February 1888, the official opening was held. As arranged HMS Calliope and Diamond docked down, Calliope breaking a ribbon stretched across the dock. Unfortunately, the six casks of beer provided for refreshment of ships’ crews and dock guard led to a brawl ending proceedings.
    In May 1899 an agreement was signed between Admiralty and Auckland Harbour Board for use of the dock. The Admiralty would have priority use of the dock for 30 years and the AHB would affect repairs to the dock and upkeep workshops and machinery, which would be available for use by the Navy. In 1903 a new agreement had to be negotiated as the repairs cost more than the AHB had realised in 1899. The annual fee paid by the Admiralty would increase and the AHB Harbour Board to reconstruct and equip the dock, jetty, deep water berth and building. That year the lower altar of the dock was cut back to allow docking of the largest ships serving New Zealand – Corinthic, Ionic, and Athenic In 1906 SS Mamari fell over when docking down killing 3 men and injuring 30.
    In 1909 the lower altars, i.e. all of No.2 and half of No.3 were cut back to allow docking of modern broad beam vessels. In 1911 the Admiralty received £68.16.1 as profit share of facilities. This was the first and only time such a payment was made.
    By 1913, the Calliope Dock was considered to be out of date and incapable of taking modern vessels. Two years later, RMS Niagara had to make an emergency docking. Minor modifications were required to the head of dock to accommodate overhang of bow and the ship’s rudder had to be hard over to allow the cassion to close.
    In 1920s the New Zealand government took over the Admiralty payments. By 1927, the Navy considered that the dock and workshop equipment to be out of date and require modernising, which disputed by the Harbour Board. The dual control arrangements considered to be unsatisfactory for both parties. This debate continued into the 1930s and reached a low point when the replacement of the D-class cruisers by the Leander-class needed further alterations and new machinery. In 1936, the recess at head of dock was lengthened and widened and the dock itself was lengthened to take the Leander class cruisers.


    The T.S.S.MONOWAI in the Calliope dry dock at H.M.S. Philomel, the naval base at Devonport on Auckland Harbour's North shore.

    During the Second World War, a new cassion was fitted in 1942 and in 1943, with funding from the United States Navy; the dock was lengthened to accommodate USN Indianapolis class cruisers.
    The dimensions at this time were:
    Length 185m
    Breadth 24m

    In the 1960s discussions in respect of the Crown acquiring the dock were held but nothing was done until 1986 when the Dock was sold to the Ministry of Defence, being officially handed over on 13 February 1987. In August 1994 the dockyard, including dock, leased to Babcock-Skellerup. Modifications were undertaken in 1996 to accommodate ANZAC class frigates, this included new pumping arrangements, a new cassion and extending the depth of the rudder and sonar pits.
    In 2004, Calliope Dock was leased to VT Fitzroy, now Babcocks.
    (Courtesy of The Royal New Zealand Navy Museum)

    When it opened 130 years ago Devonport’s Calliope drydock was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Dug by hand in a little over three years, the project exemplified the era’s pioneering spirit, but perhaps its real fascination lies in the quirky coincidences that punctuate its history. Lawrence Schäffler reports.
    Many would list the drydock near or at the top of New Zealand’s most challenging 19th century engineering projects. It was a remarkable accomplishment for a small, developing country in a lonely corner of the South Pacific.
    When it was officially opened with great fanfare on 16 February 1888, two vessels were shoe-horned in to illustrate its cavernous capacity – the HMS Calliope and HMS Diamond. A common misconception (even today) is that the first of these ships gave the dock its name – and why not?
    After all, she was a handsome 2770-ton, 235-foot hybrid corvette, the first of the Royal Navy’s new class of sail-and-steam vessels. In addition to her vast spread of canvas she was fitted with coal-fired boilers and a steam engine driving a single screw.
    In reality, her presence at the opening ceremony was nothing more than an improbable coincidence. The dock was, in fact, named after the promontory from which it was carved – Calliope Point.
    Curiously, though, Calliope Point was named after a ship – an earlier HMS Calliope. A Royal Navy frigate, she’d visited in 1845 so that her skipper – a Captain Owen Stanley – could survey the Waitemata harbour and chart and name its prominent landmarks.
    There are further quirks. A calliope was a 19th century musical instrument which created tunes by forcing steam through an arrangement of whistles. Few survive today, but they were very popular on riverboats and in steam-driven carousels. Though unmusical, the drydock’s first pumps, too, were operated by steam-driven engines.
    It could also be argued that fate played a friendly role in the project’s fundamental design and construction. Luckily for the Auckland Harbour Board (it commissioned the drydock), a British engineer supremely qualified for the job just happened to be in New Zealand at the time.
    William Errington had immigrated to Australia in 1854 and became a mining engineer in Ballarat, designing and building large steam-operated plants and pumps. The Lady Barkly, one of Australia’s first locomotives, was one of his creations.
    He came to New Zealand in 1871 to install the “Big Pump” for the Thames goldfield. He’d been commissioned by a consortium of four mine-owners – the United Pumping Association. The mine shafts extended to depths that were often below sea level and required regular pumping to remain dry and operational.
    This project’s success led to him being selected in 1874 to design and build a safe, reliable water supply at Western Springs for the burgeoning Auckland city. His design included two massive beam engines, boilers and pumps, as well as reservoirs at Ponsonby and Khyber Pass.
    As with the Thames project, the success of the Auckland job pretty much positioned Errington as the logical candidate for designing and building the new drydock.
    Calliope’s engines & pumps
    While its excavation relied on back-breaking, manual labour, Errington’s design for the steam engines and pumps to empty the drydock were creations of great sophistication. The plant comprised two engines, two pumps and three boilers. They were built by James Watt and Co, the British pioneer company that founded the first legendary steam engine.
    Each engine featured Watt’s patented slide valve and surface condenser. Single-cylinder engines with a 34-inch bore and a four-foot stroke, they each carried a 15-foot diameter flywheel weighing 11 tons. The two pumps were double-acting, vertical single-cylinder models. With a 48-inch cylinder bore and a five-foot stroke, they sighed along at 12 to 20 strokes per minute.
    Errington tested the system on 23 November 1887. With engines/pumps operating at 20 strokes per minute the drydock emptied in 4.75 hours. If a ship was in the dock (displacing much of the water), the process could be shortened considerably.
    Calliope’s engines and pumps were, of course, upgraded with better technology at regular intervals over the years and nothing remains of the original equipment. But an excellent indication of how it all worked can be seen at MOTAT, where one of the beam engines used in Errington’s scheme for Auckland has been superbly restored. It’s the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and the only one of its type in the world.
    The Russian scare
    Why did New Zealand need a drydock – and why such a large one?
    Mainly to service and repair visiting British ships. The responsibility of shaping the development of the new colony required regular visits from British officials. But the number of visiting ships escalated sharply in the early 1880s when the Royal Navy boosted its presence in the South Pacific – a response to souring relations between Britain and Russia.
    Russian warships began visiting the South Pacific after the Crimean War (1853 – 1856), much to the alarm of New Zealand and Britain. This festering antagonism was further aggravated by the Anglo–Russian rivalry in Afghanistan.
    Widely-labelled the “Russian scare”, the situation led to significant defences being built around New Zealand’s coastal cities. A battery of 64-pounders was established on North Head, for example, and in 1884 four Thornycroft torpedo boats were built.
    Predictably, once the Russian scare died down there was little demand for the drydock. Ships visited infrequently, and then only for minor repairs. In fact, the dock was used only four times by Royal Navy ships during the 1914–1918 World War.
    That all changed dramatically in WWII – particularly after Japan’s entry into the war and Britain’s heavy losses at her Pacific bases. The drydock became a strategic asset.
    In 1942 a tunnel was bored through the hill to Shoal Bay where a Naval Stores Yard was built on reclaimed land. The main electrical substation and the oil fuel depot were shifted into tunnels under the cliffs. And in 1943 the dock was lengthened to accommodate the American heavy cruisers.
    Today the drydock remains fully operational – something of a testament to the men who hewed it from the land. It’s now operated by Babcock NZ, contracted to provide engineering services to the Royal New Zealand Navy. It accommodates vessels up to 170 metres in length, with a 22.5 metre beam.
    CALLIOPE’S MOST INFAMOUS VISITOR
    Among the scores of vessels that have used the drydock over the years, one stands out because of her unfortunate end – and the remarkable salvage of nearly nine tons of gold from the wreck.
    The 160-metre, 13,400-ton RMS Niagara once held the honour of being the largest-ever vessel to use the drydock. She was launched in 1912 by the Union Steam Ship Company for the Australia-Canada route.
    Her end came on 19 June 1940 when, having just left Auckland, she struck a mine off Whangarei. It had been laid by the German cruiser Orion. Though she sank quickly in 121 metres of water, everyone got off safely.
    Few knew however that in her strong room was a large consignment of gold from the Bank of England – Britain’s payment to the US for war equipment.
    Underwater salvage in 1940 was a very basic science – particularly in such deep water. The Australian company contracted to retrieve the gold used an old coastal steamship (the 60-ton Claymore) as its recovery vessel. The team found the wreck by dragging the Claymore’s anchor along the seabed – and through the minefield. She accidentally detonated two – remarkably without any major damage to herself.
    After blasting a hole in Niagara*’​s hull they used a basic diving bell and a grab to recover 555 gold bars. Thirteen years later they found another 30. Five remain unrecovered.
    AUCKLAND’S FIRST DRYDOCK
    Calliope wasn’t New Zealand’s first drydock – nor was it Errington’s first drydock project.
    He also designed an earlier dock for the Auckland Harbour Board. It opened in 1878 and was located at what is now Auckland’s Tepid Baths.
    While it operated until 1915 it became clear soon after opening that it was too small. Six years after completion the Harbour Board commissioned Errington to build the Calliope dock.

    THIS ARTICLE COURTESY OF NGAPONA ASSN AUCKLAND NZ
    I recommend that you view this 5 minute video, very stirring, it includes ships and memories of the NZ Navy. Thanks to our reader Cdr Tony Wong from Singapore for forwarding this to me

    Peter Hogg

    Check out this video on YouTube:

    http://youtu.be/1KCiMdR1ox0


    Sent from my iPad

    Attachments area
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    ETERNAL FATHER - The Naval Hymn



    Last edited by Brian Probetts (Site Admin); 1st June 2023 at 10:02 AM.
    Brian Probetts (site admin)
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