HMNZS Te Mana (F111) Frigate from New Zealand

HMNZS Te Mana (F111) /Photo Benchill

HMNZS Te Mana (F111) is one of ten Anzac class frigates and one of two serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy. The name Te Mana is Māori, approximately translating as 'status' or 'authority' (for further information on this term, see Mana).

Construction

Te Mana was constructed by Tenix Defence Systems at Williamstown, Victoria, Australia and launched on 10 May 1997 by the Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu. The frigate was commissioned into the RNZN on 10 December 1999 in her homeport of Tauranga. She is expected to be in service beyond 2020. The ship is based at Devonport Naval Base, Auckland. However in keeping with RNZN tradition she is ceremonially homeported at Tauranga.
Cracks were discovered in Te Mana's sister ships HMAS Anzac and HMNZS Te Kaha, at the point the bilge keel joins the hull. Te Mana was to be checked and repaired for similar cracks at her scheduled service in August 2002.

[edit] Operational history

The Te Mana was sent to the Solomon Islands in 2000, in preparation to evacuate around 225 New Zealanders from the ethnic conflict on the islands.
A sailor died at sea aboard the frigate on 29 March 2001; the death was investigated by the New Zealand Police but treated as not suspicious.
In February 2002, a Seasprite helicopter flown by a Royal Australian Navy test pilot crashed into the Te Mana’s deck. The ship was operating during 3-metre (9.8 ft) high seas in Cook Strait, a court of enquiry later found that no single event was to blame for the accident. The repairs to the Seasprite cost an estimated $7.4 million.
Te Mana went to the aid of HMS Nottingham in July 2002, when Nottingham ran aground on the submerged Wolf Rock, and provided manpower, supplies and salvage equipment to the stricken vessel.
From 28 January 2003 until 4 August 2003, Te Mana was deployed to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, conducting Maritime Interdiction Operations as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Te Mana deployed to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman for a second time in 2004, again to undertake Maritime Interdiction Operations, as part of Combined Task Force 150. In May the helicopter was damaged, at a cost of up to $4 million; a court of enquiry later found the pilot and co-pilot had failed to lash the aircraft down to the deck correctly. In the Gulf of Oman on 14 July 2004, a crew member aboard a merchant bulk chemical carrier fell into a tank while cleaning it. Te Mana responded to the emergency call and sprinted to the scene, the ship's medic was flown over to the bulk carrier, but the patient was unable to be revived. She returned to Devonport on 10 September 2004, having queried 380 ships and boarded 38.
Te Mana and HMNZS Endeavour were the first RNZN vessels to visit Russia, arriving in the Pacific port of Vladivostok on 10 June 2005 on a diplomatic mission.
A fire broke out about Te Mana in February 2006, while it was participating in an exercise off the coast of Australia. The ship's Seasprite helicopter was diverted to sister ship HMAS Stuart and the fire was put out by the crew.
The breeding ground of the Kermadec Storm Petrel was discovered with the assistance of Te Mana in August 2006, when the ship transported an ornithologist to a rocky outcrop in the Kermadec Islands group, enabling him to find a nest. The ship was on the annual mission to resupply Raoul Island for the Department of Conservation.
Early in 2007 the vessel's diesel engines developed a problem as she crossed the Tasman Sea to Sydney. The engines became unusable and the ship had to use the gas turbine for propulsion. Sister ship Te Kaha suffered a similar problem one month later.^[18]
Te Mana deployed from Devonport to the Central and Southern Persian Gulf on 7 April 2008, as part of Coalition Task Force 152. Sailing via Singapore, she arrived on 11 May 2008, beginning a three month patrol of the region's waterways, including guarding against threats to the oil industry infrastructure, as well to prevent smuggling and piracy.