History of the Royal New Zealand Navy
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[edit] Origins
Originally the British Royal Navy provided total security for the colony of New Zealand, but in 1846 the settlers bought a gunboat. The Waikato Flotilla operated from 1860 to 1865, and at the same time a Naval Artillery Volunteer corps was established to provide harbour defence. In 1884 the government purchased four spar torpedo boats, and starting in 1887 it funded ships of the Australasian Auxiliary Squadron.
Before establishment of the navy, the people of New Zealand paid for the building of the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand, which was at the Battle of Jutland and which served the Royal Navy with distinction.
The Naval Defence Act of 1913 formally established the New Zealand Naval Forces, and the old RN cruiser HMS Philomel was the first to be commissioned into it. From 1921 the forces were known as the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, operating two cruisers and a minesweeper.
[edit] World War II
The light cruisers HMS Achilles and Ajax saw action under the British flag at the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939, but most New Zealand actions in the Second World War were facing the Japanese in the Pacific.
Perhaps the best known RNZN action was the Davids and Goliath victory of minesweepers HMNZS Kiwi and Moa over a Japanese submarine that outweighed and outgunned both of them.
The New Zealand Division became the Royal New Zealand Navy when the name was granted by King George VI on 1 October 1941, and by the end of World War II the RNZN had over sixty ships in commission. However, the end of the war saw massive cutbacks.
[edit] The Korean War
Six Loch Class frigates were deployed.
- HMNZS Pukaki
- HMNZS Tutira
- HMNZS Rotoiti
- HMNZS Hawea
- HMNZS Taupo
- HMNZS Kaniere
RNZN crews in Korea went ashore in several "Nelsonian" night raids against coastal targets and took several prisoners for intelligence gathering.
[edit] Political fallout with the USA
Throughout the 1960's to 1984, the Royal New Zealand Navy operated with SEATO, before its dissolution, and ANZUS treaty nations. In 1984 the relationship began to break down over the issue of nuclear-powered ship visits and nuclear weapons access to New Zealand. See ANZUS, s. 2.5 The United States suspends ANZUS obligations to New Zealand. On several occasions, New Zealand dispatched RNZN vessels to monitor environmental damage caused by French nuclear testing in the Pacific.
[edit] East Timor
The RNZN supported INTERFET landings with the deployment of frigate HMNZS Te Kaha and the tanker HMNZS Endeavour. HMNZS Te Kaha was later replaced by the Leander Class frigate HMNZS Canterbury (F-421) which escorted the Support Ship HMAS Tobruk to Suai, with elements of the New Zealand Army's 1st Battalion RNZIR. A further 3 Army Battalion groups, with attached naval personnel were deployed to East Timor with INTERFET and as part of the UN peacekeeping force.
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 New Zealand Army  Royal New Zealand Navy |  Royal New Zealand Air Force |
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