HMNZS Wellington (F-69)
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HMNZS Wellington was a retired Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy. The Leander class frigate originally commissioned in 1969 for the Royal Navy as HMS Bacchante, she joined the RNZN in 1982. Extensive refits were required to remove asbestos resulting in the ship entering active service in 1987. She was decommissioned in 1999. She was due to be sunk on 12 November 2005.
[edit] Sinking
HMNZS Wellington was sunk off the south coast of Wellington, New Zealand, at Island Bay. The ship is now a wreck for the use of divers for about 100 years until the ship has rusted away. While the ship was due to be sunk at 3pm, 12 November 2005, this was delayed for 24 hours due to less than optimal weather conditions needed for the operation.
The next day, the sinking was delayed by another 30 minutes due to the entanglement of a detonation cable under the frigate. At 3:30pm, 13 November 2005 in front of a crowd of thousands the ship was scuttled and took a mere minute and 55 seconds to sink.
During a storm in February 2006 the ship broke up further and is now lying in two sections on the seabed close to where it was sunk.
