Devonport Naval Base
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Devonport Naval Base is the home of the Royal New Zealand Navy, located at Devonport on Auckland's North Shore. The base consists of HMNZS Philomel (the administration centre for the base), the Fleet Support Organisation, and the Fleet Personnel and Training Organisation.
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[edit] Operation
All operational units of the Royal New Zealand Navy are based at Devonport. Senior naval staff are located at the NZDF headquarters in Wellington. The operational headquarters is located at Trentham Military Camp in the Upper Hutt suburb of Trentham. Within the Royal New Zealand Navy many land-based facilities and services ensure support for ships and personnel when deployed.
Shore based support is predominantly based at the Devonport Naval Base, Auckland, with a long and varied list of services and facilities, including facilities for training, sports, and cultural activities, dry dock, as well as engineering and flight support, the Band, the Navy Museum and the Navy Hospital (and Hyperbaric Unit).
The RNZN College is also situated at Devonport Naval Base. Navy training encompasses numerous disciplines, from New Entry School, Junior Officer Common Training and Damage Control School to specialised training for Operational, Technical and Trade, and Support Logistics branches.
[edit] Calliope Dock
One of the more famous elements of the base is the Calliope Dock, a drydock built in 1888 and still in use. At that time, it was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and a strategic asset for the Royal Navy. It was named for Calliope Point, out of which it had been hewn by hand over three years. Coincidentally, one of the two first ships to enter it (as a show of her capacity) was the HMS Calliope. Administered at first by the Auckland Harbour Board, the dock was transferred to the navy when the Auckland naval base moved from Torpedo Bay to Devonport, into a swamp area next to the dock.[1][2][3]
[edit] References
- ^ Devonport Naval Base (from the New Zealand Naval Museum website)
- ^ Calliope (from Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand)
- ^ Development of naval repair facilities at Auckland, New Zealand 1841-1962 - Bell, J.A.; AMRINA Deputy Constructive Manager HMNZ Dockyard
[edit] External links
- HMNZS PHILOMEL (official base website)
- Navy Museum (official museum website)
- Auckland Naval Base Murders (from the crime.co.nz website)
- Devonport Naval Base is at coordinates Coordinates:
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