HMNZS Manawanui (1948)

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For other ships of the same name, see HMNZS Manawanui.

Career (New Zealand)	Royal New Zealand Navy

Name:	HMNZS Manawanui
Builder:	Steel Ships Ltd, Auckland
Launched:	1945
In service:	1948
Out of service:	1978
Fate:	sold 1978 to the Paeroa Historic Maritime Park
General characteristics
Displacement:	125 tons standard
Length:	23 m (76 feet)
Beam:	5.6 m (18 feet)
Propulsion:	320 hp diesel, 1 shaft
Speed:	10 knots
Complement:	4

HMNZS Manawanui (1948) was a naval tug which was modified for use as a diving tender by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).

She was built in Auckland in 1945 by Steel Ships Ltd for the USN as the US navy tug YLT622. She was transferred to the New Zealand Marine Department who named her Tug 622 and used her to service the large post war fleet of surplus boats scattered around Waitemata Harbour.

In 1948 Tug 622 was transferred to the RNZN and became HMNZS Manawanui. Manawanui was the first of three boats with this name to serve in the New Zealand Navy. It is also a Māori word meaning "to be brave or steadfast".

In 1953 she was converted to a diving tender and functioned in this role for the next 15 years. In 1956 she assisted in recovering an Avenger aircraft that had ditched in Hauraki Gulf. In 1957 she towed the badly damaged patrol launch SDML P3561 off rocks near Rangipukea Island and beached her in a nearby bay. In 1958 she investigated the wreck of the coaster Holmglen off Timaru.

She was replaced as a diving tender by a specially modified Moa class boat with the same name in 1978.

in November 1978 she was sold for a nominal sum, to the Paeroa Historic Maritime Park for preservation and display. Her future seems uncertain. ^[1]