HMNZS Endeavour (1944)

HMNZS Endeavour was a Royal New Zealand Navy Antarctic support vessel that made five voyages to the Antarctic. She was the first of three ships in the Royal New Zealand Navy to bear that name.

The ship was built in the United States in 1944 as Satinwood (YN-89) as a net tender of the Ailanthus class (but later redesignated as AN-76, a net layer) and transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease in August 1944. Commissioned as HMS Pretext (Z284), she served the United Kingdom until she was returned to United States Navy custody in November 1945. Sold by the United States Maritime Commission in 1947, she served as a research vessel for the government of the Falkland Islands under the name RRS John Biscoe, and as RRS Pretext when another ship was assigned the John Biscoe name. She was purchased by the Royal New Zealand Navy, renamed Endeavour, and employed in support missions to Antarctica. Sold again in 1962, the ship—renamed Arctic Endeavour for sealing work in the northern hemisphere—foundered off the coast of Canada in November 1982

Second World War

The ship was laid down as Satinwood (YN-89), a net tender of the Ailanthus class, on 1 May 1943 at the American Car and Foundry Co. in Wilmington, Delaware. On 17 January 1944, while still under construction, the ship was reclassified as a net laying ship and redesignated AN-76. Satinwood was launched on 23 May and completed on 5 August.

After delivery to the U.S. Navy on 5 August, she was transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease the same day and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Pretext (Z284). Upon completion of wartime duty with the United Kingdom, she was returned to the U.S. Navy on 22 November 1945 at Norfolk, Virginia. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 March 1946, she was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission and sold on 20 July 1947.

Postwar career

She was purchased by the government of the Falkland Islands, converted to a research vessel and renamed John Biscoe. At the time, she was extensively refitted for ice conditions, including having her hull sheathed in 3 inches (7.6 cm) of greenheart timber. She made a number of summer voyages to the Antarctic to relieve the stations manned by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. However a ship with a longer range and greater cargo-carrying capacity was required, and the ship's name was returned to Pretext in 1956 to free the name John Biscoe for a new vessel.

Captain Harry Kirkwood had commanded her as the John Biscoe and, when asked to recommend a ship for the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition to take the New Zealand party to the Ross Dependency, he recommended this ship to the Ross Sea Committee. She was sold to the Royal New Zealand Navy in June 1956 and commissioned as HMNZS Endeavour. She was named after Captain Cook's Bark Endeavour and was the first of three ships in the Royal New Zealand Navy to carry that name, although if earlier continuity with the Royal Navy is considered, she was the tenth. It appears that no pendant number was assigned to her.

In June 1962 she was sold again, renamed the Arctic Endeavour and fitted out for sealing work in the Arctic. She foundered off Newfoundland on 11 November 1982.

Sources

• New Zealand Maritime Index
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• YN-89 / AN-76 Satinwood, HMS Pretext (Z-284)

See also

• Logistic ships of the Royal New Zealand Navy