Feature 1 |e 3 | Feature rOYaL NtehemeW ZeaLaND NaVY
Independent review to examine New
Zealand’s MRV
An independent review of the acquisition and introduction to service of
the Royal New Zealand Navy’s (RNZN’s) new Multi-Role Vessel (MRV)
HMNZS Canterbury is to probe areas of concern surrounding the safety
and operability of the ship.
N
ew Zealand’s defence minister, about its design and performance. although the design and build of the
Phil Goff, asked the New ‘The review has been agreed to and MRV platform was subcontracted to
Z ealand Defence Force will be initiated by the chief of defence Merwede Shipyard in The Netherlands.
(NZDF) and the Ministry of Defence force and the secretary of defence. It The ship’s general design is derived from
to undertake the review in December will be conducted independently… and the commercial roll-on/roll-off ferry
2007, following an incident in July 2007 will work to terms of reference drawn Ben-My-Chree, which operates in the
in which the vessel’s port rigid hull up by the chief of defence force and the Irish Sea.
inflatable boat (RHIB) was lost, and secretary of defence.’ Canterbury was transiting the Bay of
the starboard RHIB damaged, during a The inquiry terms of reference include Plenty at night when the RHIBs were lost
severe storm. decisions taken during the design and and damaged. The ship’s log recorded
In a statement, Goff said: ‘A report build phases of the ship’s acquisition, the a wind strength of 60knots gusting to
of the Navy Court of Inquiry into the management regime for its introduction, 73knots, a swell of 6m (Sea State 6), and
loss at sea of a RHIB from HMNZS and any and all concerns about its a completely overcast ‘very dark night’.
Canterbury on 10 July...has highlighted operation. The RNZN Court of Inquiry (CoI)
a shortcoming in the design of the C a n t e r b u r y , a n 8 8 7 0 t o n n e concluded that the loss and damage
RHIB alcove and other operational displacement MRV designed to perform was caused by large volumes of water
issues. These have been taken up with tactical sealift, logistic support, maritime entering the hull alcoves in which
shipbuilder Tenix as issues which need surveillance, and training, is one of the boats were stowed. Water ingress
to be remedied.’ seven new vessels being acquired by occurred due to a combination of ship
He added: ‘Safety must always be the the RNZN under Project Protector. The roll, the position of the alcoves relative
first priority. Therefore, I have asked that ship was commissioned into the RNZN to the waterline, the wave height, and
all safety factors and concerns relevant in June 2007. wave direction.
to the operation of the ship be reviewed Tenix Defence is prime contractor The CoI noted: ‘Notwithstanding the
to provide certainty and confidence for the Project Protector programme, magnitude of the prevailing storm...the
[inquiry] has found that with the ship
operating well within [its] operating
limits (specified by the customer in
order to “sustain patrol”) plus both
the port and starboard RHIBs and
associated working mechanisms suffered
significant damage, and in the case of
the port RHIB, total loss.
‘Thus in this single incident both
RHIBs - a capability central to a
number of the ship’s functions and risk
mitigation strategies - were rendered
completely unusable.’
an independent review of the acquisition
and introduction to service of the mrV is
to probe areas of concern surrounding
the ship.
Warship Technology May 2008 21
WT May 08 - p21+22.indd 21 23/04/2008 16:16:18
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