Nora Niven and Simplon were chartered by the Royal Navy during the First World War to be used as minesweepers and In respect of personnel it was acknowledged that the normal crews of the trawlers would have to be utilised, but that for the purposes of naval discipline, the masters should be given a temporary status in the New Zealand Branch of the Royal Naval Reserve.
They were later recognised as having been members of the New Zealand Naval Auxiliary Service.
The Nora Niven was a 90ft steam Trawler launched 17th November 1906. Built by Cochrane & Sons of Selby for the Napier Fish Supply Co of New Zealand this state of the art trawler with an Ice Making machine that could produce 3 tons of ice in 24 hour and cool storage compartments for 80tons of fish. In June 1917, a German surface raider, the SMS Wolf entered New Zealand waters. She laid two small minefields in New Zealand waters and sank two merchant ships. One (the Port Kembla) off Farewell Spit, and another (the Wairuna) off the Kermadec Islands. Two fishing trawlers, the Nora Niven and Simplon, were fitted as minesweepers and took up sweeping duties in these areas. Another brief flurry of activity occurred when Felix von Luckner, imprisoned on Motuihe Island after being captured in the Society Islands, escaped and commandeered a small vessel before being recaptured in the Kermadec Islands.
https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-themes/world-war-one/minesweeping-ww1/
Regarding Second World use read below-
A comprehensive report here
https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Navy-c12.html
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