HMNZS Coastguard (T12)
Converted trawler 1941–1960
Danlayer – Functioned as a stores ship 1945–1960

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Displacement: 169 tons gross, 98 tons net
Length: 88.3 ft./26.9 m Beam: 23 ft./7 m Draft: 7.75 ft./2.3 m
Propulsion: Motor 145 bhp single screw diesel Speed: 10 knots.
Complement: 12
Armament; 1 X light MG, DCs

Kaiwaka was a wooden motor-powered cargo lighter owned by NZ Refrigerating Co. Ltd employed carrying meat to overseas ships off Wanganui.

She was requisitioned on 7 January 1941 for conversion to a danlayer. A danlayer is a small vessel employed in minesweeping operations to lay dan-buoys to mark the limits of the channels swept through a minefield.

She was delivered to the naval authorities on 5 March 1941 and commissioned for service on 21 May 1941 by Lieutenant A. K. Griffith RNZNVR. She was based mainly at Auckland operating with the 25th MS flotilla and occasionally towing targets.

At the beginning of March 1942 Kaiwaka sailed to Suva where she was employed as a danlayer assisting the USN in laying protective minefields in the Nandi area, returning to Auckland on 25 April.

She visited Wellington several times , being temporary port danlayer for two months in 1943.

During October 1943 Kaiwaka and Thomas Currell swept the short lines of mines in the minor channels on either side of Rakino Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

In January-February 1944 she took part in sweeping the independent minefield in the Bay of Islands and in May she assisted with the sweeping of the defensive minefield laid in March 1942 across the main channel in the Hauraki Gulf.

In March-May 1945 Kaiwaka and the minesweepers began a final clearance of the German minefield laid in June 1940 in the approaches to the Hauraki Gulf.

Kaiwaka paid off on 16 September 1945 when replaced by a converted Castle class minesweeper. She was handed over to the Marine Department and refitted but return to her owners was clouded by legal issues over her condition and delayed until 19 July 1947.

HMNZS “Kaiwaka” – a New Zealand auxiliary ship from World War II , and earlier and later – a lighter . In the Royal New Zealand Navy , Kaiwaka served primarily as a buoylayer ( danlayer ), a ship working with minesweepers and minelayers , marking with buoys areas of water to be mined or to be cleared of mines.

History [ edit | edit code ]

The motorized lighter was built at the WG Lowe & Sons shipyard in Auckland in 1937 for the New Zealand Refrigeration Company ^[1] . The unit had a wooden hull, one deck, was 88.3 feet long, 23 feet wide, its draft was 7.7 feet (26.9 x 7.0 x 2.3 m), and had 169 gt ^[1] . The drive was diesel engines with a total power of 58 nhp ^[1] (145 bhp ^[2] ) with one screw ^[3] . The maximum speed was 10 knots, the economic speed was 9 knots ^[3] . At the time of launching the vessel was mistakenly registered as MV Kaiwhaka ^[3] , in 1938 the name of the vessel was changed to MV Kaiwaka ^[1] .

Before the war, lightering was used in Wanganui to load New Zealand meat onto ships for shipment to other countries ^[4] .

On February 7, 1941, the owners of the ship were informed that it would be requisitioned by the RNZN, it was delivered to the Navy on March 5 and was adapted to the role of a buoylayer ( danlayer ) ^[5] – a ship cooperating with minesweepers and minelayers , marking water areas with buoys to be mined or intended to be cleared of mines ^[2] . In addition, the ship was equipped with sonar and depth charges – it could also serve as an antisubmarine minesweeper (AS MS – ZOP minesweeper ) ^[4] . During the war, the crew consisted of 12 people ^[3] .

She entered service as HMNZS Kaiwaka (T14) on May 21 (or May 25 ^[2] ) under the command of RNZN reserve captain AK Griffith ^[5] [4] . The ship was part of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla, initially based in Auckland , and was sometimes also used to tow targets ^[3] .

In March 1942, Kaiwaki and Coastguard assisted in laying minefields off Fiji , and the ship returned to Auckland after six weeks . ^[3] Kaiwaki visited Wellington several times and for two months, until the end of June 1943, he worked there as a buoy maker ^[3] . In October 1943 and May 1944 he was in the Hauraki Gulf helping to clear minefields that had previously been placed there ^[3] . The ship was decommissioned in September 1945 ^[3] .

On November 19, 1945, Kaiwaka was transferred to the Marine Department, where she was refurbished before the planned return to her previous owners, the renovation was completed in March 1946 ^[6] . Before Kaikaki was taken over, her owners filed for compensation due to the very poor condition of her wooden hull ^[6] . The case was finally settled with the payment of compensation in the amount of 50,000 pounds and on September 19, 1947, Kaiwaka, together with the motor lighters “Thistle” and HMNZS “Tuirangi”, as well as the lighters Agnes and Florence, were returned to their previous owners and into the civil service ^[6] .

After the war, Kaiwaka did not return to Wanganui and changed owners many times; initially she worked as a lighter in Gisbourne , but the port built there in 1967 meant that she was no longer needed ^[6] . In March 1968 she was sold to a private owner from Tauranga and before 1973 she was sold again, a helicopter landing platform was built on her stern, the ship was then anchored in Fiordland ^[6] . In 1974, 1977 and 1986 Kiwaka was recorded in Omamaru , Auckland and Matauwhi Bay ^[6] .

In 1972, the ship took part in a protest against French nuclear tests in the Pacific

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