Upgraded warship’s capabilities put to test
The warship Te Mana has been carrying out exercises in Wellington harbour this week, giving the capital its first glimpse of the newly upgraded ship.
Commander Mike Peebles has been in charge of the ship since renovations, which aimed to bring the frigate up to the level of similar frigates used by New Zealand’s allies, started in Canada in 2019.
It was part of the troubled project to upgrade both of the Defence Force’s two frigates, planned since 2014, which ended up costing more than $600 million.
The ship came back to New Zealand in July, before leaving again for Australia for training exercises with the Australian Defence Force.
The ‘‘airflow’’ over the ship had changed after the upgrade, so the training in Australia involved retesting flights with the naval helicopters, Peebles said.
But the trip didn’t go quite as planned – the ship was stuck in Australia because its ship-wide communication system failed. It had to borrow a part from the other NZDF frigate, Te Kaha, in order to return home.
Peebles said the visit to Wellington this week was a public outing for the ship and was about ‘‘showing the new design to the nation’s capital’’.
‘‘We’ve been out on the harbour and into the Cook Strait, showing a very small snapshot of what the ship can do,’’ he said.
The upgrade was ‘‘impressive’’, he said, and had changed the ship significantly. More than 60km of new cabling was installed.
After the upgrade, the navy had been going through a process of trial and error to make operations with the new capabilities run more smoothly. ‘‘It’s had a top-range upgrade, we need to learn how to operate and release the capabilities at full range when required.’’
The frigate can do ‘‘everything’’, Peebles said. ‘‘All spectrums of operations, high-end warfare, local support of fisheries, customs, search and rescue, it’s got diverse capabilities.’’
New Zealand’s two frigates – Te Mana and Te Kaha – are the main combat ships in the navy.
Te Mana has several guns on
board, including a 127mm main gun, SeaCeptor missiles, two antisubmarine torpedoes, and a Seasprite helicopter.
The ship was first delivered to New Zealand in 1999 and is expected to last into the mid-2030s.
The upgrade in Canada included a new combat management system, new radars, electronic detection and
other above water sensors, the self-defence missile system, decoys against missiles and torpedoes, and an upgrade to the hull-mounted sonar. The ship is large – 118m long, with a full crew of 178 people. It displaces 3660 tonnes of water. Te Mana was part of a combined taskforce operating in the Persian Gulf in 2009.