Women take helm in ‘evolving’ navy
Lieutenant Commander Lorna Gray gets seasick.
‘‘It can be torture,’’ she said. Ironic, given Gray has just been made the first female commanding officer of an offshore Royal New Zealand Navy warship, the HMNZS Otago.
Thirty years ago women were forbidden on naval ships – now they’re at the helm. But gender doesn’t come into it for Gray, it’s about knowledge and experience, she said.
The 34-year-old joined the navy in 2005, and has worked as a warfare officer on board Wakakura, Manawanui and Te Kaha.
She has completed numerous deployments in the Pacific and South East Asia regions, and two six-month tours of duty as a United Nations military observer in Syria and Lebanon.
Being made commanding officer of Otago was a homecoming of sorts for the Taieri Plains native.
Having climbed the ranks as a warfare officer, she knew becoming commanding officer was a possibility - but said it wasn’t something she had expected.
Gray enlisted at 22, after completing an honours degree in political science and English at the University of Otago.
There was ‘‘no pull to the navy at all’’ – Gray said she thought she would end up working in diplomacy or policy analysis.
Then, one year she went to Warbirds over Wanaka with her family, and the navy recruiting bus was there.
‘‘The only reason I went in was to get out of the rain,’’ she said. ‘‘If the sky hadn’t opened at that moment just as I was walking past the recruiting bus I probably never would have joined the navy.’’
Twelve years on, that thought was ‘‘pretty crazy’’.
While there have been other female commanding officers of warships, Gray is the first to lead an offshore vessel.
Also moving into a new role this week is Commander Lisa Hunn, who will take command of the Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZS Te Mana.
It will be Hunn’s second command - she was the last officer in command of HMNZS Takapu, a decommissioned inshore frigate.
‘‘Women are coming into these operational roles. What we’re seeing now is evolution,’’ Gray said.