HMNZS Te Mana
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HMNZS ''Te Mana'' (F111) is one of ten
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
s and one of two serving in the
Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent acquisition of the cruiser , whi ...
(RNZN). The name ''Te Mana'' is
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
, approximately translating as 'status' or 'authority' (for further information on this term, see
Mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...
). The ship was laid down under the joint Anzac project by
Tenix Defence Tenix Defence was Australia's largest defence contractor with core capabilities in Aerospace, Land, Marine and Electronic Systems applications. BAE Systems announced its intention to acquire the company from Tenix in January 2008 and the acquis ...
at
Williamstown, Victoria Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay Local government areas of Victoria, ...
in 1996, launched in 1997, and commissioned into the RNZN in 1999. In 2003 and 2004 and 2013–2014, ''Te Mana'' was deployed on operations in the
Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...
. In 2005, she became the first New Zealand warship to visit a Russian port,
Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
. On 5 August 2015, the ship emerged from the dry dock at Devonport Naval Base wearing the
US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
'Haze Grey' coating, following a major systems upgrade which involved a long refit. ''Te Mana'' represented New Zealand in the 2018
Rim of the Pacific The Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) is the world's largest international maritime Military exercise, warfare exercise. RIMPAC is held wikt:biennial, biennially during June and July of even-numbered years from Honolulu, Hawaii, with the exc ...
exercise in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
and was crowned the winner of RIMPAC's Naval Surface Fire Support Rodeo competition, with the ship landing her shells closer to the target than any other ship.


Design and construction

During the mid-1980s, the RNZN began considering the replacement of their four
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
s.Greener, ''Timing is everything'', pp. 23–5 Around the same time, a deterioration in
New Zealand-United States relations New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...
forced the New Zealand government to improve ties with local nations. As the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...
(RAN) was seeking to replace their s with ships nearly identical to what the RNZN wanted, the two nations decided to collaborate on the acquisition in early 1987. Tenders had been requested in 1986, and 12 ship designs (including an
airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...
) were submitted.Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 244Greener, ''Timing is everything'', p. 30 By August 1987, these were narrowed down in October to
Blohm + Voss Blohm is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Hans Blohm C.M. (born 1927), photographer and author * Hermann Blohm (1848–1930), German businessman and co-founder of German company Blohm+Voss * Irma Blohm (1909–1997), German pol ...
's
MEKO 200 The MEKO 200 is a frigate design by the Blohm + Voss shipyard of Germany, as part of the MEKO family of warships. Variants ''Anzac'' class (MEKO 200ANZ) Ten MEKO 200 frigates were built to the Anzac-class frigate, ''Anzac''-class design: ei ...
design, the M class (later ) offered by
Royal Schelde The Damen Group is a Dutch defence, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate company based in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Though it is a major international group doing business in 120 countries, it remains a private family-owned company. Dame ...
, and a scaled-down
Type 23 frigate The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, , was commission ...
proposed by
Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...
.Jones, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', p. 245Greener, ''Timing is everything'', p. 31 In 1989, the Australian government announced that Melbourne-based shipbuilder AMECON (which became
Tenix Defence Tenix Defence was Australia's largest defence contractor with core capabilities in Aerospace, Land, Marine and Electronic Systems applications. BAE Systems announced its intention to acquire the company from Tenix in January 2008 and the acquis ...
) would build the modified MEKO 200 design.Grazebrook, ''Anzac frigates sail diverging courses'' However, the decision to buy the frigates had been highly controversial in New Zealand, primarily because of the cost of purchasing frigate-type ships, plus the idea that the high-capability warships would be too few and too overspecialised for the fisheries and
economic exclusion zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including e ...
(EEZ) patrols expected to be the RNZN's core operations. Despite ongoing debate, the New Zealand government agreed to purchase two frigates in addition to the RAN's eight, and had an option for two more.Wertheim (ed.), ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World'', p. 504 This option expired in 1997 without the New Zealanders acting upon it; there were proposals to buy a new or second-hand ''Anzac'' outside the terms of the original contract, but a lack of political support stopped this developing, and the number built for the RNZN remained at two. The drop in capability and the issue of tying up the ''Anzac''s on EEZ patrols when they could be deployed more suitably elsewhere were factors leading to the RNZN's
Project Protector Project Protector was a Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) procurement project that was undertaken during the 2000s. At the start of the decade, the New Zealand government tasked the New Zealand Defence Force to develop an equal combat, peacekeeping, ...
acquisition program.McKinnon, ''New Zealand's navy follows a new heading'' The ''Anzac''s are based on Blohm + Voss' MEKO 200 PN (or ) frigates, modified to meet Australian and New Zealand specifications and maximise the use of locally built equipment. Each frigate has a
full load displacement The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...
.Sharpe (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1998–99'', pgs. 25, 470 The ships are long at the
waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...
, and
long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...
, with a
beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...
of , and a full load draught of . The ships are fitted with a Combined Diesel or Gas (CODOG) propulsion machinery layout, consisting of two controllable-pitch propellers driven by a single
General Electric LM2500 The General Electric LM2500 is an industrial and marine gas turbine produced by GE Aviation. The LM2500 is a derivative of the General Electric CF6 aircraft engine. As of 2004, the U.S. Navy and at least 29 other navies had used a total of mor ...
-30 gas turbine and two MTU diesel engines: initially the TB83 model, but these were replaced in 2010 with more powerful TB93s.Scott, ''New Zealand invests in ANZAC upgrade path'' Maximum speed is , and maximum range is over at ; about 50% greater than other MEKO 200 designs. The standard ship's company of an ''Anzac'' consists of 22 officers and 141 sailors. As designed, the main armament for the frigate is a 5-inch 54 calibre Mark 45 gun, supplemented by an eight-cell Mark 41 vertical launch system for
RIM-7 Sea Sparrow The RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a U.S. ship-borne short-range Surface-to-air missile, anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Spa ...
, two machine guns, and two Mark 32 triple torpedo tube sets firing
Mark 46 torpedo The Mark 46 torpedo is the backbone of the United States Navy's lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedo inventory and is the NATO standard. These aerial torpedoes are designed to attack high-performance submarines. In 1989, an improvement p ...
es. They were also designed
for but not with In military usage, fit to receive or fitting "for but not with" describes a weapon or system which is called for in a design but not installed or is only partially installed during construction, with the installation completed later as needed. This ...
a
close-in weapons system A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...
(a
Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS () is an automated gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the General Dynamics Co ...
installed shortly after the frigate's completion, supplemented by two
Mini Typhoon The Typhoon is a type of remote weapon station manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Israel, and it shares similar design principles and common technologies with Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station (Samson RCWS), a land-based sys ...
s from 2006 onwards), two quad-canister
Harpoon A harpoon is a long, spear-like projectile used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other hunting to shoot, kill, and capture large fish or marine mammals such as seals, sea cows, and whales. It impales the target and secures it with barb or ...
missile launchers, and a second Mark 41 launcher (neither of which have been added to the New Zealand ships).Greener, ''Timing is Everything'', p. 46Scott, ''Enhanced small-calibre systems offer shipborne stopping power'' The New Zealand ''Anzac''s initially operated with a
Westland Wasp The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine-powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same Saunders-Roe P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the ea ...
helicopter, which were later replaced by
Kaman SH-2 Seasprite The Kaman SH-2 Seasprite is a ship-based helicopter originally developed and produced by American manufacturer Kaman Aircraft, Kaman Aircraft Corporation. It has been typically used as a compact and fast-moving rotorcraft for Utility aircraft, ...
s, then
Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite The Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite is an American ship-based helicopter with Anti-submarine warfare, anti-submarine, Anti-Surface Warfare, anti-surface threat capability, including over-the-horizon targeting. This aircraft extends and increases ship ...
helicopters. ''Te Mana'' was laid down at
Williamstown, Victoria Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay Local government areas of Victoria, ...
on 18 May 1996. The ship was assembled from six hull modules and six superstructure modules; the superstructure modules were fabricated in Whangarei, New Zealand, and hull modules were built at both Williamstown and
Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...
, with final integration at Williamstown. She was launched on 10 May 1997 by the Maori Queen, Dame
Te Atairangikaahu Dame Te Atairangikaahu (born Pikimene Korokī Mahuta, 23 July 1931 – 15 August 2006) reigned as Māori Queen from 1966 until her death in 2006. Her reign was the longest of any Māori monarch. Her full name and title was Te Arikinui D ...
, and commissioned into the RNZN on 10 December 1999 in her ceremonial homeport of
Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...
. In early 2002, microscopic cracks in ''Te Mana''s bilge keel and hull plating were discovered.Wertheim, ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World'', p. 21 This problem, which was common to the first four ships of the ''Anzac'' class, was later rectified.


Operational history

''Te Mana'' was sent to the
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
in 2000, in preparation to evacuate around 225 New Zealanders from the ethnic conflict on the islands. A sailor died at sea aboard the frigate on 29 March 2001; the death was investigated by the New Zealand Police but treated as not suspicious. In February 2002, a Seasprite helicopter flown by a
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...
test pilot crashed into ''Te Mana''s deck. The ship was operating during high seas in
Cook Strait Cook Strait () is a strait that separates the North Island, North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, ...
, a court of enquiry later found that no single event was to blame for the accident. The repairs to the Seasprite cost an estimated $7.4 million. ''Te Mana'' went to the aid of in July 2002, when ''Nottingham'' ran aground on the submerged Wolf Rock, and provided manpower, supplies and salvage equipment to the stricken vessel. From 28 January 2003 until 4 August 2003, ''Te Mana'' was deployed to the
Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ''khalīj ʿumān''; ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ''khalīj makrān''; ''daryâ-ye makrān''), is a gulf in the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with th ...
and the
Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...
, conducting Maritime Interdiction Operations as part of
Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used by the U.S. government for both the first stage (2001–2014) of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response ...
. ''Te Mana'' deployed to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman for a second time in 2004, again to undertake Maritime Interdiction Operations, as part of
Combined Task Force 150 Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to purs ...
. In May the helicopter was damaged, at a cost of up to $4 million; a court of enquiry later found the pilot and co-pilot had failed to lash the aircraft down to the deck correctly. In the Gulf of Oman on 14 July 2004, a crew member aboard a merchant bulk chemical carrier fell into a tank while cleaning it. ''Te Mana'' responded to the emergency call and sprinted to the scene, the ship's medic was flown over to the bulk carrier, but the patient was unable to be revived. She returned to Devonport on 10 September 2004, having queried 380 ships and boarded 38. ''Te Mana'' and were the first RNZN vessels to visit Russia, arriving in the Pacific port of
Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
on 10 June 2005 on a diplomatic mission. A fire broke out about ''Te Mana'' in February 2006, while it was participating in an exercise off the coast of Australia. The ship's Seasprite helicopter was diverted to sister ship and the fire was put out by the crew. The breeding ground of the Kermadec Storm Petrel was discovered with the assistance of ''Te Mana'' in August 2006, when the ship transported an ornithologist to a rocky outcrop in the
Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( ; ) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabit ...
group, enabling him to find a nest. The ship was on the annual mission to resupply
Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island''; ) is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activit ...
for the
Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
. Early in 2007 the vessel's diesel engines developed a problem as she crossed the
Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...
to Sydney. The engines became unusable and the ship had to use the gas turbine for propulsion. Sister ship ''Te Kaha'' suffered a similar problem one month later. ''Te Mana'' deployed from Devonport to the Central and Southern Persian Gulf on 7 April 2008, as part of Coalition Task Force 152. Sailing via Singapore, she arrived on 11 May 2008, beginning a three-month patrol of the region's waterways, including guarding against threats to the oil industry infrastructure, as well to prevent smuggling and piracy.''Welcome to the Arabian Gulf'' – ''Navy Today'', Defence Public Relations Unit, Issue 133, 8 June, pages 4–6 In October 2013, ''Te Mana'' participated in the
International Fleet Review 2013 The International Fleet Review 2013 was a Fleet Review, review that took place on the week 3 to 11 October 2013, as part of the celebrations to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the entry of the first Royal Australian Navy fleet in Sydney Harbo ...
in Sydney. On June 14, 2017, Commander Lisa Hunn became the first female commanding officer of a RNZN warship, when she took command of ''Te Mana''. In 2018, a comprehensive mid-life refit of both ''Te Mana'' and her sister ship was initiated. The refit provided for the replacement of the Sea Sparrow air defence missiles with
Sea Ceptor The CAMM (Common Anti-Air Modular Missile) is a family of surface-to-air missiles developed by MBDA UK for the United Kingdom. CAMM is derived from, and shares some common features and components with, the Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missil ...
as well as other comprehensive system upgrades carrying a total cost of some $600 million. The refit of ''Te Mana'' was being undertaken by the Seaspan shipyard in Canada as of 2020. On 16 April 2021, six RNZN personnel and six family members assigned to ''Te Mana'' tested positive for
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
. At the time, the naval personnel and their family were stationed at an accommodation block 12 kilometers away from the
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...
's base at
Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt () is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Jua ...
near
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...
. ''Te Mana'' was undergoing a major upgrade in Canada. In May 2022, the ship sailed for New Zealand having completed her upgrade.


See also

*
Frigates of the Royal New Zealand Navy Commissioned frigates of the Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 19 ...


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{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Mana Anzac-class frigates of the Royal New Zealand Navy Frigates of New Zealand Ships built in Victoria (state) 1997 ships