Where have TE MANA’s crew been on leave?
HMNZS TE MANA PREPARES FOR HOME VOYAGE The first quarter of 2022 has effectively been the penultimate quarter for HMNZS TE MANA in Esquimalt, Canada, with families returning home and the Ship’s Company working on sea trials and the box-ticking that will close out the last stages of the ship’s Frigate Systems Upgrade.
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Navy Today #265
TE MANA’s journey home next month will include a call-in to San Diego for systems testing, and a port stop in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Ship’s Information Officer Lieutenant Richard Horne says training has never let up in TE MANA, regardless of whether the ship is at sea or in port. Hours of training are spent in core mariner skills, damage control, seamanship, force protection training and trade-specific training. “The more we do it, the more it becomes muscle memory so when we need it, especially in stressful situations, the training kicks in.” It is not all work for the crew. Members of TE MANA’s rugby fraternity boosted a local rugby club by providing talent to a combined Esquimalt-Navy team called the Westshore Doggies – who went on to earn the Westshore Club’s first title in 40 years. A team of eight competed in the Vancouver full marathon and half marathon, and some made it to the Canada Sevens in Langford, Vancouver Island, to cheer on the Black Ferns against Australia. “Thanks to opportunities to take leave, we have collectively travelled to almost every corner of North America. There’s not many times in a Navy career that we would be based in such as amazing place outside of New Zealand for so long, but Canada – especially its winter – will hold some lifelong memories for us.”
