FORMER RNZN VESSEL ARRIVES BACK IN PORT

By Scott Sargentina, Public Affairs Manager (Navy)

More than a quarter of a century after HMNZS MONOWAI decommissioned from the RNZN fleet and was sent to the Spanish shipbreakers, the ship has made a triumphant return to the Devonport Naval Base.

A lovingly crafted replica of the ship was gifted by model maker Malcolm Taylor of Ashburton to the Deputy Chief of Navy, Commodore Andrew Brown at a presentation last month.

Malcolm is a widely acclaimed model maker who has been perfecting his craft over 60 years. In that time he has built six other RNZN vessels, although he admits the model of MONOWAI has taken the longest –over 35 years on and off!

MONOWAI was the Navy’s hydrographic survey vessel between 1977 and 1997. Dubbed the ‘Ghost of the Coast’, the ship remapped most of the New Zealand coastline including the Chatham, Campbell and Auckland Islands. This is why the presentation was fittingly held at HMNZS MATATAUA, the Navy’s Dive and Hydrographic Unit.

But in some ways, HMNZS MONOWAI is better known for being the first RNZN ship that women were allowed to serve on.

At the presentation today were Captain Maxine Lawes and Chief Petty Officer Vicki Ryan who were two of the original 13 junior female ratings who joined MONOWAI in December 1986 as part of the first mixed crew in the Navy’s history.

In 1981, women constituted 8.3 percent of the RNZN, mostly in the Supply and Secretariat Branch, and in the telecommunication trades. It wasn’t until 1986 when Chief of Naval Staff was authorised to offer women “temporary sea-going postings…. in non-combatant ships”. In December, 13 female ratings and one officer joined MONOWAIfor the ‘Women at Sea Pilot Study’ (WAPS), designed to run for three years.

The programme was successful. From January 1989, all women entering the RNZN had to serve at sea, except those in a limited number of shore-only trades.