Royal New Zealand Navy Discussions and Updates

[Stampede]

NZ needs an Army, Navy and Air Force
One service is not the enemy of the other!
The Question is what does a balanced New Zealand defence force look like to meet the challenges of the decade ahead.

Answer that question and you’ll see what’s realistically in the bank to go shopping.

Is NZ going to seriously ask the question?

Cheers S

 

[SeaplanePaul]

Could someone confirm the correct terminology for the current RNZN readiness levels aboard a warship thank you.

I understand that in the RN in '82 these were used.

Harbour Stations
Relaxed Cruising Stations
Cruising Stations
Defence Watches
Defence Stations
Action Stations

 

[OldNavy63]

Could someone confirm the correct terminology for the current RNZN readiness levels aboard a warship thank you.

I understand that in the RN in '82 these were used.

Harbour Stations
Relaxed Cruising Stations
Cruising Stations
Defence Watches
Defence Stations
Action Stations

I took every opportunity to suggest a Happy Hour be slotted-in whenever possible.

 

[spoz]

There also was, and is, Special Sea Dutymen (although “men” may have been replaced by some gender neutral term in recent years). This is when the ship is in difficult navigational situations, and gets the first team on deck.

However, what you have described is personnel readiness, known as “State”, which runs from 1 (action) to 4 (usually alongside) - and you can also have them “relaxed” to require something between two of them. There is also material readiness, “Condition”, which is “X-ray”, “Yankee” or “Zulu”. This is in relation to damage control, and is about water tight integrity and smoke boundaries. X-ray is the lowest. There is also “Alpha” and “Bravo” which is about control of airflow for NBC.

So the highest readiness is state 1 condition zulu alpha and the lowest 4 X-ray; although the lowest when at sea is normally 3X during the day (to make movement around the ship easier) and 3Y at night.

Finally, there are things called red and blue openings, which are identified for closure if there is a danger of flooding, say because of an impending collision.

Further information may be found in the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship, Vol 1.

 

[recce.k1]

The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee took their turn at Parliament's "scrutiny week" on Tuesday. In terms of naval matters that may be of interest:

OPV Otago will be ready for operations in quarter 3 next year (so July 2026 onwards). It has already been reported elsewhere that Babcock will hand Otago back to the RNZN early 2026 so presumably will return to sea much sooner for operational evaluation and testing etc.

For the Maritime Fleet Renewal project, questions were asked of AOR Aotearoa being in high demand (supporting allies and the Antarctic mission - IIRC 3 deployments this year?) plus factoring in periods when it has to be taken out of service for maintenance and overhauls ... so according to the CDF they are "building into our plan plans to acquire a second replenishment or tanker".

Same issues for amphibious and sealift vessel Canterbury, its need to be available for its primary role as well as HADR response during the South Pacific summer cyclone season means they are looking to "acquire another platform". Although it's not clear whether the CDF was talking one for one replacement or as a second vessel, as per DCP19 recommending a second vessel. So I could be wrong, but I'm assuming he means the latter?

The CDF was careful to stress though that the "actual makeup of the fleet during the fleet renewal programme itself is yet to be determined".

Unfortunately no questions were asked of the Frigate replacements to gain any insights into current thinking, but we do know from other reporting there is interest in the Mogami New FFM and the Arrowhead 140. Business Desk reported recently (paywalled article) that the UK's Minister of State visited Auckland and suggested that they (Babcock) could bring the A140 into service earlier to ensure no delays with the ANZAC frigate replacements (or maintain the ANZAC's longer if that's the NZG preference). In the same article the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has been tendering for an infrastructure partner for the possible build of a large dry dock at Marsden Point and apparently a number of companies (seven) have been invited to submit proposals (including Babcock by the looks).

Back to the FADTC "scrutiny" when pressed on future uncrewed systems the CN stated that the maritime fleet renewal programme is looking at aerial, surface and subsurface (systems) "in the hundreds", to be done in different tranches and subject to Govt approval. For supporting the upcoming MH-60R's replacement maritime helicopters, current thinking is to supplement them with 3-5 unmanned systems depending on "what's available at the time".

A persistent surveillance project is starting to stand up which is looking at providing persistent maritime domain awareness for delivery in the late 2020's. There will be greater linkages with industry and defence's own technology agencies, to obtain technologies quicker (as per other militaries experimenting in this domain), and in general there will be greater linkages with allies (such as Australia) when it comes to assessing and purchasing technologies and capabilities where the NZG is supportive of acquiring for Defence.

 

[Gibbo]

....
Same issues for amphibious and sealift vessel Canterbury, its need to be available for its primary role as well as HADR response during the South Pacific summer cyclone season means they are looking to "acquire another platform". Although it's not clear whether the CDF was talking one for one replacement or as a second vessel, as per DCP19 recommending a second vessel. So I could be wrong, but I'm assuming he means the latter?
....

Listening to it CDF definitely is referring to issues of downtime & unavailability of Canterbury when he refers to planning around 'another platform' in the amphibious and sealift space. Given any new platform would also have downtime I read into this that they are looking for an additional platform, not a replacement per se...although the Canterbury's replacement will be due around then.

There are vessels on the market that combine amphibious and sealift capability with tanker and replenishment capability so I guess it is feasible they could purchase one vessel that does both roles to compliment Aotearoa & Canterbury.

CDF also obliquely refers to Aotearoa as an example of a vessel having MVP ....that logically refers to the lack of effective self-defence capability if operating alone...still can't fathom why RNZN aren't out there exercising CIWS trainig witn Aotearoa given that capability was built in ...surely there's usually a CIWS spare available after post-deployment maintenance has been completed.

The other 2 areas I'm sure we're all keen to hear more on are (1) surely they can see the need for a 3rd frigate & (2) Manawanui had unique capability which is now becoming a 'go to' response for patrollong undersea cables etc... still think they need a similar capability even though it's been poo-pooed.