HMNZS Wellington (P55) Informations

HMNZS Wellington (P-55) is a Protector-class off-shore patrol vessel in the Royal New Zealand Navy. The ship was built by Tenix as part of the New Zealand governments Royal New Zealand Navy plans, and was originally expected to enter service during the winter of 2008. However, in late 2008, it became known that the vessel was considered "sub-standard", and did not fulfill a number of specifications, such as being 100 tonnes overweight, making it unfit for Antarctic duties. The future crew that was already stationed with the vessel was sent back to New Zealand after the ship returned to Melbourne, until the dispute with the contractor was resolved.Wellington was accepted into the Royal New Zealand Navy on 6 May 2010 and arrived at the Devonport (Auckland) Naval Base the following month. The ship was also involved in the search for the crewmembers of the 47 ft. yacht Berserk in 2012, but had to turn back due to the weather which the captain called the worst storm he had ever seen in 19 years. During that mission the ship lost three 50-person life rafts of which one was discovered by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel MY Steve Irwin.

On January 14, 2015, Wellington intercepted three fishing vessels, the Songhua the Kunlun and the YongDing, who were allegedly fishing illegally in Antarctic waters. The fishing vessels refused to be boarded and poor weather and sea conditions prevented Wellington from forcing the issue.

Wellington was involved in seabed surveys off Kaikoura after the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

The ship is named in honour of HMNZS Wellington (F69), a Leander class frigate serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1982 until 1999.

Both HMNZS Otago and HMNZS Wellington have recently gone through minor upgrades, including sensors and weapons, and replacing the 25mm Bushmaster with the Rafael Typhoon 25 mm stabilised naval gun.

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