HMNZS Matai (T01) Informations

HMNZS Matai (T01) was a Marine Department lighthouse tender which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and converted into a minesweeper.

Matai was the governments lighthouse tender servicing the marine lights around New Zealand and offshore islands, and had been used for cable laying in the 1930s. She was named after a native tree.

She was requisitioned on 3 March 1941 and handed over to a dockyard for conversion.

After commissioning on 1 April 1941, Matai took over as the flotilla leader of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla from Muritai and the flotilla began clearing a German minefield in the Hauraki Gulf.

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