Builder: Grangemouth Dockyard
Laid down: 1960
Acquired: 1975
Commissioned: 1977
Decommissioned: 1997
Fate: Scrapped in 2002
General characteristics
Type: hydrographic survey vessel
Displacement: 3,900 tons full load
Length: 90.8/82.3 m (298/270 ft)[clarification needed]
Beam: 14.1 metres (46 ft)
Draught: 5.2 metres (17 ft)
Propulsion: twin 7 cylinder Clark Sultzer diesels, 3,640 hp (2,694 kW)
Speed: 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement: 126
Armament: 2 x 20 mm Oerlikons (fitted 1980)
Aircraft carried: one Wasp helicopter (from 1982)
The ship was laid down by Grangemouth Dockyard in 1960, and spent the first part of her operational life as the Zealand Government Island supply/passenger vessel GMV Moana Roa.
She was acquired in 1975 and converted over a two year period to replace her predecessor, HMNZS Lachlan. Monowai was the second of two ships with this name to serve in the RNZN. She was named after the glacial lake Monowai. Monowai is a M?ori word meaning "channel full of water".
Operational history
During her naval service she was known as the "ghost of the coast", as she quietly remapped most of the New Zealand coastline including the Chatham, Cambell, and Auckland Islands, as well as the many sub-Antarctic islands in New Zealand's responsibility. She also acted as a resupply vessel to Campbell and other sub-Antarctic island, served as an "official residence" for VIPs and dignitaries at Pacific Island conferences, monitored Chinese missile splashdown tests, stood by Fiji after military coups with a platoon of naval gunners to assist in possible NZ civilian evacuations, participated in the ANZCAN cable route survey and in international searches for sea mounts and shoals. She carried a helicopter and undertook rescue or aid missions, saving the lives of eight people during the New Zealand to Tonga Yacht Regatta.
MONOWAI decommissioned on 21 April 1998, was taken to UK at the end of 98 and ended up in Lowestoft.
The company who bought her indicated that they were planning to convert her to a small luxury cruise ship but the cost of the project proved to be prohibitive and she was thus offered for sale.
During this time there was a small fire onbaord but nothing too serious.
In October 2002 she was towed away to Cadiz for scrap. She broke free in the English Channel but the French Navy captured her, towed her to Brest whence she was taken to Cadiz.
Wikipedia and other sites.
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