'Protesters' used skip bins and pallets to protect themselves from fire hoses as they tried to storm the ship. Photo / Peter de Graaf
'Protesters' used skip bins and pallets to protect themselves from fire hoses as they tried to storm the ship. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A Navy vessel was pelted with eggs and road cones in Ōpua yesterday by protesters who tried to cut through the ship's mooring ropes with a chainsaw.
They tried to storm the vessel three times, using pallets and skip bins to protect themselves from the high-pressure fire hoses directed against them by the ship's personnel.
The crew eventually had to resort to rifles, causing a number of casualties among the protesters.
Fortunately, it was all just an exercise and the shots fired were only blanks — though there was nothing fake about the fire hoses.
The aim was to prepare the crew in case they ever become embroiled in civil strife during deployments around the Pacific.
'Protesters' lob eggs at the Wellington during Monday's exercise. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The "protesters" — led by a very convincing Henry Matangi, a Navy base operations warrant officer from Whangārei — were members of the ship's crew playing the part of locals from the fictional country of Avalon, where New Zealanders are apparently not welcome.
The HMNZS Wellington, an 85m offshore patrol vessel with up to 80 crew, was on its second visit to Ōpua during its current four-week training voyage.
"Forced protection", or defending the vessel from low-level threats such as protests and unrest, is just one element of that training.
A crewman on board the Wellington prepares a fire hose. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Fleet seamanship and executive officer Phil Rowe said the level of threat had been gradually increased over the past three weeks, culminating in yesterday's riot by a 14-strong mob.
A day earlier the crew had been confronted by three "protesters" and two on their previous stop in Ōpua.
The idea was to protect the ship as peacefully and with as little force as possible, he said.
HMNZS Wellington commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Pip Davies. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Pip Davies said the ship had been built in 2010 primarily for resource and water protection, in partnership with New Zealand's Pacific neighbours.
Its other roles were search and rescue, disaster relief and delivering humanitarian aid.
It had a top speed of 22 knots, a range of 6000 nautical miles and was equipped with a Seasprite helicopter and two rigid inflatable boats.
A 'protester' lobs a road cone at crew members aboard the Wellington. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The past 18 months had been busy for the Wellington, Davies said.
A delivery of Covid vaccines to Tokelau was followed by fisheries patrols around the southwest Pacific and a trip at short notice to the Solomon Islands after unrest in the capital, Honiara.
The crew had only been home for a few weeks when the vessel was sent on a relief mission to Tonga after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption.
As well as protests and unrest, the crew had been learning how to protect the ship from floods and fires.
