Boat not shipshape - but under warranty

HMNZS Otago arrives two years late. Photo / NZPA

When the Navy received word one of its trouble-plagued new offshore patrol boats had suffered engine problems on its delivery voyage, a senior official responded in a manner more worthy of a Toyota advert.

"Bugger," he exclaimed. "Well at least the Aussies will be paying for the repair."

The exclamation by the Navy's Andrew Cutler about the HMNZS Otago engine failure, on clearing the Melbourne channel, is revealed in documents released to the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act.

Similar engine problems also held up sister ship HMNZS Wellington's departure for New Zealand last week.

In his "bugger" email, Cutler expressed relief that the faults were discovered while the ship was still under warranty, making the Australian shipyard liable for repairs.

The two vessels were ordered in 2004, and the maiden voyage of Otago to New Zealand was delayed in March when its engines developed coolant leaks, and the fuel injection and air-conditioning systems failed.

A report from the Otago's captain, Simon Rooke, headed "commercial in confidence" said that the fault was initially "considered to be a very rare failure", but further investigation revealed more problems: "Two such failures on the one cylinder indicate a far more serious issue."

Navy spokesman Commander Phil Bradshaw said the issues were resolved under the warranty provided by German engine manufacturer MAN and the ships' British builder BAE Systems, whose subsidiary owns the Melbourne shipyard.

Bradshaw said sister ship the Wellington appeared to be without fault until it set sail for New Zealand from Melbourne last week: "It's Murphy's Law - you finally try to sail home, and it starts leaking."

Bradshaw said the Wellington was found to suffer almost identical engine problems to the Otago and the issues related to faulty seals around the engine cylinders that led to coolant leakage.

"Nothing ever works perfectly the first time around," he added. "It's nigh-impossible to have them work right out of the box. How do you know if a skyrocket will go? You light it and see what happens."