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MELBOURNE - Sitting on the bridge of HMNZS Canterbury, high above Port Melbourne's Station Pier, Prime Minister Helen Clark clutched the controls of the Navy's newest ship and grinned: "It's like being behind the wheel of the biggest long-haulage rig ever."
For the Defence Force, that is exactly what the $130 million, 9000-tonne Canterbury is.
Its holds can carry five helicopters, 40 light armoured vehicles, 250 troops and 33 containers, allowing New Zealand to take its own forces on major deployments and conduct amphibious operations for the first time.
The Canterbury has already been at work. On its way from the builders' yard in the Netherlands, it carried modules for the Navy's new frigate-sized offshore patrol vessels, welded to the deck for delivery to Melbourne's Tenix Defence shipyard.
When the Canterbury leaves Port Melbourne after yesterday's commissioning service, it will make courtesy calls at Lyttelton and Timaru, conduct more trials and sea-lift exercises with the Army and head to New Zealand's subantarctic waters with Conservation Department officers.
"We wouldn't have it any other way," said the captain, Commander Tony Millar. "It cost New Zealand money, so we're going to get working it."
The ceremony included the Canterbury in the Navy's fleet, ahead of the two offshore and four inshore patrol vessels being built under the $500 million Project Protector programme.
The two larger patrol ships, Otago and Wellington, were moored at the Tenix yard on the other side of Port Melbourne as the PM named the Canterbury and was piped aboard.
Earlier, the ship had been blessed by principal Navy chaplain Wayne Toleafoa and presented with its command symbol, a greenstone mere, by Navy kaumatua Bert McLean.
By far the biggest ship in the Navy, the Canterbury will have a heavy workload, patrolling the nation's territorial waters - including, with its ice-strengthened hull, the Southern Ocean - and carrying out training, search and rescue, diplomatic, medical and other missions throughout the region.
But its main role will be tactical sealift, enabling the three military services to deploy together and to respond to crises such as evacuations and natural disasters.
And the Canterbury will be welcomed by Australia because it allows New Zealand to deploy troops and equipment itself as well as share more fully in regional operations.
"Australia is our closest defence partner and I'm sure they'll welcome the capability," Helen Clark said.
Army chief Major-General Lou Gardiner said he was "rapt" with the new boat.
"For the Army, it gives us the ability to move equipment around to training locations and gives us an ability to practise amphibious operations," he said.
"We've never had that before. We've relied on our Australian counterparts, using their ships.
"Canterbury's going to give us a lot of benefits."
HMNZS Canterbury
* Displacement: 9000 tonnes.
* Speed: 19 knots.
* Length: 131m.
* Complement: 53 Navy crew, 35 trainees, 10 Air Force, 7 Army, 4 govt agencies, up to 250 soldiers.
* Commissioned: June 12, 2007.
* Armament: 25mm naval gun, two .50 calibre machineguns.
* Capability: Storage for up to four UH90 Air Force helicopters, 40 LAVIIIs, one operational Seasprite. Two landing craft launched by 59-tonne cranes, stern ramp, two side ramps, rigid-hulled inflatables.
