KEY POINTS:
The Navy's new ship, Canterbury, will be formally commissioned into the service next Tuesday.
At 131m, the ship is the longest vessel the Navy has had for decades. It is three metres longer than the supply ship Endeavour, although Endeavour can carry more cargo fully laden.
Canterbury was built in Holland and fitted out with its naval systems and 25mm gun at the Tenix Shipyard in Melbourne.
It is the first of seven new ships in the $500 million Projector Protector programme.
The Navy will also get two 85m offshore patrol vessels and four 55m inshore patrol vessels.
The new Canterbury is the first strategic sealift ship the Navy has had. Its first commanding officer is Ashburton-born Tony Millar.
The ship will arrive at Lyttelton on June 28 before visiting Timaru from July 4-6 and arriving at the Devonport Naval Base later in the month.
The ship design was based on the commercial roll-on, roll-off ship Ben-My-Chree, which is operating in the Irish Sea.
Its diesel-electric engines will give it a maximum speed of just over 19 knots.
It has two 59-tonne landing craft each capable of carrying 50 tonnes.
The ship's company is 53 but it also has room for 10 flight personnel, four government agency staff, seven Army staff and 35 trainees.
As part of its sealift, it can also carry 250 troops, Army trucks and light armoured vehicles (LAV IIIs) and up to four of the new NH90 helicopters the Government is buying.
Its flight deck can operate the Seasprite helicopters deployed to the Anzac frigates and a large Chinook-sized helicopter.
Prime Minister Helen Clark will commission the vessel in Melbourne in a week's time.
The Navy's other Canterbury, a Leander-class frigate, will be sunk as a diving attraction off Northland this year.
It is moored alongside the main wharf at Opua while the Bay of Islands Canterbury Trust strips the ship in preparation for its new role as a diving attraction off Deep Water Cove in the Bay of Islands.
- NZPA
