Frigate's $1m repairs done

The Navy's ageing steam frigate HMNZS Canterbury has taken on stores at Kauri Pt for sea trials after a $1 million repair.

Its auxiliary electrical switchboard was severely damaged by fire last October during a routine fisheries patrol off the Chatham Islands.

The ship is due to be retired next year but the Navy decided to repair the switchboard because it is the main training ship for young sailors.

The 34-year-old warship was towed up the harbour yesterday from the Devonport naval base to Kauri Point, where the Navy keeps its ammunition and explosives.

Sea trials to test the repairs are expected to be finished next week and the ship is likely to be fully back in commission within a fortnight. It is expected to make its last operational voyage in April 2005.

But the Navy has yet to say what it will use as its main training ship after Canterbury is retired and before the first of several new ships are commissioned, probably in 2006.

- NZPA