Old frigate to leave Auckland today

The old navy warship HMNZS Wellington will be towed out of Auckland today on the way to its new underwater home off the southern Wellington coast.

The 113-metre Leander-class frigate, which no longer has propellers or power of its own, was due to be towed out of the Devonport naval base yesterday but there was a delay when the towing tug had to be re-surveyed.

The ship has been used for spare parts for its sister ship, the former HMNZS Canterbury, for five years since it was decommissioned.

Marco Zeeman, from the SinkF69 Charitable Trust, said the ship would probably arrive in Wellington late on Thursday afternoon but if it was too dark to enter harbour it would be held in Cook Strait until Friday morning when two tugs would bring it in.

It would be berthed at a wharf by Te Papa for six months before it was sunk off Island Bay on November 12.

He said the plan was to sink the ship on an even keel, unlike the last warship to be sunk off the coast, the former Leander class frigate, HMNZS Waikato.

When holes were blown in the hull of Waikato off Ngunguru near Tutukaka several years ago, it sank bow first. When the bow hit the seabed it caused a fracture behind the ship's main gun turret. The bow has since broken off the hull and moved several metres away.

Mr Zeeman said Wellington was a stronger ship and a known weak point in front of Waikato's bridge was not evident in Wellington.

"She is a metre wider and has been reinforced in that area.

He said the ship would have a life of 100 years underwater and new marine life would move in from day one.

"Before you know it, four months later it has got seaweed all over it."

The ship will be sunk in 26 metres of water and the top of the bridge would be only five or six metres below the surface, well within range of snorkellers.

The ship's propellers were removed in dry dock in Auckland and would be erected at sites around Wellington.

- NZPA