Quitting old warship likely to cost navy

The navy is likely to be $400,000 out of pocket when it finally quits the oldest warship in its fleet -- the decommissioned Leander class steam frigate HMNZS Wellington.

From tomorrow, the navy will have two surplus warships -- Wellington, and HMNZS Canterbury which is being decommissioned today after 34 years of service.

Wellington will be formally sold in a few weeks for $1 to the Wellington-based group, Sink F69 Charitable Trust, which plans to sink it off Island Bay as a dive attraction in November.

The navy will begin taking stores and other items off Canterbury tomorrow and the ship is likely to be sold for scrap for about $300,000 by the end of the year.

The navy had also planned to sell Wellington but was instructed by defence officials to hand it over to the trust for the token sum of $1.

The sale of Wellington to the trust effectively cost the navy $300,000, which was what it expected the 36-year-old ship to fetch for scrap metal.

However, the navy was also instructed to pay the costs of towing Wellington to the capital in a few weeks from the Devonport naval base in Auckland where it has been kept for spare parts for Canterbury for several years.

The navy said a commercial company would probably tow Wellington south within the next few weeks at a cost of up to $100,000. It was expected to be sunk off Island Bay in November.

Commander David Proctor who is heading the project to get rid of both ships, said Wellington would go into dry dock in Auckland next week for the propellers to be removed and some pre-tow work to be done. The cost, which could be about $50,000, would be met by the trust.

The trust also had to keep an anchor on board which could be dropped if needed, If the anchor was dropped a generator would be needed to power the capstan and recover the anchor and cable.

The navy had already cleaned the tanks and removed much of the hydraulic oil which had to be taken off before it was sunk.

The trust had to complete the process and make sure Wellington's hull was safe for divers when it was sunk. That involved dealing with asbestos on the ship, welding doors open and removing some items which could be a hazard.

Cdr Proctor said the navy wanted Canterbury out of the naval base by the end of the year.

He said the navy had received several registrations of interest for Canterbury, including five from overseas scrap merchants and two informal notifications from groups wanting to sink it as a dive attraction off the east cost of the North Island.

- NZPA