Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 2, 2007 17:38:07 GMT 12
$1 buys warship and a top diving spot
Friday February 02, 2007
The Canterbury, which has been out of action since 2005, will be sunk at Cape Brett. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Kelly Weeds will fossick around in the ashtray of his car today for a $1 coin and buy a warship.
The Navy's last steam warship, the Leander-class frigate Canterbury, will be formally handed over to the Bay of Islands Canterbury Charitable Trust after Mr Weeds pays the $1 asking price set by the Government for the 3000-tonne, 37-year-old ship.
The ship was taken out of commission in 2005 as the last of several Leander-class frigates to serve in the New Zealand Navy.
It was tied up at Auckland's Devonport Naval Base until the Government said it would be sold to the Bay of Islands Trust and sunk as a dive attraction at Deepwater Cove, Cape Brett.
The trust had hoped to tow it out of the naval base before Christmas but that was delayed when the marine pest sea squirt was found on the hull.
Biosecurity New Zealand ordered it to be cleaned so the pest would not be transferred to the Far North.
Mr Weeds said a Biosecurity NZ move to wrap the hull in plastic and kill the pest failed when the plastic developed too many holes, so the ship would go into dry dock in Auckland on February 18 for the hull to be cleaned. That would last four or five days and it would then be towed to Opua, where it would be stripped of gear and valuable materials, and sunk about August or September.
The Navy had removed the ship's main twin gun turret and its two propellers would be taken off when it was in dry dock and sold.
Mr Weeds, who runs a dive business in Paihia, said the sinking was "hands down one of the best sinking sites in New Zealand" with little or no current and shelter in the cove for boats.
It was one of those places where yachties would go if there was a big storm and a bit of a swell and "ride it out and have gin and tonics on the deck. It is that calm.
"It is a place we can dive when we can't dive anywhere else in the Bay of Islands."
He said it was hoped the ship would settle evenly when holes were blown in the side rather than bow first.
Two similar ships broke in half in front of the bridge where the Leander-class ships had a weak point. The frigate Waikato was sunk off Ngunguru in Northland several years ago but the bow broke off and moved several metres from the main hulk.
Sister ship Wellington was sunk in Island Bay, Wellington, in 2005 but broke into three pieces within weeks as the bay was pounded by a southerly storm.
- NZPA
www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10422041
Friday February 02, 2007
The Canterbury, which has been out of action since 2005, will be sunk at Cape Brett. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Kelly Weeds will fossick around in the ashtray of his car today for a $1 coin and buy a warship.
The Navy's last steam warship, the Leander-class frigate Canterbury, will be formally handed over to the Bay of Islands Canterbury Charitable Trust after Mr Weeds pays the $1 asking price set by the Government for the 3000-tonne, 37-year-old ship.
The ship was taken out of commission in 2005 as the last of several Leander-class frigates to serve in the New Zealand Navy.
It was tied up at Auckland's Devonport Naval Base until the Government said it would be sold to the Bay of Islands Trust and sunk as a dive attraction at Deepwater Cove, Cape Brett.
The trust had hoped to tow it out of the naval base before Christmas but that was delayed when the marine pest sea squirt was found on the hull.
Biosecurity New Zealand ordered it to be cleaned so the pest would not be transferred to the Far North.
Mr Weeds said a Biosecurity NZ move to wrap the hull in plastic and kill the pest failed when the plastic developed too many holes, so the ship would go into dry dock in Auckland on February 18 for the hull to be cleaned. That would last four or five days and it would then be towed to Opua, where it would be stripped of gear and valuable materials, and sunk about August or September.
The Navy had removed the ship's main twin gun turret and its two propellers would be taken off when it was in dry dock and sold.
Mr Weeds, who runs a dive business in Paihia, said the sinking was "hands down one of the best sinking sites in New Zealand" with little or no current and shelter in the cove for boats.
It was one of those places where yachties would go if there was a big storm and a bit of a swell and "ride it out and have gin and tonics on the deck. It is that calm.
"It is a place we can dive when we can't dive anywhere else in the Bay of Islands."
He said it was hoped the ship would settle evenly when holes were blown in the side rather than bow first.
Two similar ships broke in half in front of the bridge where the Leander-class ships had a weak point. The frigate Waikato was sunk off Ngunguru in Northland several years ago but the bow broke off and moved several metres from the main hulk.
Sister ship Wellington was sunk in Island Bay, Wellington, in 2005 but broke into three pieces within weeks as the bay was pounded by a southerly storm.
- NZPA
www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10422041
