HMS Manuka - composite ship construction in 1941
Oct 30, 2017 12:32:44 GMT 12
Dave Homewood likes this
Post by fwx on Oct 30, 2017 12:32:44 GMT 12
My grandfather was a shipwright, living here in Devonport, working at the local Calliope dry dock, and for various ship-builders. A photo in my Mum's album shows him with his brother (there were several shipwrights in the family) and a large group in front of a platform with a sign saying "HMS Manuka".
My grandfather Fred Shaw is front right, next to his brother Syd. I had assumed it was a team photo taken at the launch of one of their ships, probably a pre-war coastal trader or similar.
So I got a hell of a shock when I Googled "HMS Manuka", and up popped this COLOUR photo, credited to National Geographic magazine, and obviously taken the same day!! The caption is "The minesweeper, H.M.S. Manuka, is sent to meet the Japanese.":
HMS Manuka was a minesweeper built for the Navy by Mason Brothers Engineering in Auckland (in what is now the Wynyard Quarter) for W.G. Lowe & Son, and launched on 23 September 1941. (Before Japan entered the war, but I don't want to spoil a good story ..)
She was commissioned in 1942, and became “HMNZS” that year when the RNZN was formed.
She was of 'composite' construction, kauri planking on steel frames, specifically for anti-magnetic mine-sweeping, and the third-launched of four Castle Class composite sweepers built in Auckland.
No magnetic mines were ever found in New Zealand, but in June 1941, the small German auxiliary vessel Adjutant had actually laid twenty magnetic ground mines from the raider Komet in the approaches to Lyttelton and Wellington harbours. They were only discovered after the war when German records were checked.
My grandfather Fred Shaw is front right, next to his brother Syd. I had assumed it was a team photo taken at the launch of one of their ships, probably a pre-war coastal trader or similar.
So I got a hell of a shock when I Googled "HMS Manuka", and up popped this COLOUR photo, credited to National Geographic magazine, and obviously taken the same day!! The caption is "The minesweeper, H.M.S. Manuka, is sent to meet the Japanese.":
HMS Manuka was a minesweeper built for the Navy by Mason Brothers Engineering in Auckland (in what is now the Wynyard Quarter) for W.G. Lowe & Son, and launched on 23 September 1941. (Before Japan entered the war, but I don't want to spoil a good story ..)
She was commissioned in 1942, and became “HMNZS” that year when the RNZN was formed.
She was of 'composite' construction, kauri planking on steel frames, specifically for anti-magnetic mine-sweeping, and the third-launched of four Castle Class composite sweepers built in Auckland.
No magnetic mines were ever found in New Zealand, but in June 1941, the small German auxiliary vessel Adjutant had actually laid twenty magnetic ground mines from the raider Komet in the approaches to Lyttelton and Wellington harbours. They were only discovered after the war when German records were checked.
