INITIAL COMMISSION AND CONVERSION
By Larry Robbins
At 0800 on 1 July 1975 in a small ceremony attended by the Commodre Auckland, Cdre J F McKenzie CBE ADC RNZN and a number of staff officers, HMNZS MONOWAI was commissioned into the RNZN under the command of Commander I W Munro. A few days later the ship received an informal visit from the four Chiefs of Staff, one of the very few occasions that all four have visited a RNZN ship together.
Over the next few days the ship undertook sea trials in the Hauraki Gulf. After a number of mechanical problems the trials went well, the compasses and radars were calibrated and a number of evolutions were undertaken to make the crew familiar with the ship. On 10 July MONOWAI was declared to be ready for sea and the ship returned alongside for final voyage preparations.
Around 150 tons of old boom anchors and other scrap iron were loaded into No1 hold and welded together and 25 tons of ammunition were loaded into the ship for transport to Fiji. At 1000 on 22 July 1975, MONOWAI slipped at the start of her delivery voyage to the United Kingdom.
On board were 54 officers and ships company (13 senior ratings, 30 junior ratings) under the command of Commander Ian Munro with Lt Cdr W F Jaques as Executive Officer. Lt Cdr John Westphall was the Engineer officer, Lt Tony Bullock the Supply Officer . Sub-lieutenants Larry Robbins and Ian Martin formed the watchkeeping union with Navigator Lieutenant Ken Robertson. The Resident Naval Officer Whangarei, Lt Cdr C A Noonan RNZNVR formed part of the Wardroom complement for the voyage, Robertson suggesting that he was borne ‘for social duties – ie to keep ‘Bubbles’ (the CO) occupied and entertained, no easy task!”. Noonan, a great supporter of the RNZN Hydrographic Service, was mainly heading to UK to attend a reunion of North Atlantic/Russian convoy veterans.
The passage to Suva was largely uneventful, the First Lieutenant, Lt Cdr W F (Willy) Jaques using the time to settle the Ships Company into the basic onboard routines and getting used to the ship.
The stop/start nature of the main engines lead to a number of problems on berthing in Suva on 26 July. The fo’c’sle officer, Lt Larry Robbins, recalls that there was no tug in Suva at the time, a strong offshore wind blowing between two wharf sheds lead to the ship’s bow paying off as the ship stopped abreast the berth; it was not possible to hold the ship on the headline against the wind and the line was paid out and ultimately slipped, to be recovered by the Fiji Military Forces team on the wharf as the ship made another approach. This time the captain took her closer in before stopping the engine and going heavily astern. That worked and apart from a few red faces the ship berthed successfully.
The ammunition was quickly unloaded in the centre of Suva wharf and passed to the Fijian forces. The paint had stripped from the ship’s side during the passage and the ships looked decidedly ‘in-naval’. Thus commenced what was to be standard practice for the rest of the trip, most disengaged members of the ship’s company being turned to, to paint the side of the ship alongside the wharf in ‘silverine’ primer.
At 0900 on Monday 28 July MONOWAI sailed from Suva for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, encountering the first bad weather of the trip. The motion of the lightly laden vessel was ‘unpleasant’ but good time was made. MUNRO records that there had been no machinery breakdowns on the passage though there was a ‘reasonably heavy schedule’ of engine maintenance necessary.
On 5 August the ship arrived off the Fairway Buoy at Pearl Harbor to await the pilot. To the surprise of those on the bridge, who had been told they were next in line, the pilot launch proceeded straight past the ship. A few minutes later the pilot called MONOWAI asking where they were. On being told that MONOWAI was at the Fairway Buoy, the pilot replied “No, Sir, we’ve just been there and there is only a rusty old freighter there.” A little shamefacedly the captain admitted that this was, indeed, Her Mahesty’s New Zealand Ship MONOWAI, and the pilot eventually boarded. With a large orange cellophane lei over the ship’s bow (which one wag noted almost exactly matched the rusty nature of the hull) the berthing at Pearl Harbor was uneventful although the combination of the US Navy Band and Hoola girls on the wharf along with the large US Navy tugs abreast the fo’c’sle and quarterdecks acknowledging instructions with blasts of their horns, made it very difficult for Robbins forward and Sub Lt Ian Martin aft.
The first cocktail party of the trip was held at Pearl Harbor. In 1975 RNZN Officers had to pay for the cost of drinks and costs above a set limit at official cocktail parties. Prior to departure, Martin and Robbins had been despatched to seek donations from NZ firms. Along with some chesses from the dairy board, they had secured a couple of cases of NZ whisky which had just come onto the market. The officers naturally pushed the free drinks at the parties, but without conspicuous success, a polite “I asked for whisky” being the usual response as the glass was handed back!
Sailing from Hawaii, the navigator, Robertson, decided to set a course away from the shortest great circle track to avoid the hurricane area and pick up the Counter-Equatorial Current. This move proved to be a wise one as the ship avoided a number of tropical storms and made a speed of 15 knots for the best part of a week.
Two weeks after leaving Hawaii the ship arrived at Balboa on 23 August, spending the weekend alongside enjoying the hospitality of the US Navy outpost at the Panama Canal. On Monday afternoon 25 August the ship embarked a Panama Canal pilot and enjoyed what Munro describes as ‘a fairly fast and uncomplicated transit’.
Passage up the east cost of the USA was made in generally good weather although it deteriorated somewhat around the start of September, a 24-hour table tennis tournament continuing despite a force 8 gale. St Johns, Newfoundland was reached on 3 September – two days ahead of schedule – where the ship berthed early in the afternoon.
Despite the cold autumnal weather in St Johns the ship’s company enjoyed a round of social activities including a couple of rugby matches against spirited and somewhat more organised local teams. Munro, in excusing the 66-3 and 32-3 losses, advised that the MONOWAI team played poorly because of a lack of condition after a long period at sea ‘but handled the social activities afterwards with élan.’ The Naval Staff copy of the Report of Proceedings has a green tick against this comment, no doubt indicating that this remark met with due approval.
Many of the local rugby players were English doctors from local hospitals. This proved useful when in one match a MONOWAI player received an accidental blow to the face. Play stopped briefly as the bloody nose was inspected by the player who had inflicted the blow. “I think it is broken, but you’ll be okay, come and see me tomorrow and I’ll attend to it, “ he said, and play resumed. The senior rating’s nose was indeed attended to next morning at no charge.
Although it had not been possible to establish what military establishments existed before the ship’s arrival in St Johns, the Royal Canadian Navy proved to be gracious hosts after their initial surprise at the unannounced arrival had been overcome. Lt Cdr Noonan, active in the Sea Cadet movement in his home town of Whangarei was in his element. Not only was he paying a visit to St Johns for the first time since arriving in a wartime corvette, but the local Sea Cadets made him royally welcome at their parades.
Sailing was delayed a day due to Hurricane Doris causing winds of 105 knots in the ship’s planned path and after fuelling and a further short delay due to the port main engine, MONOWAI sailed on the final leg of her journey at 1100 on 6 September. Lt Cdr Westphall describes these engine problems as “the worst problem in an otherwise eventful voyage from an engineering point of view.” The cause was entirely due to the poor compressed air system which inhibited the engine from being restarted after the ship had come off the wharf and took about 30 minutes to rectify. The trans-Atlantic passage was made in good conditions and a speed of almost 14 knots was made good.
At 0830 on Friday 12 September 1975 MONOWAI berthed at Customhouse Quay in Greenock. Photographs of the ship’s arrival taken by an official photographer clearly show the ravages of the passage on the ship’s paintwork. The story is told that the photographer, on seeing the ship, quietly put away the camera which was loaded with colour film!
MONOWAI was met by the RNO Greenock, Commander J G Wemyss RN who was to be of great service to ship during her stay, and the Principal Naval Overseer for the Conversion, Cdr W S Watson RNZN. The Head of the NZ Defence Liaison Staff. Commodore F H Bland OBE arrived shortly afterwards, having travelled overnight from London.
On 15 September the ship undertook a cold move to the Inchgreen Dockyard of Scott Lithgow Drydocks/ De-storing commenced immediately and was completed by 18 September when the last meal, breakfast, was served onboard.
A few members of the Ship’s Company with close family ties in the UK were sent on a fortnight’s leave and Munro left the ship on 16 September to visit the UK Hydrographic Office and various RN establishments before himself taking leave. The remainder were engaged in various tasks around the ship, being billeted in accommodation in the RNO’s office block.
On 22 September the ship was officially handed over to the shipyard and the Ship’s Company went on a weeks’ leave. At 0800 on 30 September the ship decommissioned, those passage crew not remaining heading for RAF Brize Norton on the first stage of the journey home.
CONVERSION
The Principal Naval Overseer for the Conversion was Cdr W S Watson RNZN. He lead a team of seven in number which doubled by the end of the project:
Mr Norm McKenzie – Deputy Principal Naval Overseer and Constructive Overseer
Lt Cdr W F (Bill) Jaques – Hydrographic Overseer. Promoted to Commander during the conversion and appointed in command on commissioning
Lt Cdr John Westphall – Marine Engineering Overseer, relieved by Lt Cdr Graham Bell 1 May 1977 (MEO on commissioning)
Lt Cdr Charles Stewart – Weapons and Electrical Engineering Overseer (WEO on commissioning)
Lt Tony Bullock – Supply and Administration Officer . Promoted to Lt Cdr during the project. Supply Officer on commissioning
Mr Gary Sigley – Deputy Weapons and Electrical Engineering Overseer
Lt Ken Robertson – Deputy Hydrographic Overseer (Navigating Officer on commissioning)
Warrant Officer Colin Campbell – Deputy Marine Engineering Overseer, relieved by WO Tim Hurndell early 1977
Warrant Officer Stuart Smith – Senior Electronic technician and Hydroplot Technical Specialist
Warrant Officer Mike Mitchell – Deputy Constructive Overseer
Chief Petty Officer Laurie McGuire – Marine Engineering and Spare Gear Administration duties
Chief Petty Officer Peter Hobson – Administration duties
Petty Officer John Corrigan – Administration duties
Leading Writer Kevin Reid – Administration duties
“We did a big hydrographic fit, put a helicopter deck on, completely rebuilt the crews quarters, additional crews quarters on. Changed the holds into store rooms, put a bow thruster in, helicopter hangar, new boats, landing boats, in general the ship was completely gutted, every pipe line was taken out of it, the hull was repaired. Interesting to note that on the Clyde in 1975 when we did this job we could not get a riveting gang together. We had to weld the ship where previously it had been riveted. Now riveters on the Clyde were a dime a dozen in the past. Then the ship was basically rebuilt from scratch.”
The requirement to stop and start the engines when moving from ahead to astern (and vv) was designed out of the ship during the conversion when controllable pitch propellers, operated from the bridge, were fitted. Manoeuvrability was considerably enhanced by installing a bow-thruster unit.
It was known from the outset that the ship required considerable work, but the workload grew as they got into the conversion.
One problem was in the engine liners which resisted all efforts to remove. The ship’s engineers tried circulating hot water, liquid nitrogen and large jacks to no avail. Westphall climbed inside and probed the entabulatures (main engine blocks) with a knife and found them heavily corroded. Cracks were also found in the blocks. They could have been repaired for a 3 year life, but the conversion was designed for 15 years. Thus it was decided that the main engine blocks had to be replaced. Clark Sulzer in Newcastle, who had built the original engines, still had the specifications of those engines, and two new ones were ordered. Watson recalls that they would visit the works to see their ‘pride and joy’. “We would ask Clarks ‘where are the engines for MONOWAI?’, and they would say ‘oh those two generators in the corner over there’. Clark Sulzer were building engines as big as a two storey house, five and seven and nine cylinder engines for the sixty and eighty thousand ton tankers at the same time, they were tremendous things.”
A considerable portion of the hull – around 30% by some estimates – had to be replated. CPO Laurie McGuire recalls that the hull plating had taken a battering from the lighters at Rarotonga and in other places corrosion had severely affected the steel: “They were shot -blasting the hull and as I was walking through the gutted ship I was starting to get bitten. I thought it was fleas, but suddenly I noticed it was shot coming through the ship’s side. Where the garbage disposal unit had been in the galley was absolutely rotten.”
An urban myth that persisted throughout the ship’s life was that there were problems with the ship’s stability due to errors in the calculations undertaken by the consultants. Contributing to the supposition was a relatively late change to the funnel design which reduced it in size, necessitating the placement of an air-conditioning plant at the rear of the bridge rather than in the funnel – and consequently removing the bridge toilet, an “inconvenience” regretted by generations of bridge watchkeepers. The Constructor, Norman McKenzie, however, adamantly refutes any suggestion of such an error and asserts that the funnel was cut down ‘solely on aesthetic grounds’.
Westphall recalls that the voyage to Scotland had shown how noisy the engine room watchkeeping environment was and the engineering team were determined to provide a soundproof monitoring room with good visibility in the engine room. This was not a design feature, and some compromises were made, whilst the team did their best to make savings in other areas to fund the monitoring room. The result was a monitoring room which provided good protection to the watchkeepers with sufficient instrumentation to allow adequate warning for staff to get into the engine room to investigate alarms and the like. Local control of the main engines remained ‘on the plates’ but Westphall says that “the building of the monitoring room provided a vast improvement in watchkeeping conditions for the engine room personnel.”
Another late addition was the installation of a distilling plant to make potable water. As Engineering Officer in MONOWAI’s predecessor, HMNZS LACHLAN, Westphall understood the limitations of, and the demands on, water supplies in a survey ship deployed at long periods away from base ports. “It became fairly obvious that without a distilling plant, the ship would spend a lot of time on water rationing” said Westphall. Eventually Naval Staff in Wellington approved the funding and purchase of a Bravac plant to provide 10 tons of water per day. This would prove to be an extremely wise decision, though fresh water would continue to be the ship’s achilles heel until a reverse-osmosis plant was fitted around 10 years later.
As the Ruston diesel generators were stripped down they were shown to be in very poor condition and it was suggested that it would be cost–effective to replace them entirely and convert the ship to AC. Fortunately some brand new off-the shelf Dorman diesel generators with AC alternators were available which made the project affordable, although this required such major changes to the specifications that the Chief of Naval Technical Services, captain A D Nelson RNZN flew to Scotland to lead the negotiations.
The various changes and extra work meant that the conversion went from fifteen months to about twenty seven months to the dismay of Naval Staff and to the sheer delight of the people on the exchange job or on the job who now qualified for additional pay privileges. The nominated first crew consequently endured a number of changes of departure date, though the hydrographic officers and senior ratings who were to undergo training on the new equipment eventually ended up in the UK in April 1977 as the equipment suppliers eventually said that they would/could no longer delay the courses.
It was not only the additional work which caused delays. There were two fires which caused some damage but which were not, thankfully, major although one of them, in the junior ratings dining hall area caused considerable damage to wiring runs. It was thought that the fires may have been deliberately set by shipyard workers who were aware that MONOWAI was the last job before the shipyard closed for lack of orders, with the loss of their jobs. They would thus have been intent in delaying the conversion for as long as possible. MONOWAI sat in a huge drydock built for the trans-Atlantic Queens and towards the end of the conversion efforts to sabotage the drydock gates were detected. The standby team had a contingency plan to operate the dock gates themselves if needs be and the delivery crew were moved onboard at the end of August 1977, a month than planned, enduring less than desireable conditions as they maintained duty watch security patrols. Catering was somewhat basic as there were no operable galley facilities onboard, Ian Martin recalls tinned grapefruit featuring heavily in the standard fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Watson says that the ship builders were very good, but suggests that they got completely out of their depth with the size of the task since the company was more used to repair work. Some of the work practices horrified the New Zealanders. Early in the conversion asbestos lagging was found around the engines. An additional cost of £5,000 was negotiated to cover special air pumps, door seals and protective clothing as well as the labourers’ allowance. One Sunday Watson went into the ship to check progress.. “Here were the two labourers taking the lagging off the main engines, the holes were in the ships side, the fans were there but they weren’t running, the water seal was fitted to the door, but it wasn’t turned on, the protective clothing was supplied but not used, but they had accepted the ‘wee’ allowance.” Watson later discovered that the workers decided it was too cold for the fans to be on and the protective clothing was too cumbersome, but were happy with the allowances so the work was completed.
Money was always a problem. About 18 months into the conversion, the company asked Watson to return to New Zealand with them to negotiate for more funding. As guests of the company he flew First Class both ways, “which was an experience I rather enjoyed”, with the Directors. “They got their money and wouldn’t have finished the job if it hadn’t been approved, it was as simple as that. We finished the job in a rush. Between decks was done beautifully, but to paint a ship on the Clyde is just impossible, its always raining, you can’t stop the Jimmies painting over the top of wet area, and the painting wasn’t up to scratch, which really upset the Commanding Officer. “
Harbour Acceptance Trials were undertaken in September as the Ships Company stored ship. Jaques reported: “Supervision of all aspects of completion, the provision of stores parties, the manning of the security watch and work on domestic cleaning of the in-use spaces created a significant workload on the available hands and all personnel were very fully employed.” In the middle of September the drydock was flooded and an inclining experiment was undertake to prove the ship’s stability.
The Head of the NZ Defence Liaison Staff, Commodore F H Bland, undertook a full compartmental inspection of the ship before joining discussions with Scott Lithgows over a union problem which looked likely to delay the ship’s sea trials. Thereafter the commodore held a preliminary reading of ‘Form D448’ – the Report of Formal Acceptance. This contained a list of around 210 defects or uncompleted items. The most significant were allocated reference numbers and liability was agreed. The others were relatively minor and were passed to the shipyard as an ‘aide-memoir’ for completion.
Union disputes over payments for those on sea trials delayed sea trials, but on 20 September at 1520, some two years and eight days from the day she berthed at the end of her dlivery voyage, MONOWAI sailed, under the command of Captain J Somerville and wearing the red ensign. Most of the manning was undertaken by the 40 RNZN personnel onboard although 120 shipyard personnel were also embarked, some leaving or joining by boat at various times. Captain Somerville understood the desire of the Kiwis to operate their own ship and largely allowed Jaques and his team to conduct the trials, which also served to allow them to familiarise themselves with the ship.
Considerable time was devoted to tuning the controllable pitch propellers, the ship careering haphazardly at times at a number of knots astern through the Firth of Clyde. Some problems with the control cams in the bridge control system were identified. These lead to severe mismatching of engine revolutions and propeller pitch and required that the cams be redesigned.
After landing surplus personnel the ship headed out to find rough water to trials the stability tank. In this the trials team were all too successful, the weather deteriorating rapidly overnight to a force 8-9 off the coast of Ireland. Jaques matter of factly commented “It was ironic that the ‘experts’ sent to tune the anti-roll tank were amongst those most incapacitated by sea sickness.” Lt Robbins recalls the queue of shoresiders using the lower officers’ heads and the strain that was placed on the ship’s new plumbing system due to the inadequate ‘drop’ in the piping.
In his report of proceedings, Jaques reports that most of the defects were minor and were largely rectified by those onboard. He was particularly pleased with the performance of the new surveying equipment – even during the rough weather – including the position fixing systems which had been erected by the ship’s surveyors on various positions around the Firth during the preceding week. The same could not be said, though, for the new Hydroplot system in which software defects precluded satisfactory trials, Jaques noting that setting to work and testing of this system would likely extend well into the intended survey work-up period. Indeed, the ship was to return to New Zealand with Hydroplot operation not proven.
With some apparent satisfaction it was reported that the last meal served by the civilian contractors was dinner on 28 September, with the first meal prepared by the Ship’s Company being breakfast next morning. The bulk of the Ship’s Company, 60 in number , arrived by C130 aircraft on 30 September after a long and uncomfortable journey from New Zealand. They were soon very hard at work preparing the ship for final trials and commissioning.
On 1 October, a Saturday, the ship sailed for ‘final sea trials’, manned by her own ship’s company but again formally under the command of Captain Somerville. 20 shipyard and specialist personnel were embarked to calibrate and set to work the ‘combinators’ (system combining main engine revolutions and propeller pitch to give the required power ensuring the engines were not overloaded) which had been unsatisfactory on the first trials. Representatives from the engine manufacturer, Sulzer, and propeller manufacturers, Stone Manganese Marine, were embarked for this specific purpose. The ship again careered erratically around the lower Firth of Clyde. Commodore Bland joined at sea to conduct final sea inspection and the ship finally berthed in Greenock in the evening of 2 October.
The final reading of Form D448 (as Jaques decribed it, though there was to be a subsequent “final reading”!) was held in the Scott Lithgow boardroom. 88 items of outstanding work were agreed as a Scott Lithgow liability, and 91 items of spare gear and documentation items were likewise agreed. Following Commodore Balnd’s recommendation, Jaques signed for the ship at 1510 on 3 October 1977.
MONOWAI was commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Navy on Tuesday 4 October 1977 in a formal ceremony and parade at Customhouse Quay, Greenock. The guest of honour was Sir Douglas Carter, KCMG, The High Commissioner for New Zealand. Royal Navy chaplains of the three major denominations conducted the ceremony and the Rpyal Marine Band from the headquarters of the Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland at Faslane provided the musical support. Colours were hoisted at 1135 “and the ship, thus once again became a fully commissioned unit of the Royal New Zealand Navy”.
A number of dignitaries had been invited to tour the ship and to the civic luncheon which followed in the Port Glasgow Town Hall and was attended by all members of the ship’s company except for a small duty watch. Speeches were made by Sir Douglas Carter and Sir William Lithgow Bt presented an inscribed print of ‘Old Greenock’ to the ship. This print was displayed on the bulkhead outside the captain’s cabin for her entire service. In 2005 Cdr Robbins (Rtd) said that as a result of the many hours he had stood waiting to enter the cabin, he could still repeat the inscription: “From Port Glasgow, the birthplace of the DUNEDIN, and Greenock, the re-birth place of the MONOWAI have sailed many fine ships of whose contribution to the development of New Zealand, these two burghs are justifiable proud.”
A very welcome guest – whom Jaques describes as “the VIP Guest” but whom Watson suggests was uninvited – was Lord Ballantrae, (formerly Birgadier Sir Bernard Fergusson, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, OBE, Governor-General of New Zealand 1962-67). Lord Ballantrae was seated at the top table. Watson recalls that “the whole ceremony was over and people had started to move away when Lord Ballantrae stood up and declared ‘the droggies need a speech at the end’. Though he had had cancer of the throat he held everyone spellbound. He said ‘the Droggies didn’t invite me, but they weren’t going to get away with it, I was going to come any way’, and he gave a very good speech about what he thought of the Hydrographic Department and the New Zealand Navy, and it was delightful to have him.”
Watson subsequently took Lord Ballantrae for a tour of the ship, encountering Petty Officer Steward Taff Evans. POSTD Evans had served on Lord Ballantrae’s staff and had been his son’s keeper when he was in New Zealand as Governor-General. Evans later recalled that it was a very happy reunion.
Watson recalls that he was delighted that Lord Ballantrae had turned up, and describes him as ‘a pretty genuine sort of guy’. Others at the luncheon function who had not previously met him recall being thoroughly impressed at the way Lord Ballantrae related to everyone there, from the most junior rating to the officers.
The commissioning drew to a close with a dance in Greenock that evening which Jaques suggests “was well supported and enjoyed both by ship’s company and by local young ladies.”
Though MONOWAI was now an RNZN unit, rectification work required that she be returned to the shipyard, Jaques describing the period as being “dictated by circumstances and would never have been contemplated as an exercise in orderly planning.” However the extra pressure served the positive function of being a “catalyst to greater efforts” and helping to very quickly meld the Ships Company into a cohesive team.
The ship sailed for the first time under Jaques’ command on 10 October for what was intended to be a “ship work up” period. However it had to be accepted that trials remained to be conducted and shore personnel were embarked. However the period served its purpose. Two days later the engine/propeller control was considered adequately calibrated and the technicians were landed ashore, the ship undertaking manoeuvring trials and machinery drills in the Firth. Jaques reports that MONOWAI proved to have a surprising agility although does note that she was greatly influenced by the wind. This was to be the case throughout her service, though most commanding officers and many bridge watchkeepers quickly learnt to use these characteristics to their advantage.
After a weekend back in Greenock for minor shipyard work to be undertaken, the ship sailed to work-up the survey equipment with representatives from the Hydroplot manufacturers onboard for software and hardware trials checks and modifications. Again, the surveyors were well satisfied with the depth-sounding and position fixing equipment and although some “fairly major inaccuracies and anomalies arose” with Hydroplot “thse were not such as to preclude use of the system”.
The Resident Naval Officer, Greenock, Commander J G Wemyss RN had been involved with the ship since she had arrived. On 20 October he transferred to the ship by helicopter – being landed by winch with the helicopter hovering over the flight deck (vertrep) as the ship’s flight deck had not been cleared for landing. Wemyss spent the day with the ship before being landed by boat. His views have not been recorded, but it must have been a most satisfying experience for him to have seen the results of a project with which he had assisted in many ways.
A short period alongside at Scott Lithgows was not very productive, a severe malaise having settled over the company’s workforce as closure loomed. However some engineering work on the Hydroplot was progressed, Jaques suggesting that the Chief of Naval Staff had had some direct discussions with the Marconi Managing Director to encourage greater action. After a week’s further sea-trials good progress was being achieved, although the decision as made to keep the ship alongside for a further week to progress work on Hydroplot. Other work progressed but somewhat erratically with strikes and go-slows being the order of the day.
A (further) “final reading” of form D448 was held on Friday 4 November 1977. Actions on the final remaining oputstanding items was agreed and it was agreed that none were sufficient to prevent the ship from sailing and the majority were capable of being rectified by the contractor at some time before the ship was to leave British waters to return to New Zealand. Final farewells were held that weekend, and a rugby match played against Greenock Wanderers commemorating a game payed two years earlier, the loss being of a similar scale.
Finally, two years and 2 months after her first arrival in Greenock, HMNZS MONOWAI sailed on the first leg of her return voyage to New Zealand.
In an oral history interview for the RNZN Museum, Watson, who was awarded the OBE at the end of the project for his leading role in it, described it as “ without a doubt, one of the most challenging professional jobs of my career.
I had never been involved in handling or being required to approve so much cash. I used to approve the progress payments every month; I would go through the accounts and assure myself that what they were claiming was completed and had been done, I would then go down to London and present the account to the High Commissioner or Deputy High Commissioner who of course had final approval, signed the cheques and finally paid.
There were very challenging decisions to be made when the engines failed, when the generators were suspect, and what size of sewage tanks were required when it was decided to put sewage tanks in the ship.” All new ships built after 1 January 1976 were required to have sewage systems installed and MONOWAI became the first RNZN ship to have such a system.
Watson remembers that the RNZN had another visit from Scott Lithgow Dry Docks about eight months after he had returned home “as they had done their final bills and came out looking for more money. They wanted another million pounds. I was violently opposed to this million pounds. When they came out, I read through their claims, and attended all the meetings that we had in Wellington, and in my opinion most of the claims were not valid and they should not have been met. To my amazement they brought the Crown Law Office in who stated that it was not policy for a small country to argue with British ship builders for claims. We met the additional claims without any publicity. “
Watson should not have been surprised at this as he had had an earlier introduction to somewhat arcane Treasury thinking during the conversion. The Scott Lithgow Dry Docks Company Secretary had pointed out that the German mark was increasing in value and suggested that the price of the bow thruster being purchased from a German company should be invested until the machinery needed to be purchased. Watson says “I approved the payment and we duly invested the money. We made quite a considerable amount – in the order of eighty thousand pounds – and I was very proud of this. The High Commissioner slapped my wrist, saying that it’s not policy for Governments to make money out of other Governments.”
Various figures are noted for the final cost of the conversion of HMNZS MONOWAI although the exact figure will probably never be known. The ‘Notes to the Estimates’ for Vote: Defence 1982/83 show the Cabinet approvals for funding the ship’s conversion. As follows:
CM (Cabinet Minute) 75/25/26 dated 23 June 1975 $14,414,010
CWC (Cabinet Works Committee) Pt 1 dated 23 Aug 1977 $ 2,741, 401
TOTAL APROVED FOR CONVERSION $ 17, 155,411
The actual report expenditure was $20,410,721, the difference being attributed to ‘exchange rate variances’.
The ship which sailed from Greenock was considerably different to the vessel which had steamed up the Clyde two years earlier. The foremast had been removed and the forward well-deck area had been plated over to provide accommodation and stores, a single hatch leading into the vehicle deck. The former holds now contained stores area and the sewage tanks. A chartroom had been installed aft of the bridge at bridge deck level and a flight deck, with telescopic hangar were built aft. Cabin accommodation from single berth for officers and warrant officers to a maximum of 6 berth cabins for junior ratings were installed with modern wooden furtniture. Along with the adequate bathroom facilities and the excellent dining and recreation facilities, the ship was a quantum leap forward for RNZN ships. 125 personnel could be accommodated, though this was later extended to almost 140 when a classroom area was converted into a mess deck for junior ratings under training.
An interesting feature which enjoyed a mixed reaction over the ship’s life was the Watt’s anti-roll system, a passive stability tank. When required, about 56 tonnes of seawater would be pumped into the tank which sat on 3 deck immediately forward of the bridge. Baffle plates would impair the movement of the water as the ship rolled so that its weight acted in opposition to the motion of the ship. The free-surface effect of the partially filled tank reduced the ship’s righting levers somewhat which meant that the ship, in stability terms, was less ‘stiff’ (ie the righting effect was less vigorous) and all these combined to lessen the ship’s motion. It was realised that under some circumstances circumstances could combine to make the tank and the water a liability, so large dump valves, remotely operated from the bridge or engine room, were provided. In just a few seconds the water could be dumped down into holding tanks in the ship’s bottom which could just hold the water. Thus the hazard was removed and stability increased by 56 tonnes of ‘solid’ water deep down in the ship. Commanders Jaques, Robertson and Robbins, who were present during stages of the conversion. would use the tank frequently but other commanding officers less so. More than one engineering officer would hold his ‘leaving shout’ in the empty tank!
MONOWAI was a well-equipped ship from a naval point of view and a major communications suite, explosives magazine and diving store with refilling facilities were fitted along with necessary facilities for refuelling and replenishing at sea. Full air-conditioning was installed using redundant refrigeration equipment from MOANA ROA though this did not always work so well in temperate climates, where there was not a large difference between air and sea temperatures.
The ship’s surveying fit-out was as good as anything on any survey ship in the world at that time. Large davits were provided for 3 modern survey boats, though the ship only carried one on commissioning, the others being built at HMNZ Dockyard later. MONOWAI was equipped with the latest electronic surveying equipment, principal amongst it including:
- HYDROPLOT – an automated survey data acquisition and processing system manufactured by Marconi Space and Defence Systems. This was a modified and upgraded version of the system installed in survey ships of the Royal Navy. Principal components were a 64k ferrite core computer, 3 large magnetic tape decks, a large Kongsberg flat bed plotter and a Calcomp plotter. The programs were loaded from punched paper (actually Mylar) tapes. All equipment but the flat-bed plotter was fitted in an airconditioned processing room on bridge deck level forward of the survey chartroom. The processing system proved problematic on trials and during the voyage to NZ and it was later discovered that an entire batch of the fitted components were defective, causing random – and difficult to locate – faults. These were later replaced and the system worked well (though showing its age towards the end) until replaced by HADLAPS in 1992.
- DECCA HIFIX/6 – a medium radio ranging system operating on medium (1.6-3 Mhz) frequencies. Stations ashore at known points transmit in either range/range or hyperbolic modes. Readings from a minimum of two shore stations allow a position to be computed to within 1.5 metres
- DEL NORTE TRISPONDER – a highly portable short/medium range microwave position system operating in range/range mode. Transponders on known positions ashore respond to the mobile station’s transmissions giving a range from each station. Allows a position to be computed to within 3 metres.
- MAGNAVOX MX702 TRANSIT SATELITTE NAVIGATION RECEIVER – working on the Doppler principal, computes a position when the Transit satellites come over the radio horizon. A fix could be obtained every 45 – 90 minutes depending upon the satellite configuration. Accuracy varies, typically better than 0.5 nautical mile.
- ATLAS DESO 10 ECHO SOUNDERS – dual frequency high-precision echo-sounders (33 and 210 Khz). Medium and shallow depth variants fitted.
- RAYTHEON DEEP ECHO SOUNDER – low frequency (12 Khz) deep water echo-sounder.
In addition the ship was fitted with a sidescan sonar, an underwater television system, bottom samplers, corers, and a deep water winch plus a variety of minor surveying equipment. The large and well-appointed survey chartroom allowed for a number of survey officers to work on the surveys at the same time.