Royal New Zealand Navy
 

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/20...-lack-of-crew/

A third of New Zealand’s Navy ships are docked over lack of crew

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Three of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s nine ships are now docked at the Devonport naval base indefinitely, due to insufficient personnel.

The 279-foot offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington is now the third ship to enter a period of idleness, joining the Navy’s other offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Otago and one of the two remaining 180-foot inshore patrol vessels HMZNS Hawea.

Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short declared the move would free up engineering personnel amid a workforce attrition. Placing a ship into care and custody will consolidate the workforce and allow better management of the effects of attrition, he argued.

Asked if the decision would enable the rest of the Navy’s fleet to remain operational, a service spokesperson told Defense News that depends on several factors.

“If the current attrition rate of 16.5% can be arrested, it is expected [that we] will have sufficient sailors to operate the rest of the fleet,” the spokesperson said. “However, there remains a level of uncertainty until this attrition rate is reversed. This requires a number of initiatives to take effect, including addressing the widening gap between our sailor remuneration and what the highly competitive job market is offering.”

But pay is not necessarily the major reason for attrition rates, according to independent defense consultant Gordon Crane. “Many of the personnel ordered to manage quarantine facilities during the COVID epidemic subsequently resigned,” Crane told Defense News.

New Zealand sold two inshore patrol vessels to Ireland in March. At the time, Chief of Navy Rear Adm. David Proctor said the two remaining ships (four were built in total) provide important training and command opportunities for junior officers.

Now only one inshore patrol vessel — the HMNZS Taupo — remains available, although it has a full work program scheduled for next year, a Navy spokesperson told Defense News.

A sad reflection but still entitled the Royal New Zealand Navy one hopes!:ok:

Jack

i don't think there's a navy in the western world that isn't affected buy crew shortages and laid up vessels

VMT for the "new" title.:ok:

Jack

NZs national anthem is "God Defend New Zealand". Without a fighter capability or now a navy apparently, their anthem seems more a prayer of request.

Does New Zealand have have any strategic or economic value and if so, to whom?

To australia, even have add campaign ready to invade it

It's a renegade state, used to be part of Australia. :p But I don't think we're about to do a Putin, half their population lives in Oz as it is.

As Robert Muldoon said, New Zealanders moving to Australia “raised the IQ of both countries”

Does New Zealand have have any strategic or economic value and if so, to whom?

Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of milk during 2021, encompassing both unsweetened and unsweetened varieties of product.

1. New Zealand: US$7.8 billion (23.6% of total milk exports)
2. Germany: $3.2 billion (9.6%)
3. United States: $2.8 billion (8.5%)
4. Netherlands: $2.4 billion (7.1%)
5. France: $2 billion (6%)
6. Belgium: $1.96 billion (5.9%)
7. Australia: $1.4 billion (4.2%)
8. Poland: $1 billion (3.1%)
9. Ireland: $878 million (2.7%)
10. Belarus: $726.1 million (2.2%)
11. United Kingdom: $706.5 million (2.1%)
12. Argentina: $529.1 million (1.6%)
13. Denmark: $504 million (1.5%)
14. Spain: $497 million (1.5%)
15. Czech Republic: $495.5 million (1.5%)

Although there are a lot of things that frustrate me about my real home - I expect it will be highly strategically valuable as one of the few places in the world not left molten and glowing if the big balloon goes up.

Let's look on the bright side though. We've just got our first P-8A Poseidon as an early Christmas present! :)

A lot of good that would do you - re read "On the Beach" by Shute

True enough but it's got to be more reliable than our 757...:O though as an ex P-3 tech, it will be interesting to see how it compares.

…………..at least one of their “National” anthems is about their country and people. They have another which is about a single individual person thousands of miles away.

Milk? In tankers? With names like "Yoplait Valdez"?

Wouldn't that be a strategic vulnerability without a functioning navy?

Just looked at Google Earth - 2400 miles to the nearest bit of Indonesia - once you get to 5000 miles you start to reach the nearest bits of Vietnam, Japan and Chile

They're going to need a lot of air to air refuelling for any fighters.........

Jeez there are a bunch of simpletons on PPrune.
The RNZAF Air Combat Force (ACF) were due to receive F-16 when a change of government canceled the deal and scraped the trusty A-4s. Anyway, like the NZ ant-nuclear policy it all got horribly political now which means that it never gets spoken about in public.
Just like comments here, all levels of NZ defence and foreign affairs, and NZ Governments, while fighters were very useful in WWI, II, Vietnam, Falklands, GWI, II, etc etc, the country will bury its head in the sand and hope that nasty critins like CCP and Putin do not exist in the modern 'kind' world.

NZ needs protection of sea lanes, a matter that Kevin short, the current CDF is well aware of. He was one of the nicest guys to have around, but he was always rational.

If the RNZN opened up active reservists, they would man every tub they have, and still have more clamouring to get a berth. All it needs are free deck chairs, an esky, and a couple of trolling lines over the transom. When there were 2.5M Kiwis, there were 1.0M boats... kiwis might not fly but they sure can float.