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HMNZS ''Otago'' (F111) was a Rothesay Class Type 12 Frigate, or separately designated, Otago class frigate acquired from the Royal Navy before completion. The Otago and Taranaki significantly differ from the Royal Navy, Rothesay's as the RNZN is a conventionally armed navy, and the New Zealand ships have a slightly higher level of conventional capability. with the long range 177 sonar to combine with the only operational MK 20 heavyweight torpedo,(where the RN versions in most cases had an accurate short range 174, initially) and provide more comfort for the crew in cafeteria and bunk bedding. She was launched on 11 December 1958 by Princess Margaret,〔 and was commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Navy on 22 June 1960. She was named after the province of Otago in New Zealand, on the South Island and associated with the city of Dunedin. ==Service history== ''Otago'' took part in various SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) deployments, and took part, with HMAS Supply in support and succeeded by HMNZS Canterbury, in a protest against French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in 1973. The support of the RAN tanker was essential given the relatively short range of the Type 12 frigates 〔D.Grant. The Mighty Totara. The life and times of Norman Kirk. Random House,(2014).Auckland, p309 & NZ Herald 23 January 1973.〕 which was just sufficient to cross the Atlantic with a slow convoy, or operate for 36 hours at 25-30 knots in all out anti submarine operations 〔A.Preston. Warships of the World. Janes Publishing,(1980).London,p 152-3 & 164-5.〕 sprinting and searching. With the need to maintain a 50% fuel reserve at all times, due to need to allow for emergency requirements, weather and barnacle build up on hull, effective range of the Otago without refueling is about 3000 nautical miles.〔Interview Captain Ian Bradley (ret)1983,who approved release, of fuel reserve req, and other info not included in defence articles in NBR and Timaru Herald in 1983.,〕 In 1960 the Royal Navy had seriously considered the Otago class design as an alternative to the Rothesay or Type 81 GP frigates, for future development, with a design which would have carried 1 or 2 Wessex a/s helicopters.〔R. Gardiner. All the Worlds Warships. Pt1. Western Powers. Conway Maritime Press,(1982).London, p164.〕 In a long refit during 1974-5, her limbo mortars were replaced with Mk 32 torpedo tubes for Type 44/46 torpedoes thought more effective in short range anti-submarine warfare. Proposals to fit a hangar and landing pad without the complete reconstruction, as had been done on the Royal Navy Rothesay class which had effectively required the ship to be split in half, were rejected by the Rear Admiral on the grounds, 'nothing should be done that jeopardizes the RNZN case for a new combat ship' 〔Interview Captain Ian Bradley, Auck 1983〕 ''Otago'' continued as the 3rd combat ship in the three frigate fleet designated by the 1978 Defence Review. In the second half of 1979 it had another extensive refit, with its Seacat missile system repaired after breakage, by using stored parts from the HMNZS Taranaki system. In early 1980 it deployed to Pearl harbour, and the West Coast of the United States and Canada for extensive exercises with the USN and RCN firing hundreds of rounds of 4.5-inch shells,under command of Cmdr Karl Moen, who described the Otago as the 'one true fighting ship in the RNZN' with Ltd Cmdr Robert Martin as his second. Martin assumed command during a final 6 month refit, leaving the ship on 7 April 1982. Even at the time of the Falklands War, the Captain of Otago and the Minister of Defence, Peter Thompson, declared the ship to still be fully combat capable.〔NZPD Debates 1982.〕 Thompson, in a general debate in the house, attacked a ''Listener'' article by I.Bradley,〔I. Bradley. Defending Spending. Listener, September 11, 1982, p 39-41〕 claiming the Captain had lost his eye for ship observation as photos in the ''Listener'' article clearly show a 'identical' (sic) RN Rothesay frigate, defending itself, in Falkland Sound. Neverless, Admiral Sandy Woodward, in his classic recollection of the operation, credits both HMS Yarmouth and Plymouth, with taking Skyhawks with GWS20 optical electric Seacat, with a Dagger also damaged.〔Admiral S. Woodward. Memoirs of a Falklands Battle Group Commander. Naval Institute Press,(1992).Annapolis, MD, p 254, 284& 320.〕 HMS Otago become the RNZN training ship in 1983, and paid off into inactive reserve in November 1983. The vessel was sold for scrap in 1987 and broken up in Auckland. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMNZS Otago (F111)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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