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''Pioneer'' was a 19th-century paddle-steamer gunboat used in New Zealand. Built in Sydney to the order of the New Zealand colonial government by the Australian Steam Navigation Company, she cost 9,500 pounds. Launched in 1863, she was towed across the Tasman Sea by HMS ''Eclipse'', leaving Sydney on 22 September and arriving at Onehunga on 3 October 1863. She was a flat-bottomed, stern-wheel paddle-steamer of 304 tons, made of 3/8 inch (9.5 mm) iron. She was 42.6 m long, 6 m beam, and drew only 0.9 m fully laden for travel on the Waikato River. With twin 30 hp engines and a 3.7 m (12 foot) stern wheel she had a speed of 9 knots. She had two iron cupolas or turrets, which were pierced for rifles and 12 pdr guns. The cupolas were 2.4 m (8 feet) high and 3.6 m (12 feet) in diameter. She was manned by officers and men of the Royal Navy, two companies from HMS ''Curacoa''; and flew the pendant of Commodore Sir William Wiseman of Curacoa. She proved of immense service in the skirmishing on the Waikato River in 1863 during the Waikato Campaign of the New Zealand Wars In 1866 she was wrecked on the Manukau bar. The two turrets are on display in Mercer (as part of the war memorial) and Ngaruawahia. There are two engravings of her in action on the Waikato River in Ross and Howard, from the Illustrated London News. File:The river gunboat pioneer.jpg| ''Pioneer'', 1863–1866, was New Zealand's first purpose-built warship File:Pioneer gun turret.jpg|A turret on display at Ngaruawahia ==See also== * Early naval vessels of New Zealand 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「Pioneer (paddle-steamer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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