Welcome to the HMNZS Waikato Assn Web site. Patron; Rear Admiral E.C.Thorne CB CBE Membership Photos Newsletter   Links to similar Associations HMNZS Taranaki Assn HMNZS Otago Assn HMNZS Caterbury Assn Ex RNZN Assn NZ Div  Ex HMS Ganges Assn RNZN CommunicatorsAssn Ex Royalnavalmans Association of NZ   Webmaster Ray Dunbar   Refresh regularly to get the latest updates.

HMNZS WAIKATO Z M P S  HMNZS Waikato was built by Harland & Wolfe Ltd, Belfast, she was laid down on 10th January 1964, and launched by HRH Princess Alexandra on 18 February 1965. She was the first Leander Class frigate to be built for the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was first commissioned in Belfast on 16th September 1966. Captain S.F.Mercer RNZN. The ship took her name from the North Island province of Waikato and from the river that flows through it. She was the first ship of that name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy. Waikato's badge was designed in a competition among school children of the Waikato. A pupil from Tauranga Boys Colledge William Foster submitted the winning entry. It features a Taniwha " a water monster" legendary gardian of the Waikato people and their river.The Taniwha in the crest copied from a lintel on a Maori meeting house in the Hauraki plains. Specifications DISPLACEMENT  3182 Tonnes    LENGTH   113.4 metres    BEAM  12.4 metres  DRAUGHT  5.6 metres     MACHINERY  Twin steam turbines driving twin shafts 30,000 horsepower total     ARMAMENT   Twin 115mm guns Wasp helicopters carrying homing torpedoes   Two twin barreled  torpedo tubes.  One Phalanx closed weapon system.  SPEED   30 knots  COMPLEMENT 239 (19 Officers) RIP Waikato HMNZS Waikato was sunk at Tutukaka on the 25th Nov 2000  She now lies in 28 metres of water 2km south of Tutukaka Heads.   This photo shows Waikato on her way to the bottom.

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