Royal New Zealand Navy Discussions and Updates

ngatimozart

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Tattoos are one thing but facial tattoos are something else entirely. I'm not so sure I agree about allowing this, but that's the way the world is turning so who am I to hold it back.

Just out of interest the Danish King Frederick IX who reigned from 47-72 was covered in tattoos, he was also in the Navy.
It's a traditional cultural tattoo so the CN is correct in allowing it because this particular one defines the wears identity. If the tattoo was your stock standard jack tars tat then no way. If the wearer was strictly traditional he would have the moko carved on his face as well as inked. Bugger that for a joke, but that was how it was done in the old days. I have a photo of my great great grandfather with his moko and he was bought up, taught in, lived and trained in the old precolonial ways.
 

t68

Well-Known Member
It's a traditional cultural tattoo so the CN is correct in allowing it because this particular one defines the wears identity. If the tattoo was your stock standard jack tars tat then no way. If the wearer was strictly traditional he would have the moko carved on his face as well as inked. Bugger that for a joke, but that was how it was done in the old days. I have a photo of my great great grandfather with his moko and he was bought up, taught in, lived and trained in the old precolonial ways.
Interesting info there thanks for that.

I didn't know what a moko was and I looked it up, sounds bloody painfull.
 

KiwiRob

Well-Known Member
It's a traditional cultural tattoo so the CN is correct in allowing it because this particular one defines the wears identity. If the tattoo was your stock standard jack tars tat then no way. If the wearer was strictly traditional he would have the moko carved on his face as well as inked. Bugger that for a joke, but that was how it was done in the old days. I have a photo of my great great grandfather with his moko and he was bought up, taught in, lived and trained in the old precolonial ways.
A lady I used to work with husband had his moko done traditionally, since he was also part Samoan he also had his thighs and butt done up in Samoa over a couple of summer visits, also done in the traditional way. I have to give him credit for it, the pain was intense.

History lesson for today.

The word "tattoo" itself comes from the Tahitian tatau, and was introduced into the English language by Cook's expedition.

Cook's Science Officer and Expedition Botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, returned to England with a tattoo. Banks was a highly regarded member of the English aristocracy and had acquired his position with Cook by putting up what was at the time the princely sum of some ten thousand pounds in the expedition. In turn, Cook brought back with him a tattooed Raiatean man, Omai, whom he presented to King George and the English Court. Many of Cook's men, ordinary seamen and sailors, came back with tattoos, a tradition that would soon become associated with men of the sea in the public's mind and the press of the day. In the process sailors and seamen re-introduced the practice of tattooing in Europe and it spread rapidly to seaports around the globe.

Should probably get back on topic.
 

t68

Well-Known Member
Interestingly the RAN are going to conduct First Of Class Flight Trials (FOFCT) of the MRH (NH-90) on their ANZAC class frigates mid year. I wonder if the RNZN will follow suit.
Interesting MRH is for lily pad ops, I would imagine that RNZN would be following it don't really see them having a need. I'd be more inclined to see if they certify NZ pilots( both NH-90 & SeaSprites) on the LHD which I think would come in real handy.

I wonder if any Army Blackhawks ever used the Anzac's this way?
 

htbrst

Active Member
Further thawing of ties with NZ over the nuclear issue with the USCGC Polar star stopping in for the first time to get supplies to Antarctica

US Coastguard back in NZ waters after decades-long absence | Stuff.co.nz

"The United States Coast Guard is poised to return to New Zealand for the first time in decades with a stop over on its way home from Antarctica.

The Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Polar Star will be on its way back from completing seasonal operations in Antarctica when it stops at Lyttelton."

"A number of the scientific programmes in Antarctica will benefit from this year's supply stop in Lyttleton. This visit saves days of transit time for the vessel and the fuel associated saves money and strengthens our joint co-operation on the ice. Additionally doing it this way frees up space on the US Antarctic Program's fleet of ski equipped LC-130 cargo aircraft to conduct missions on the continent."
A sign of things to come with the tanker replacement :)
 

ngatimozart

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About time too. There is actually very little known about the Southern Ocean and this will add to the knowledge. In the 1960's the RNZN along with the DSIR, undertook a scientific research voyage through part of the Southern Ocean below NZ about as far as 60 deg S. I did have a couple of oceanographic papers that resulted from this voyage, however they have been misplaced :(
 

40 deg south

Well-Known Member
New Zealand, US Navy divers hone mine countermeasure skills | Naval Today

Divers from the New Zealand and United States Navy honed their mine-clearing skills during a two-week multinational exercise that took place in Bland Bay, Whangaruru,in February.
More useful but low-profile engagement with the US.

Update

http://www.nzdf.mil.nz/news/media-r...navies-join-forces-for-northland-exercise.htm

Original NZDF release here. Interesting the exercise used a civilian medivac chopper rather than a Seasprite or AW109.
 
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MrConservative

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Diver Lieutenant Teina Hullena said Bland Bay was chosen because it was an ideal training area.

“We look for a good gradient, a good training environment,” he said. “It’s the east coast, with good water – not as rough as the west coast.”

I bet what he did not say is that the Crayfish diving up around Whangaruru and Oakura Bay is very very good. Excellent planning Lt Hullena! :D

Nice to see the teams working together again!

Original NZDF release here. Interesting the exercise used a civilian medivac chopper rather than a Seasprite or AW109.
I guess the involvement was more of a practice session with the Northern Emergency Chopper Unit and Navy helped out. The patient medevac to the Slark Hyperbaric Unit would be something requiring training refreshers.
 

alexsa

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Wow, unmanned machinery spaces, really? And civilian ships have never worked this one out? This is a case of uninformed hyperbole.
Yep, and before we have anybody suggesting that there is a stark difference in complexity ....... it is not true. LNG carrriers, offshore support and construction vessels, semi submersibles and even large passenger vessels (as examples) are all highly complex and in some cases have a high power (installed and electrical) requirements and hybrid drives ........... these have had UMS arrangements for over 30 years. Many now have intergrated vessel management systems as well.

It is more a case of civilian applications moving into the military field. Form about 40 years ago there has been a move in the commercial world to use technology to reduce crew and cost (some things have been less than successful in the intial stages) and have really led this area.
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
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thank god for that, I was wondering whether I'd missed something as commercial shipping had been doing this for yonks, so I was wondering why they were getting excited about something that was already standard practice on vessels a tad more complex than GM frigates...
 

alexsa

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thank god for that, I was wondering whether I'd missed something as commercial shipping had been doing this for yonks, so I was wondering why they were getting excited about something that was already standard practice on vessels a tad more complex than GM frigates...
Yep, I worked with a fully integrated ballast and stability system in a ship in 1992. Pretty basic but the system had remote detection of tank volumes and drafts (we always checked every day wiht dips) which fed into the stability system in the load computer. All ballast was remotely controlled from the cargo office with quite a bit of duplication on the bridge (no ballast controls in the engine control room). Even the load out came by EDIFACT file over INMARSAT (A in those days) and was dropped in the system by the ships network. All cargo planning was done this way as well as the lashing plan and and changes were sent back by SAT A. Vessel management and maintenance was done the same way (full electronic recording and reporting). It was clunky (the 486 and 386 computers we had were not exactly a digital grey hounds) but it worked....... and we were UMS with full bridge control and remote monitoring systems.

Since then shipboard increased integration has progressed. Integrated navigations systems (now being used on warships) have been developing over 20 years (the electronic chart arrangements have some shortcomings which need to be resolved but this effects all users ..... that what happens when you alllow a technician to develop a system .... not users) ..... none of this is new. Not a surprise that Seimens is one of the major players in this.

The large PAX vessels (noting a lot are now also pod driven) require the full modern IVMS as the professional crew is being reduced to increase the number of hotel staff to keep the shopping centre, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues going. These vessels have a massive power balance issue and have comprehensive systems for general operation (sewage, power, water, ventilation and all the fun stuff) was well as fire and damage control (some of the assumptions on how a ship may behave with extensive hull damage have been challenged by the Costa Concordia .... but lessons are learnt).

There is always the issue of crew competance and training in the use of such complex systems as they are bloody complex. When some numpty decides to tweak the system to fix and issue or something that bugs them it can have massive unintended issues ..... such as a complete black out and lots of head scratching.
 
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ngatimozart

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I am sure that the RDN Iver Huitfeld FFG and Absalon command and support ships have unmanned machinery spaces as well. They most certainly have IPMS and that was taken from merchant shipping practice along with other concepts.
 

Ironhead80

New Member
I am sure that the RDN Iver Huitfeld FFG and Absalon command and support ships have unmanned machinery spaces as well. They most certainly have IPMS and that was taken from merchant shipping practice along with other concepts.
All Danish warships have had unmanned machinery spaces and PMS/IPMS systems at least since the late 80's, including the Huitfeldts and Absalons.

Some of the latest developments have involved stand-alone IPMS applications installed on laptops to allow control and monitoring of ship systems from anywhere on the vessel.

I seem to remember reading something about maintenance crews on late model Burkes using tablets to do the same ?
 
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