HMNZS Breeze (T02) was a coastal cargo boat which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy

Royal New Zealand Navy

The Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...

 (RNZN) and converted into a minesweeper

Minesweeper (ship)

A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

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Breeze was owned by the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company. She was taken up on 3 March 1942, under protest, to replace the Puriri which had sunk in a minefield. She was a sister ship to Gale

HMNZS Gale (T04)

HMNZS Gale was a coastal cargo boat which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy and converted into a minesweeper. She was the first New Zealand vessel to go into action against Japan....

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Operational history

Breeze joined the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla at Tulagi in April 1943. On her arrival she was also formed, with Matai

HMNZS Matai (T01)

HMNZS Matai was a Marine Department lighthouse tender which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy and converted into a minesweeper.-Operational history:...

 and her sister ship Gale

HMNZS Gale (T04)

HMNZS Gale was a coastal cargo boat which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy and converted into a minesweeper. She was the first New Zealand vessel to go into action against Japan....

, into the 9th Auxiliary Minesweeping group within the flotilla. They carried out night-time patrol and escort duties under COMSOPAC control. The Japanese were well north by this time, but occasionally made sudden attacks into American strongholds around Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

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In July 1943, prior to being fitted with radar, Breeze collided with off Guadalcanal while patrolling in a monsoon rainstorm. Grazing port to port, she had a boat wrecked.

During convoy escort duty in Ironbottom Sound

Ironbottom Sound

"Ironbottom Sound" is the name given by Allied sailors to Savo Sound, the stretch of water at the southern end of The Slot between Guadalcanal, Savo Island, and Florida Island of the Solomon Islands, because of the dozens of ships and planes that sank there during the Battle of Guadalcanal in...

she was attacked, but not damaged, by dive-bombers.

From time to time the flotilla boats would return to Auckland for refits, usually escorting freighters bound the same way.

By the middle of 1944 the owners were demanding the return of Breeze and her twin Gale. COMSOPAC released her on 10 November 1944.

Further reading

• Harker, Jack (2000)The Rockies: New Zealand Minesweepers at War. Silver Owl Press. ISBN 0959797998

External links

• Picture of Breeze
• Boiler cleaners Watercolour by Russell Clark