HMNZS Te Kaha (F77) is one of ten Anzac class

Anzac class frigate

The Anzac class is a ship class of ten frigates; eight operated by the Royal Australian Navy and two operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy...

 frigates, and one of two serving in 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). The name Te Kaha is Māori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

, meaning 'fighting prowess' or 'strength' (for further information on this term, see Kaha).

Design and construction

During the mid 1980s, the RNZN began considering the replacement of their four Leander class

Leander class frigate

The Leander class, or Type 12I frigates, comprising twenty-six vessels, was among the most numerous and long-lived classes of frigate in the Royal Navy's modern history. The class was built in three batches between 1959 and 1973...

 frigates. Around the same time, a deterioration in New Zealand-United States relations forced the New Zealand government to improve ties with local nations. As the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 was seeking to replace their River class destroyer escort

River class destroyer escort

The River class was a class of six destroyer escorts operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Plans to acquire four vessels, based on the British Type 12M frigate, began in the 1950s. The first two vessels had some slight modifications to the design, while the next two underwent further changes...

s with ships nearly identical to what the RNZN wanted, the two nations decided to collaborate on the acquisition in early 1987. Tenders had been requested in 1986, and 12 ship designs (including an airship

Airship

An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

) were submitted. By August 1987, these were narrowed down in October to Blohm + Voss

Blohm + Voss

Blohm + Voss , is a German shipbuilding and engineering works. It is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; there were plans to sell 80% of Blohm + Voss to Abu Dhabi Mar Group, but talks collapsed in July 2011.-History:It was founded on April 5, 1877, by Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss as a...

's MEKO 200

MEKO 200

The MEKO 200 is a frigate design by the Blohm + Voss shipyard of Germany, as part of the MEKO family of warships.-Anzac class :...

 design, the M class (later Karel Doorman class

Karel Doorman class frigate

The Karel Doorman class is a class of eight multi-purpose frigates of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The class is also known as the "Multi-purpose" or M class....

) offered by Royal Schelde, and a scaled-down Type 23 frigate

Type 23 frigate

The Type 23 frigate is a class of frigate built for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. All the ships were first named after British Dukes, thus the class is also known as the Duke class. The first Type 23 was commissioned in 1989, and the sixteenth, was launched in May 2000 and commissioned in...

 proposed by Yarrow Shipbuilders

Yarrow Shipbuilders

Yarrow Limited , often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde...

. In 1989, the Australian government announced that Melbourne-based shipbuilder AMECON

AmeCon

AmeCon is an anime convention based in Leicester, United Kingdom, typically of three days in length, and is one of the largest anime conventions in the United Kingdom. The convention was formed after several committee members of the Leicester Anime and Manga Club decided to run a small,...

 (which became Tenix Defense) would build the modified MEKO 200 design. However, the decision to buy the frigates had been highly controversial in New Zealand, primarily because of the cost of purchasing frigate-type ships, plus the idea that the high-capability warships would be too few and too overspecialised for the fisheries and Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) patrols expected to be the RNZN's core operations. Despite ongoing debate, the New Zealand government agreed to purchase two frigates in addition to the RAN's eight, and had an option for two more. This option expired in 1997 without the New Zealanders acting upon it; there were proposals to buy a new or second-hand Anzac outside the terms of the original contract, but a lack of political support stopped this developing, and the number built for the RNZN remained at two. The drop in capability and the issue of tying up the Anzacs on EEZ patrols when they could be deployed more suitably elsewhere were factors leading to the RNZN's Project Protector

Project Protector

Project Protector was an procurement project for the Royal New Zealand Navy that occurred during the 2000s. At the start of the decade, the New Zealand government retasked the New Zealand Defence Force to be equally capable in combat, peacekeeping, and disaster relief, with the RNZN to focus on...

 acquisition program.

The Anzacs are based on Blohm + Voss' MEKO 200 PN (or Vasco da Gama class

Vasco da Gama class frigate

The Vasco da Gama class is a class of frigates of the Portuguese Navy. Named in honor of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, the ships are based on the German MEKO 200 design, and are Portugal's major surface ships...

) frigates, modified to meet Australian and New Zealand specifications and maximise the use of locally built equipment. Each frigate has a 3600 tonnes (3,543.1 LT) full load displacement. The ships are 109 metres (357.6 ft) long at the waterline

Waterline length

The Waterline length is a measurement of ships and boats. The term denotes the length of the vessel at the point where it sits in the water. It excludes the total length of the boat, such as features that are out of the water...

, and 118 metres (387.1 ft) long overall, with a beam

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

 of 14.8 metres (48.6 ft), and a full load draught of 4.35 metres (14.3 ft). The ships are fitted with a Combined Diesel or Gas

Combined diesel or gas

Combined diesel or gas ' is a type of propulsion system for ships that need a maximum speed that is considerably faster than their cruise speed, particularly warships like modern frigates or corvettes....

 (CODOG) propulsion machinery layout, consisting of two controllable-pitch propellers driven by a single General Electric LM2500

General Electric LM2500

-External links:* .* *...

-30 gas turbine and two MTU diesel engines: initially the TB83 model, but these were replaced in 2009 with more powerful TB93s. Maximum speed is 27 knots (14.7 m/s), and maximum range is over 6000 nautical miles (11,112 km) at 18 knots (9.8 m/s); about 50% greater than other MEKO 200 designs. The standard ship's company of an Anzac consists of 22 officers and 141 sailors.
As designed, the main armament for the frigate is a 5-inch 54 calibre Mark 45 gun, supplemented by an eight-cell Mark 41 vertical launch system

Mark 41 Vertical Launch System

The Mark 41 Vertical Launch System is a shipborne missle canister launching system which provides a rapid-fire launch capability against hostile threats. The Vertical Launch System concept was derived from work on the Aegis Combat System. Refinement of the concept continued through the 1960s and...

 for RIM-7 Sea Sparrow

RIM-7 Sea Sparrow

RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a US ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles...

, two 12.7 millimetre (0.5 in) machine guns, and two Mark 32 triple torpedo tube

Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes

The Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes system is a torpedo launching system designed for the United States Navy. The Mark 32 has been the standard anti-submarine torpedo launching system aboard United States Navy surface vessels since its introduction in 1960, and in use aboard the warships of...

 sets firing Mark 46 torpedo

Mark 46 torpedo

Designed to attack high-performance submarines, the Mark 46 torpedo is the backbone of the U.S. Navy's lightweight ASW torpedo inventory, and is the current NATO standard. These aerial torpedoes, such as the Mark 46 Mod 5, are expected to remain in service until the year 2015...

es. They were also designed for but not with

For but not with

Fitting "for but not with" is a design concept used by militaries in which a weapon or system called for in a design is not installed or is only partially installed during construction to save on construction costs. The term is usually used in regard to vehicles and ships but sometimes extends to...

 a close-in weapons system (a Phalanx CIWS

Phalanx CIWS

The Phalanx CIWS is an anti-ship missile defense system. It is a close-in weapon system and was designed and manufactured by the General Dynamics Corporation, Pomona Division...

 installed shortly after the frigate's completion, supplemented by two Mini Typhoons from 2006 onwards), two quad-canister Harpoon missile launchers, and a second Mark 41 launcher (neither of which have been added to the New Zealand ships. The New Zealand Anzacs initially operated with a Westland Wasp

Westland Wasp

The Westland Wasp was a British small first-generation, gas-turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and was based on the earlier piston-engined Saunders-Roe Skeeter...

 helicopter, which were later replaced by Kaman SH-2 Seasprites, then Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters.

Te Kaha was laid down at Williamstown, Victoria

Williamstown, Victoria

Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2006 Census, Williamstown had a population of 12,733....

 on 19 September 1994. The ship was assembled from six hull modules and six superstructure modules; the superstructure modules were fabricated in Whangarei, New Zealand, and hull modules were built at both Williamstown and Newcastle, New South Wales

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

, with final integration at Williamstown. She was launched on 22 July 1995, and commissioned into the RNZN on 22 July 1997. In early 2002, microscopic cracks in Te Kahas bilge keel and hull plating were discovered. This problem, which was common to the first four ships of the Anzac class, was later rectified.

Operational history

In 1999, Te Kaha pursued Patagonian Toothfish

Patagonian toothfish

The Patagonian toothfish, Dissostichus eleginoides , is a fish found in the cold, temperate waters of the southern Atlantic, southern Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans on seamounts and continental shelves around most sub-Antarctic islands.A close relative, the Antarctic toothfish , is found...

 poachers in the Ross Dependency

Ross Dependency

The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160° east to 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60° south...

, participated in the INTERFET

INTERFET

The International Force for East Timor was a multinational peacekeeping taskforce, mandated by the United Nations to address the humanitarian and security crisis which took place in East Timor from 1999–2000 until the arrival of United Nations peacekeepers...

 multinational deployment to East Timor from 19 to 26 September, and operated as part of the Multinational Interception Force in the Persian Gulf.

The frigate was also involved in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

 conflict during 2000 and 2001, with several periods as guardship at the capital, Honiara.

In 2002, Te Kaha returned to the Persian Gulf, this time as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, after a four-month flag-showing deployment in Asian waters. The frigate was replaced in the Gulf by Te Mana in early 2003.

External links

• "Te Kaha", Royal New Zealand Navy. Retrieved 8 February 2007.
• "Navy ship to support Auckland Anniversary Day", press release of 24 January 2007 by NZ Defence Force. Retrieved 8 February 2007.