HMNZS Tui (T234) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

HMNZS Tui (T234) was a Bird class

Bird class minesweeper

The Bird class minesweeper was a naval trawler built to Admiralty specifications so it could function as a minesweeper. Forty-five were built. The RNZN ships were also referred to as corvettes....

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:...

of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Royal New Zealand Navy

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

. She was commissioned in 1941 for minesweeping and anti-submarine roles.

Tui was the first of two

HMNZS Tui

The name HMNZS Tui may apply to* HMNZS Tui , a minesweeper commissioned 1941-1967* HMNZS Tui , an oceanographic research ship commissioned 1970–1998...

ships with this name to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy and was named after a native bird

Tui (bird)

The tui is an endemic passerine bird of New Zealand. It is one of the largest members of the diverse honeyeater family....

from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

War service

In March 1942 in Scotland, Tui and the four Isles class trawlers, Killegray, Inchkeith, Sanda and Scarba had been newly build for New Zealand. They were formed into a flotilla and departed from the River Clyde

River Clyde

The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....

with a convey bound for Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The trawler flotilla then left for Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, arriving there in August.

In Auckland Tui was assigned to the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla and sailed for Suva

Suva

Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...

to replace 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:...

. In December she joined her sister ships Kiwi

HMNZS Kiwi (T102)

HMNZS Kiwi was a Bird class minesweeper of the Royal New Zealand Navy.She was commissioned in 1941 for minesweeping and anti-submarine roles. From 1948 to 1956 she functioned as a training ship....

and Moa

HMNZS Moa (T233)

HMNZS Moa was a Bird class minesweeper of the Royal New Zealand Navy.On 29 January 1943, with her sister ship Kiwi, Moa helped ram and wreck the Japanese submarine I-1...

at Nouméa. The 25th Minesweeping Flotilla had been offered to COMSOPAC, and by early December Tui, Moa, and Kiwi with Matai as flotilla leader, were all together at Nouméa ready to move north. They sailed for the Solomons, escorting a convey some of the way. Making Tulagi their base they began anti-submarine screen patrols on 19 December 1942 off Tulagi and Lunga Point, 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...

Landing barges

On 21 January 1943, Tui and Moa came across four Japanese landing barges stopped close inshore. When Tui and Moa closed in, those aboard the barges opened fire with machine guns and small arms, and got underway. At close range Moa fired on the leading barge, but a fluke shot passed through the 4-inch gun aperture, ignited a cordite charge and injured all seven in the gun crew. Moa managed to silence the first barge and sink the last in line with 20mm fire, then withdrew and attended to the cordite fire and injuries. Tui then opened fire on the barges, sinking one with her 4 inch gun, and the remaining two escaped inshore in the darkness.

Submarine I-17

On 19 August 1943, while escorting a convey from Noumea

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

, Tui picked up a submarine contact. She made an initial run over it without using depth charges, a second run dropping two depth charges, and a third run throwing another two depth charges. Contact was lost and Tui signaled some US seaplanes who joined the search. A plane indicated that Tui should investigate smoke on the horizon. The submarine was sighted on the surface and Tui opened fire at maximum range, scoring one and possibly two hits. Aircraft then dropped depth charges and the submarine sank at 23°26′S 166°50′E. She was the Japanese submarine I-17

Japanese submarine I-17

I-17 was a Japanese B1 type submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy which saw service during World War II. She was the first Axis ship to shell the United States mainland.-Pearl Harbor:...

, 2,190 tons, 108m long, built in 1939. Ninety-seven crewmen were lost. Tui picked up six survivors who said that Tui's depth charge attacks had damaged the submarine and forced it to the surface.

The commanding officer and anti-submarine control officer on the Tui had doubted whether the contact was really a submarine, so the depth-charge attacks were not properly carried out. A later Naval Board report concluded that "had the proper procedure been followed and a full depth-charge pattern fired in the original attack, there is little doubt but that the submarine would have been destroyed then and there."

I-17 was the first Axis ship to shell the United States mainland when she shelled an oil refinery near Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

on 23 February 1942.

Other service

COMSOPAC released the New Zealand ships in June 1945, and Tui departed the Solomons escorting a group of six RNZN Fairmiles. On her return to Auckland, Tui worked with Kiwi and the 7th Trawler Group on the final clearing of the German minefield in the outer Hauraki Gulf

Hauraki Gulf

The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...

Training

In 1952 the Navy wanted to free some Loch class frigates for war service in Korea. Tui was recommissioned in February 1952 to take over training duties previously undertaken by the frigate Kaniere. This training was carried out for the Naval Volunteer Reserve

Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve

The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal New Zealand Navy .-Early history:The first Naval Volunteer units were formed in Auckland and Nelson in 1858. Over the rest of the 19th century Naval Volunteer units were formed in various ports such as Bluff,...

and included training for compulsory reservists as well as volunteer reservists and sea cadets.

She was also used part time by the DSIR and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

Oceanographic research

In October 1955 Tui was docked for conversion to an oceanographic research ship. On 5 March 1956, the now disarmed Tui was recommissioned and reclassified as a fleet auxiliary. She made many scientific cruises for the DSIR and NRL to places around New Zealand and Pacific islands. She investigated shipwrecks, notably MV Holmglen
MV Holmglen
MV Holmglen II was a steel hull coastal trader built in 1956 by Maartenshoek, Netherlands based shipyard Bodewes Scheepswerven for the Holm Shipping Company of New Zealand.It was 485 gross tons, max speed 9 knots powered by four diesel engines....

off Timaru in 1959 and Kaitawa off Cape Reinga in 1966.

Her fate

Tui was finally decommissioned on 22 December 1967. She was stripped of her equipment and sold in December 1969 to Pacific Scrap Ltd who demolished her.

She was replaced

HMNZS Tui (1970)

HMNZS Tui, formerly USNS Charles H. Davis , was one of nine Conrad class oceanographic ships built for the United States Navy , that later saw service in the Royal New Zealand Navy...

in 1970 by a purpose built oceanographic ship with the same name.