HMNZS Otago (F111)

History
USS Bennington refueling Otago, 1968
New Zealand
Name:	HMNZS Otago
Namesake:	Otago Province
Builder:	John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, Hampshire
Launched:	11 December 1958
Commissioned:	22 June 1960
Decommissioned:	7 November 1983
Fate:	Sold and broken up, 1987
General characteristics
Class and type:	Rothesay-class Type 12 frigate
Displacement:	2,144 tonnes standard 2,577 tonnes full load
Length:	370 ft (113 m)
Beam:	41 ft (12 m)
Draught:	17.4 ft (5 m)
Propulsion:	2-shaft double-reduction geared steam turbines
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h)
Range:	400 tons oil fuel, 5,200 nautical miles (9,630 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement:	originally 219, later 240
Armament:	2 × 4.5 in (114 mm) guns 1 × 40 mm gun 1 × quad Sea Cat missile launcher 2 × Limbo anti-submarine mortars 12 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (later replaced by 6 × 12.75 in (324 mm) Mk.32 torpedo tubes)

HMNZS Otago (F111) was a Rothesay-class Type 12 frigate, or separately designated, Otago-class frigate acquired from the Royal Navy by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) before completion. Otago and Taranaki significantly differ from the Royal Navy Rothesays as the RNZN is a conventionally armed navy, and the New Zealand ships have a slightly higher level of conventional capability. with the long range Type 177 sonar to combine with the only operational MK 20 heavyweight torpedo,(where the RN versions in most cases had an accurate short range Type 174, initially) and provide more comfort for the crew in cafeteria and bunk bedding. She was launched on 11 December 1958 by Princess Margaret, and was commissioned into the Royal New Zealand Navy on 22 June 1960.

The ship was named after the province of Otago in New Zealand, on the South Island and associated with the city of Dunedin.

Otago took part in various SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) deployments, and took part, with HMAS Supply in support and succeeded by HMNZS Canterbury, in a protest against French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in 1973. The support of the RAN tanker was essential given the relatively short range of the Type 12 frigates which was just sufficient to cross the Atlantic with a slow convoy, or operate for 36 hours at 25–30 knots (46–56 km/h; 29–35 mph) in all out anti-submarine operations sprinting and searching. With the need to maintain a 50% fuel reserve at all times, due to need to allow for emergency requirements, weather and barnacle build up on hull, effective range of Otago without refueling is about 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi).

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