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HMNZS Te Kaha (F77)

HMNZS Te Kaha in 2016
HMNZS Te Kaha in 2016
History
New Zealand
Name: HMNZS Te Kaha
Namesake: Kaha
Builder: Tenix Defence Systems
Laid down: 19 September 1994
Launched: 22 July 1995
Commissioned: 22 July 1997
Motto: "He Ponanga Kaha" (service with strength)
Status: Active as of 2015
General characteristics
Class and type: Anzac class frigate
Displacement: 3,600 tonnes full load
Length: 118 m (387 ft)
Beam: 15 m (49 ft)
Draught: 4 m (13 ft)
Propulsion:
Speed: 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range: 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement: 178 Officers and ratings (25 Officers, 153 ratings)
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Sonars: Thomson Sintra Spherion B Mod 5; hull-mounted; active search and attack; medium frequency. Provision for towed array
  • Air search radar: Raytheon AN/SPS-49(V)8 ANZ (C/D-band)
  • Surface search radar: CelsiusTech 9LV 453 TIR (Ericsson Tx/Rx) (G-band)
  • Navigation: Atlas Elektronik 9600 ARPA (I-band)
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • ESM: Thales Centaur ESM, Telefunken PST-1720 Telegon 10 (comms intercept)
  • Countermeasures: Decoys: G & D Aircraft SRBOC Mk 36 Mod 1 decoy launchers for SRBOC
Armament:
  • Guns and missiles:
  • 1 × 5 in/54 (127 mm) Mk 45 Mod 2 gun,
  • 1 × Phalanx CIWS,
  • 8 × M2 .50 Cal Browning machine guns (2 are Mini Typhoon)
  • 8 × Mk 41 Mod 5 VLS for Sea Sparrow and Evolved Sea Sparrow To be upgraded to Sea Ceptor.
  • AGM-119 Mk 2 Mod 7 Penguin Missile launched from SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite.
  • Torpedoes:
  • 2 × triple 324 mm Mk 32 Mod 5 tubes or launched from SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite.
  • Fire control:
  • CelsiusTech 9LV 453 (J-band)
  • Combat data systems:
  • CelsiusTech 9LV 453 Mk 3.Link 11
  • Weapons control:
  • CelsiusTech 9LV 453 optronic director with Raytheon CW Mk 73 Mod 1
Aircraft carried: One Kaman SH-2G(I) Super Seasprite helicopter

HMNZS Te Kaha (F77) is one of ten Anzac class frigates, and one of two serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). The name Te Kaha is Māori, meaning 'fighting prowess' or 'strength' (for further information on this term, see Kaha).

During the mid-1980s, the RNZN began considering the replacement of their four Leander class 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 was seeking to replace their River class destroyer escorts 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) were submitted. By August 1987, these were narrowed down in October to Blohm + Voss's MEKO 200 design, the M class (later Karel Doorman class) offered by Royal Schelde, and a scaled-down Type 23 frigate proposed by Yarrow Shipbuilders. In 1989, the Australian government announced that Melbourne-based shipbuilder AMECON (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 New Zealand exercising 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 acquisition program.


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