HMNZS Waikato (F-55)
HMNZS Waikato at speed
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| History | |
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 New Zealand
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| Name: | HMNZS Waikato |
| Namesake: | Waikato province of New Zealand |
| Operator: | Royal New Zealand Navy |
| Builder: | Harland and Wolff |
| Laid down: | January 1964 |
| Launched: | 18 February 1965 |
| Commissioned: | September 1966 |
| Decommissioned: | 1998 |
| Refit: | Major modernisation refit 1986–88 |
| Homeport: | Tauranga, New Zealand, but based out of Devonport Naval Base, Auckland |
| Identification: | F55 |
| Nickname(s): | "The Mighty Y" |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Sunk on 18 December 2000 as an artificial reef |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Leander-class frigate |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 372 ft (113 m) |
| Beam: | 41 ft (12 m) |
| Draught: | 19 ft (6 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 27 knots (50 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,600 nautical miles (8,520 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 18 officers, 248 sailors |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Type 965 air search radar. 993 main search radar. 1006 Navigational Radar |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | Originally a Wasp helicopter, later a Kaman SH-2G |
HMNZS Waikato (F55) was a Leander Batch 2TA frigate of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). She was one of two Leanders built for the RNZN, the other being the Batch 3 HMNZS Canterbury. These two New Zealand ships relieved British ships of the Armilla patrol during the Falklands conflict, freeing British ships for deployment.
Waikato was ordered in 1963 for the RNZN after a delay of more than six years after the order for the Type 12 frigates Otago and Taranaki, which had proved successful in New Zealand service. There was a pressing need to replace the ageing cruiser Royalist and the RNZN's last two operational Loch-class frigates, which carried outdated sonars and anti-submarine weapons and were slow. The Navy board view was that a minimum of six frigates were required for protection of trade including strategic oil shipments to New Zealand, and the improved anti submarine Type 12 was considered 'eminently suited' for New Zealand conditions. Additionally, Cold War tensions were high in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis with escalating trouble in South East Asia over Vietnam and Indonesia's infiltration into Malaysia and Borneo, led the government to order a third Type 12. The actual suitability of the Leander for New Zealand was questioned by many Royal Naval officers, who regarded the Leander as a short-ranged North Atlantic anti-submarine hunter, designed to operate as part of the radar, air direction, anti submarine screen of the British aircraft carrier groups being phased out between 1967–71. Nevertheless, the Type 12 rode very well in a seaway, had excellent communications, a much better arranged operations room than the Rothesays, good margin for modernisation, and good workshops and carried 60 days worth of supplies, other than weapons and fuel.
Laid down in January 1964, Waikato was constructed by Harland and Wolff and was delivered in 1966, commissioning into the RNZN in September that year. Displacing 2,450 tons standard and 3,200 tons at full load, Waikato was 372 ft (113 m) long, had a beam of 41 ft (12 m) and a draught of 19 ft (6 m). She was fitted with two Babcock & Wilcox boilers which delivered steam to two English Electric geared steam turbines, producing 30,000 shaft horsepower (22,000 kW) to two shafts, which gave Waikato a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). Her range was 4,600 nautical miles (8,520 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h), and she had a complement of 18 officers and 248 sailors.
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