TEV Rangatira (1971)
| History | |
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| Ordered: | 15 May 1969 |
| Builder: | Swan Hunter,Wallsend, England |
| Yard number: | 33 |
| Laid down: | 2 April 1970 |
| Launched: | 23 June 1971 |
| Maiden voyage: | 28 March 1972 |
| In service: | 28 March 1972 |
| Out of service: | 16 August 1995 |
| Homeport: | Wellington (1972–76) |
| Identification: | IMO number: 7111731 |
| Fate: | scrapped 2005 |
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500 ft 4 in (152.50 m) or 500.8 ft (152.63 m) |
| Beam: | 72.4 ft (22.08 m) |
| Draught: | 17.34 ft (5.284 m) |
| Decks: | six |
| Ramps: | stern only |
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| Capacity: | as built: 768 passengers (later reduced to 733); 200 vehicles |
| Troops: | about 1,200 (1982–83) |
| Crew: | 123 |
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| Notes: | twin rudders;fin stabilisers |
500 ft 4 in (152.50 m) or
TEV Rangatira was a roll-on/roll-off vehicle and passenger ferry launched in 1971 for the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. She is significant for having been the World's last surviving ship with steam-powered turbo-electric transmission. (Modern turbo-electric ships, including RMS Queen Mary 2 and Millennium-class cruise ships such as Celebrity Millennium, have gas turbines.)
Rangatira had a varied existence, including six years 1977–83 as an accommodation ship and barracks ship. The Union Company sold her in 1986 and she returned to being a ferry. From 1986 onwards she passed through a succession of owners who renamed her three times and registered her under three different flags of convenience: as Queen M in 1986,Carlo R in 1990 and Alexander the Great in 2001.
After a failed attempt to convert the vessel into a cruise ship she was scrapped in 2005.
Rangatira is Māori for "chief (male or female), wellborn, noble". The 1971 ship is at least the sixth to carry the name. The first Rangatira was in service between Great Britain and New Zealand by 1857. The second was an iron-hulled steamship built in 1863 and wrecked in 1880. The third was a Shaw Savill Line steamship built in 1890 and sold and renamed in 1909. The fourth was a Shaw Savill Line steamship built in 1909 and wrecked in 1916. The fifth was the Union Company ferry TEV Rangatira (1930), a turbo-electric ship that was in service from 1931 to 1967.
The Union Company ordered the new Rangatira from Swan Hunter of Wallsend in Tyneside, England on 15 May 1969. She was launched on 23 June 1971 by June Blundell and undertook initial sea trials on 20 September or 20 December. Her completion was delayed by an industrial dispute at Swan Hunter so she was fitted out at Southampton, England. She was delivered to Union Steam Ship Company (UK) Ltd in January 1972 and sailed from England on 16 February carrying a cargo of motor cars. On 18 March she reached Wellington, New Zealand and discharged her cargo.
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