CANTERBURY! HMNZS - Royal New Zealand Navy

FLEET PROGRESSHMNZS TE KAHATE KAHA has been undertakinga DSRA (Docking SelectedRestricted Availability – ‘refit’in the old jargon!) since Apriland this month we begin ourharbour and sea acceptancetrials. But in the interveningperiod, the ship’s companyhave also maintained ourcontacts within the NZDF andacross the wider community...TE KAHA undocks, 25 MayTE KAHA’S VISIT TO 16 FIELD REGIMENTMC 07-0213-03the Navy visitors were included as functionalmembers of the team provided a great experienceof how our Army colleagues workand live. All personnel worked hard to gaintheir first artillery milestone - the chance tofire the gun, and be given the cartridge asproof of their achievement. Apart from theodd sleeping hole and a few ‘walking trees’here and there, we quickly found there is nottoo much difference.The exercise culminated in a surprise nighttimedeployment of the guns for illuminationfirings, similar to Navy star-shell rounds. Allour gear was quickly put in packs in preparationfor the ultimate Army initiation - a frostynight out in the open, away from the relativeluxury of the Forward Operating Base. Itwas credit to the bonds the crews had builtover the space of two short days, that whengiven the option, the Navy could think of noReady use ammunition– cartridges and shellsworse thing than staying back at the Base,under shelter and away from the hard workbeing done by their crews. As it turned out,mist rolled in during the early hours of themorning making it impossible for ForwardObservers to call in the rounds, and after amortar attack by the ‘Waiouru RevolutionaryArmy’, the guns returned to camp for a longnight of repelling contacts.There was much discussion the next morningabout wanting to stay for a few moredays, but unfortunately the considerably lessexciting work of getting our ship through herDSRA was calling us back to Devonport. Thecontacts and friends which were made overthis short period of time were considerable,the curiosity and questions of both Servicesled to a vastly deeper understanding of howboth the Navy and Army do business, andevery soldier on the exercise genuinelyasked ‘When are we coming to sea withyou guys?’.The visit has surely strengthened thebonds on all levels between the two units ofthe NZDF, and members of TE KAHA’s shipscompany are looking forward to showing 16Field Regiment the joys of Action Stations,Roughers and hot showers.BY SLT CONRAD FOWLERDURING May 16 Field Regiment hostedmembers of TE KAHA’s ship’s company atWaiouru, to participate in Exercise BRIM-STONE. The 16th Field Regiment, based atLinton Military Camp is TE KAHA’s Army afiliation.We regularly exercise Naval GunfireSupport with the Regiment and have strongties in military gunnery.Those who volunteered to participate werenot entirely sure what they had got into, anddits were rapidly flying around the ship tellingtales of harsh discipline, lots of doublingaround the camp, and a general renaissanceof basic training. So we arrived on a cold (byAuckland standards) afternoon in Waiouru,and were promptly told by the Base ServicesManager, WO2 Dempster, to use the ‘porcelain’for the last time before we headedinto their ‘Urban Training Area’, a collectionof house shells to give soldiers experiencein built-up areas. For Ex BRIMSTONE, theurban area was to be a ‘Forward OperatingBase’, which reflects current operationsaround the world in which NZDF is involved,including Afghanistan. After meeting thegun crews and helping to prepare ammunitionfor the following day, we settled in totest the warmth of our sleeping bags. (Ourthanks to NATC for warm sleeping bags andother support.)The next morning was frosty and clear, withgreat views of Mt Ruapehu and the ruggedcentral plateau landscape. The guns movedout to the range, which had been surveyedby the reconnaissance team earlier in themorning. All facets of the operation wererun by ‘Young Officers’ under training, whichadded to the urgency of events as they105mm gun in actionworked hard to pass their Artillery Schoolassessments. The similarities of what theywere going through and the demands ofbeing a junior Seaman Officer provided aninteresting opportunity to ‘compare notes’-but neither Service were going to back downon their firm views that they had the moreexciting job!The same good-natured competition wasevident amongst the gun crews. The wayRaising the NZ White Ensign at Te KahaTE KAHA’SCOMMUNITYBY SLT CONRAD FOWLERTE KAHA’S home port is Auckland. TE KAHAtook the opportunity of ANZAC Day to furtherstrengthen our ties with communities in thegreater Auckland area.An area TE KAHA has built a solid relationshipwith is the Panmure-Mt Wellington areaand this has been enhanced by providing astrong presence at the local RSA. The MtWellington RSA gave the CO and our teamfantastic hospitality. Our ship also has astrong affiliation with the Bailey Road PrimarySchool.In addition to our commitments in Auckland,14 Officers and Ratings travelled to TeKaha in the eastern Bay of Plenty – a smalltown which shares our ship’s name. Eventhough TE KAHA is not named for the town,the sense of ownership felt by the localstowards us was immediately apparent andeveryone was made to feel extremely welcome.We were accommodated at the TeKaha Homestead Backpackers, where Pauland Tracy O’Brien looked after us in true EastCoast fashion!26 NT123JULY07 WWW.NAVY.MIL.NZWWW.NAVY.MIL.NZNT123JULY07 27