HMNZS Resolution (A14)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Resolution and Tenacious.
HMNZS Resolution
History
United States
Name: USNS Tenacious
Ordered: 20 February 1987
Builder: VT Halter Marine, Inc., Moss Point, Mississippi
Laid down: 26 February 1988
Launched: 17 February 1989
Commissioned: 29 September 1989
Struck: 6 February 1997
Fate: Sold to New Zealand
History
New Zealand
Name: HMNZS Resolution
Namesake: HMS Resolution
Acquired: 6 February 1997
Commissioned: 13 February 1997
Decommissioned: 27 April 2012
Homeport: Gisborne[1]
Status: Sold into civilian service
History
Name: RV Geo Resolution
Owner: EGS Group
Acquired: 11 October 2014
Homeport: Hong Kong
Status: In service
General characteristics
Class and type: Stalwart-class ocean surveillance ship
Displacement: 2,262 tonnes
Length: 68 m (223 ft)
Beam: 13 m (43 ft)
Draught: 4.4 m (14 ft)
Propulsion:
  • Four Caterpillar D398B diesel generators 3,200 hp (2.4 MW)
  • Twin shafts
  • Bow thruster 550 hp (410 kW)
Speed: 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Range: 21,500 nautical miles (39,800 km; 24,700 mi)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 (SMB) Adventure
Complement:
  • 41 (7 officers, 34 ratings)
  • Max accommodation: 45

HMNZS Resolution (A14) was a hydrographic ship of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Originally the United States Naval Ship USNS Tenacious (T-AGOS-17), the Stalwart-class ocean surveillance ship was used by the United States to locate and track Soviet submarines from 1989 to 1997, when she was transferred to the RNZN for use as a hydrographic survey ship. She served until 27 April 2012. She was subsequently sold to EGS Group, a private surveying company, and renamed RV Geo Resolution.

Construction

The ship's construction contract was awarded 20 February 1987 to VT Halter Marine, Inc. of Moss Point, Mississippi, under then name Intrepid. Her keel was laid down 26 February 1988, she was launched 17 February 1989 and commissioned as USNS Tenacious on 29 September 1989. The renaming was prompted by protests from veterans of the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, who felt that the surveillance ship was not a fitting vessel to carry on the carrier's name.[2]

Operational history

United States

Tenacious (foreground) and sister ship Contender tied up at Bishop's Point, Pearl Harbor, in 1991

During the Cold War, Ocean Surveillance Ships patrolled the world's oceans searching for Soviet Navy submarines. Data was collected using the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), consisting of listening devices and electronic equipment that transmit the acoustic data via satellite to shore for analysis. SURTASS is a linear array of 8,575 feet (2,614 m) deployed on a 6,000-foot (1,800 m) tow cable and neutrally buoyant. The array could operate at depths between 500 and 1,500 feet (150 and 460 m).

Tenacious was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and sold to New Zealand on 6 February 1997.

New Zealand

On commissioning into the RNZN on 13 February 1997, the ship was renamed HMNZS Resolution, after the sailing sloop HMS Resolution, used by James Cook during his second and third voyages of exploration, in recognition of the extensive hydrographic survey work done by Cook.[3] Resolution replaced HMNZ Ships Tui and Monowai as the navy's primary survey and acoustic research vessel.[3] She undertook various marine survey tasks, including for the Land Information New Zealand agency.[1] SMB Adventure was operated by Resolution as a tender and survey motor boat.

Resolution sponsored a scholarship for under-privileged high school students to participate in a 10-day passage on the sail training ship Spirit of New Zealand. On occasion, university and high school students were embarked aboard Resolution as part of the 'Students at Sea' programme.[1]

On 22 February 2011, Resolution was underway off Christchurch when the 2011 Canterbury earthquake occurred. NZ Navy Today said later : '..the feeling onboard was that the engines had been set in full astern with associated shuddering and shaking. It was only when a dust cloud over Christchurch was observed and chatter on VHF soon alerted the bridge team of the enormity of the disaster. With Captain Dean McDougall (CTU 654.0.1, Captain Fleet Operational Support) in an established headquarters on HMNZS Canterbury in Lyttelton, Resolution reported for duty and was subsequently called in to conduct a hydrographic confidence survey of the main channel into the Port of Lyttelton.[4]

Resolution was decommissioned at Devonport Naval Base on 27 April 2012.[3] She was subsequently sold to EGS Group, a private surveying company, and renamed RV Geo Resolution. Following the sale she left Devonport Naval Base for the final time on 11 October 2014.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 HMNZS Resolution - Navy Today, Defence Public Relations Unit, Issue 133, 8 June, Page 30
  2. ↑ USNI News:Twenty Six US Navy Ship Naming Controversies
  3. 1 2 3 ""Bon Voyage Wellington" - Last Visit from HMNZS Resolution" (Press release). New Zealand Defence Fore. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  4. ↑ S/Lt Dave Jaquiery, 'End of an Era,' Navy Today, April–May 2012, 12.
  5. ↑ "Resolution Sold, Departs Devonport" (PDF). Navy Today (184). Royal New Zealand Navy. November 2014. p. 23. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
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