Speech
Royal New Zealand Navy Divisions Review
E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi katoa huri noa o Aotearoa; tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou. Nga apiha me nga toa o Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou. Ka huri ki Kingi Tuheitia, te Kahui Ariki whanui nga mihi nui. Ngati Whatua o Orakei tēnā koutou katoa. Na reira e te iwi, kia ora tātou katoa. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and officers and sailors of the Royal New Zealand Navy I offer warm greetings to you all. I turn to acknowledge Kingi Tuheitia. I also acknowledge the mana of Ngati Whatua o Orakei.
I specifically acknowledge: Rear Admiral Jack Steer, Chief of Navy; Commodore Dean McDougall, Deputy Chief of Navy; Commodore John Campbell, Maritime Component Commander; Warrant Officer Lennie Shailes, Warrant Officer of the Navy – tēnā koutou katoa.
Thank you for inviting me to be the Reviewing Officer for the 2014 Navy Divisions. Seeing New Zealand’s Navy on parade is always a special occasion. It is an opportunity, at the start of a new year, to acknowledge and celebrate all that the Navy and its people have accomplished over the previous year. In doing so, it provides me with an opportunity, as the Commander-in-Chief, to recognise excellence in the Navy. It is also an opportunity to celebrate age-old traditions, stories and anniversaries of the Navy. It provides the basis to launch the Navy into the year ahead.
Understanding your past and current achievements is fundamental to understanding your future. It is the anniversaries and traditions for the RNZN, and their relevance to us, that will be the focus of my remarks.
This year we will rightly mark the centenary of the start of the First World War in August 1914. Dubbed as “the Great War” and “the war to end all wars,” the First World War unleashed a series of bloody conflicts that consumed the first half of the 20th Century. It claimed the lives of more than 18,000 New Zealanders on land, at sea and, for the first time, in the air.
It was in the last days of peace that the foundations of New Zealand’s navy were established. In July this year we will mark the centenary of the arrival in New Zealand waters of HMS Philomel. She was an ageing Pearl-class cruiser intended to be the nucleus of New Zealand’s naval plans and in particular a training ship for New Zealanders who wanted to serve in the Royal Navy. She is a ship that naval historians have described as “the cradle” of the Royal New Zealand Navy.
With the outbreak of war in August 1914, Philomel was assigned as one of the escorts to the force that occupied German-Samoa on 29 August 1914. Later she accompanied the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on its passage to Suez . Her commanding officer, Captain – later Admiral - Percival Hall-Thompson, was the New Zealand Government’s first naval adviser in 1914.
HMS, later HMNZS, Philomel formed the core for the RNZN. She undertook operational service, completing escort duties near home and in the Mediterranean. For more than 25 years, officers and sailors who served in New Zealand’s navy were trained on her. It is fitting that her name and spirit continue at the naval base here at Devonport.
After the war, Philomel’s armament and engines were removed, and she was moored at Devonport. There, she was re-commissioned as a naval training base, a role she retained until she was decommissioned in 1947. Philomel now lies near Curvier Island off the east coast of the North Island.
While ships and the sea are the defining characteristics of a navy, it is the men and women who serve on ships that give life to a navy. New Zealanders have always gone down to the sea. Prior to the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy being established in 1921, some 500 New Zealanders were serving with distinction in the Royal Navy. One of them was naval reservist, William Sanders, who was awarded a Victoria Cross for his actions commanding HMS Prize. Prize was a ship designed to lure and destroy U-boats. Sanders is the only New Zealand-born person to win a VC while serving at sea. He is an example to all RNZN sailors!
Over the next few years we will commemorate the centenaries of the First World War, and the 75th anniversaries of many Second World War battles. With the Second World War events, we will have the honour and privilege of commemorating the anniversaries with our veterans of that war. Precious few of the men and women who served in our Navy then remain with us.
One of the 75th anniversaries that is special to New Zealand’s Navy is the Battle of the River Plate. In December we will mark that historic battle’s 75th Anniversary. We will recall again when three cruisers, HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and the New Zealand Division ship, HMS Achilles, took on the German pocket battleship Graf Spee off South America. In just 82 minutes, Exeter was severely damaged, and Graf Spee, was damaged forcing her captain to seek refuge in the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay. Graf Spee’s commander later scuttled his ship rather than face the Allied ships waiting off shore.
Looking back it is easy to forget the significance of this battle. It was a dark time for the Allies. Britain and France had seen Poland quickly dismembered by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. War raged between Japan and China, while the United States maintained its neutrality. And loss of the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous and the battleship HMS Royal Oak in the first months of the war – both with massive loss of life – had dented “our” wartime morale. That the Battle of the River Plate, the first really significant naval engagement of the war, was won against all odds by the Allies was a great boost. As Winston Churchill remarked:
“We have to go back a long way in naval history to find any more brilliant and resolute fighting than that of Exeter, Ajax and Achilles.”
The Battle of the River Plate was a turning point for New Zealand’s navy. For the first time a New Zealand warship engaged the enemy, the New Zealand Ensign flew proudly from Achilles’ mainmast after a signalman had run aft with the Ensign shouting “Make way for the Digger flag!” New Zealand’s Navy joined the Second World War as a division of another navy – the Royal Navy. It ended the war as a confident service in its own right, with its name indelibly changed in 1941 to the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Today, New Zealand’s Navy operates in a different framework, much as Philomel did when she arrived in New Zealand waters a century ago. While 100-years ago, Philomel was out here to help establish a professional navy; today, the RNZN is working out there alongside the Army and Air Force, as the maritime component building New Zealand’s strategic defence capabilities.
As Commander-in-Chief, I acknowledge the RNZN for the work it does with a host of other government agencies to protect our resources. I acknowledge the defence diplomacy you do with our defence partners to support New Zealand’s bilateral and multi-lateral relationships. As Commander-in-Chief, I thank you, the men and women of the RNZN, for the operational service you are giving in our ships on the seas in places like the Gulf of Aden and for the appointments you fill in land operations.
In conclusion, as the Royal New Zealand Navy marks the centenary of the arrival of Philomel, it seems fitting to close by referencing that first New Zealand ship’s motto. It speaks to the core values and work of our Navy, our New Zealand Defence Force and the men and women of the three services. “Fide et fortitudine” - “fidelity and fortitude” – “commitment and courage.” In the context of our modern navy, the motto captures the spirit of HMNZS Philomel’s legacy to the RNZN. It speaks more broadly of the RNZN’s heritage, its sterling service and courageous commitment to New Zealand both in easy times and in adversity. Its example speaks of the comradeship of those who served on Philomel and Achilles and the many other ships of our Navy to build the traditions that continue to guide the officers and sailors of the Royal New Zealand Navy as it undertakes its work for our country now and in the future.
No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, kia manawanui, huihui tātou katoa – be well, be strong, be courageous.