H.M.N.Z.S. Tamaki Trained 14,000 Men In Last 21 Years

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29724, 18 January 1962, Page 14

H.M.N.Z.S. Tamaki Trained 14,000 Men In Last 21 Years

"The Press" Special Service

AUCKLAND, January 17. H.M.N.Z.S. Tamaki, the naval training establishment on Motuihe Island in the Hauraki Gulf, is 21 years old on Saturday. Since it was established on January 20, 1941, more than 14.000 boys and men have received their initial training there before joining ships and specialist branches of the Royal New Zealand Navy. The “ship” was commissioned as H.M.S. Tamaki as a training establishment for the New Zealand division of the Royal Navy. Before this the north-western tip of the Island on which Tamaki is built was used as a quarantine station, a prisoner-of’ war camp (in the First World War) and as a eamp for a nudist club. The island's most notable prisoner-of-war was Count Felix von Luckner, who was captured after his ship, the German raider Seeadler, was wrecked in the Fiji Group in 1917. He later escaped from Motuihe in the launch Pearl, captured the scow Moa and set sail for the Kermadees He was recaptured after a sea chase and brought back to Auckland. In 1941 the first captain of H.M.S. Tamaki, Commander G. H. Denniston, was faced with the task of building a training establishment from practically nothing In the early days there was little to help except the enthusiasm and keenness of the officers, instructors, and men under training Men were urgently needed to man the ships of the Navy

Efforts were made to speed up the training and at the same time produce a man who could readily take his place in any ship Of the fleet Originally it was intended that Tamaki should train about 80 ratings annually for the permanent service and about 1000 a year of those engaged for the duration of the war. This number was increased and by the end of the war 7000 ratings had been trained at Tamaki and were serving in every theatre of war and in every type of ship. After the war, all ratings trained were on a permanent engagement with the Navy. With smaller classes and a more comprehensive syllabus, it was possible to produce a better-trained man. From 1950 to 1957 a new type of recruit appeared at Tamaki. He was the 18-year old compulsory naval reservist. During this period

about 1700 of these reservists received their basic training at the station.

Since the war, the normal Intake has been 360 ratings a year, in three groups of 120. The present captain is Commodore A. V. Kempthorne. R.N.Z.N. H.M.N.Z.S. Tamaki was not Intended to be permanently based on Motuihe Island. The buildings were hurriedly erected and meant to serve only the exigencies of the day. Its facilities are now outmoded.

For about the last 10 years the Government and the Navy Department have discussed and investigated a variety of sites for an alternative training college. Among them ar? the Marlborough Sounds, Northcote, the Air Force station at Woodville, ant Hobsonville, in conjunction with the Air Force.

No decision has yet been made.