Otago Getting New Bow

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31279, 27 January 1967, Page 3

Otago Getting New Bow

(N Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Jan. 26.

A new bow will be fitted to the sevenyear - old frigate H.M.N.Z.S. Otago.

The ship will shortly enter Calliope dock to have the present bow section cut off and a new 5 1/3-ton one fitted. The new prefabricated bow is nearing completion at the Devonport Naval Dockyard. The contour plate, or "sharp end” of the ship’s present bow is badly corroded and naval engineers have discovered that the whole of the bow is 1} inches out of alignment.

According to local naval sources, the misalignment was an error in the ship’s construction.

In Wellington yesterday, a

Navy Office spokesman said that “normal wear and corrosion” had caused the replacement of the bow section,

which was “slightly out of alignment” as a result of an accident at Pearl Harbour on August 31, 1964. The spokesman denied that there had been any original misalignment. The accident at Pearl Harbour was a collision between the Otago and two United States Navy destroyers. The official report of the accident, issued about a month later, did not disclose any structural damage, but revealed that the frigate’s hull had been gashed above the waterline and that the ship had not suffered interior damage or damage to equipment. The bow graft is part of a major refit which will keep the Otago in dry-dock for about 14 weeks and out of active service until after September. Additional frames will be placed in • the engine room and boiler sections and eight outside hull plates will be replaced. The keel plating will be doubled. The present keel plating has suffered corrosion damage.

During the refit the Otago will be re-equipped with sophisticated radar and all machinery and systems will be stripped down. The job will be the biggest undertaken by the naval dockyard.