Frigates for Navy named

Press, 20 October 1981, Page 1

Frigates for Navy named

PA Wellington New Zealand's two oldest frigates, the Otago and Taranaki, are being replaced by Royal Navy ships 12 and 18 years old. The Minister of Defence (Mr Thomson) said yesterday that they are the Leander class frigates the Bacchante — a sister shp to the R.N.Z.N. flagship Canterbury — and the Dido. The total cost was “a little less” than $lOO million, said Mr Thomson. The Bacchante was first commissioned in 1969 and will be available late in 1982, said Mr Thomson. The Dido was first commissioned in 1963 but underwent an extensive three-year modernisation and was recommissioned in 1978. She is

being released by the Royal Navy in 1983 and will have a refit before being commissioned in the Royal New Zealand Navy. It was fortuitous, said Mr Thomson, that two suitable ships compatible with New Zealand’s most recent frigates had become available. The decision to buy the vessels was first made public three weeks ago. “We are now assured of maintaining a four-frigate force into the 19905,” he said. “This purchase represents full recognition that New Zealand needs a combatcapable blue-water navy for as far into the future as we can look.” Both ships are expected to be renamed by the R.N.Z.N.