Depth charges lost

Press, 2 August 1983, Page 16

Depth charges lost

PA Auckland Three large naval depth charges are lost about eight miles off Cape Reinga, and they pose a hazard to ships on one of New Zealand’s most important shipping lanes. Special navigation alerts have been issued by the Royal New Zealand Navy warning all vessels to give them w wide berth if they are sighted. The depth charges have been adrift for over a week. Two Navy ships had unsuccessfully searched for the depth charges, a spokesman has said. Because they were at-

tached to a buoy, there was a risk the depth charges could be snagged by a ship’s propeller or rudder and smashed against a hull, although the Navy said there was little risk of an explosion. The depth charges, which are wired together for electronic detonation, were attached to a red buoy and floats and were to be used in an underwater acoustics trial, he said. The trial was being conducted by the Navy oceanographic research ship H.M.N.Z.S. Tui and other depth charges were laid off

the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. The Cape Reinga depth charges failed to go off and when the Navy went to look for them they had disappeared. “They had probably been shifted by the tide or wind,” the spokesman said. He said there was little chance of their exploding because of the way the had been wired up, but all shipping should give them a wide berth. They were unlikely to be near the approach course of the American nuclearpowered warship, the U.S.S. Texas.