Name HMNZS Matai (T01) Decommissioned 25 April 1945 Length 67 m | Commissioned 1 April 1941 Beam 10.7 m (35 ft) | |
Displacement 1,050 tons gross, 383 tons net Propulsion triple expansion steam reciprocating, 1,050 ihp, twin shaft, oil | ||
HMNZS Matai (T01) was a Marine Department lighthouse tender which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and converted into a minesweeper.
Operational history
Matai was the government's lighthouse tender servicing the marine lights around New Zealand and offshore islands, and had been used for cable laying in the 1930s. She was named after a native tree.
She was requisitioned on 3 March 1941 and handed over to a dockyard for conversion.
After commissioning on 1 April 1941, Matai took over as the flotilla leader of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla from Muritai and the flotilla began clearing a German minefield in the Hauraki Gulf.
References
HMNZS Matai (T01) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA