Crew of New Zealand navy ship that sank off Samoa lacked training and experience, inquiry finds
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A lack of training, qualifications and experience among the crew on board a New Zealand navy ship that ran aground, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa have been identified by a military Court of Inquiry in a final report released Friday as contributing to the disaster.
The deficiencies were among a dozen failings of the crew, ship and New Zealand's Navy that contributed to the loss of the HMNZS Manawanui in October 2024, the 120-page report said. An interim report last November had already divulged that the ship's crew didn't realize the vessel was on autopilot and believed something else had gone wrong as it plowed toward a reef.
All 75 people on board evacuated to safety as the boat foundered about 1.6 kilometers (a mile) off the coast of Upolu, Samoa's second largest island. The ship was one of only nine in New Zealand's navy and was the first the country lost at sea since World War II.
Officials did not immediately know the cause of the sinking and the Court of Inquiry was ordered to find out. Insufficient training, lack of qualified personnel on board and inadequate risk management, were among a raft of problems uncovered in its findings released Friday.
The report also underlined the so-called hollowness of New Zealand's navy — which prompted the organization to 'take risks' to meet demands 'with a lean and inexperienced workforce,' its authors wrote.
'It's an indictment on the fact that our navy was left in quite a perilous state,' Defense Minister Judith Collins told reporters in Auckland Friday. The whole of the country's military needed a 'serious uplift,' she added.
The state of New Zealand's aging military hardware has prompted several warnings from the defense agency, which in a March 2024 report described the navy as 'extremely fragile,' with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them.
The Court of Inquiry could not make findings of guilt, it said, and suggested a separate disciplinary investigation for individual members of the crew who were not named in the report. Their suggested offenses were redacted.
The report included a dramatic transcript of what unfolded on the bridge, with one crew member saying to another that the ship was 'not really doing what I want it to do' as they tried to change the vessel's course.
'It's a bad day for the navy,' said Rear Admiral Garin Golding, the leader of the navy. 'Our reputation has taken a hit.'
The navy would 'learn from' the episode and ensure it wasn't repeated, he added. Friday's findings, however, also urged recognition for those involved in the decision to abandon ship, who the report found saved lives during the evacuation.
The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019 and was surveying the reef that it ran aground on. Its sinking provoked alarm, demands for compensation and fear of environmental catastrophe for Samoan villagers living on the coast where it capsized, who say they fear permanent damage to the fragile reef ecosystem.
A no-fishing zone around the vessel was lifted by Samoa's government in February.
New Zealand's military said this month that it had completed months of work to remove diesel fuel and other pollutants from the ship, which remains where it sank. Salvage work to retrieve equipment and weapons continues.
Seawater and marine life in the area are 'uncontaminated', the military said, citing Samoa's scientific research agency. A decision about whether the ship will eventually be removed has not been made.
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