Build Date
1942-1943
Boat Builder
Seager Brothers
Length
135 Feet / 41 Meters
Beam
23 Feet / 7 Meters
Tawhai the Castle-Class Minesweeper
Tawhai would become one of the last four composite Castle-Class minesweepers to be built for the Royal New Zealand Navy during World War Two. The other three were Hinau, Manuka and Rimu. Tawhai was built for the 194th M/S Group – Auckland division like Hinau, Manuka, Rimu and Waiho but she was never commissioned
Originally Tawhai was built to be a LL Magnetic minesweeper like Hinau, Rimu and Manuka but by the time she was launched it became clear there was no need for another LL minesweeper, so the plans changed. Instead, she was set up as a conventional minesweeper including two Lewis machine guns. Like Hinau, Rimu and Manuka, Tawhai had a generator room, no enclosed navigation deck and no guns installed on her bridge or bow. Unlike these other minesweepers Tawhai had only one mast and was designed for a complement of 25, two less than the standard 27 found on the other minesweepers.
Tawhai’s Work
She was launched on July 20th, 1943 and would have a single screw, triple reciprocating engine capable of 10 knots installed. In September 1943, the Navy Office Conference considered a proposal to use Tawhai as a servicing vessel but this was declined. In April 1944, Tawhai underwent steam trials which were reported to be satisfactory but by October 1944 with 95% of the build complete she was declared surplus by the War Assets Realisation board and was put up for disposal.
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) brought Tawhai in 1946 in a bid to rebuild the Chinese fishing industry which had been decimated by World War Two. She was registered to Shanghai and was last seen fishing along with Awatere and Pahau. She was last documented in October 1949 and was removed from the Lloyds register by 1952.
References
To research Tawhai we used research provided by Liam K.
Related Posts
Hinau – The first castle-class minesweeper and the first naval ship built in New Zealand for the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Manuka – 135.9ft NZ Navy minesweeper built in 1941.
Hautapu – WWII Castle-Class minesweeper used on the Canterbury Project and later owned by NZ Fisheries
Pahau – The fifth of nine steel minesweepers built for the NZ Navy in World War II.