The Royal New Zealand Navy is undergoing a major overhaul following the sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui off Samoa last year, the Herald understands.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has implemented major changes, including risk management training across the Navy and new training for senior leadership.
It has also set up a new sea-readiness board called the New Zealand Defence Force Maritime Authority. It will oversee seaworthiness systems and ensure they are “safe to operate and operated safely”.
Further work is imminent. Improving training will be a strong focus: figuring out requirements for roles, the exact training individuals will need for those roles and keeping track of staff training histories.
The $100 million navy ship Manawanui ran aground on a reef off Samoa on October 5 last year while carrying out a hydrographic survey and sank the next day. All 75 people on board were rescued.
A Court of Inquiry investigation released in April found human error to be the root cause of the disaster, including navigational mistakes, training gaps in both crew and commanders and confusion over how to turn the autopilot off as land approached.
It detailed how the ship continued towards the reef – even accelerating – as those on the bridge desperately tried to work out how to turn off autopilot.
It found people were in key roles without the necessary certification or experience. The senior hydrographic surveyor (SHS) had neither the experience nor qualifications for the role.
An NZDF spokeswoman said “good progress” was being made on putting in place changes recommended in the Court of Inquiry.
“The Royal New Zealand Navy is committed to the organisational changes required to ensure the service can operate safely and achieve its missions.”
Meanwhile, the disciplinary investigation into the sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui is nearly complete.
While the Court of Inquiry is a “lessons learned” process, the disciplinary investigation has the potential to lead to a court-martial.
The NZDF spokeswoman told the Herald: “The disciplinary investigation is reaching its closing stages and from there, decisions will be made as to the next steps in the disciplinary process.
“While this process remains ongoing, the NZDF will not be making comment on considerations or potential outcomes.”
The Navy had already admitted systemic failings were in part behind the loss of the $100m ship, even as Minister of Defence Judith Collins vigorously defended Manawanui captain Yvonne Gray over “misogynist” attacks online.
The ship remains on the ocean floor off Samoa prompting community and environmental concerns. A year after the disaster, the New Zealand Government gave Samoa $6m.
The NZDF offered no comment on the deeper structural reforms recommended by the the Court of Inquiry.
It included tightening control of readiness timelines and deployment approvals, rebuilding the hydrographic capability with clear roles and supervision and standardising lifesaving equipment and drills across ship classes.
It also called for a clean-up of the Navy’s orders and procedures system to remove conflicting guidance, and action to address staff shortages and loss of experience that heighten operational risk.
The spokeswoman told the Herald the disciplinary investigation was the only additional inquiry being carried out.
She said it was unlikely the disciplinary investigation would find anything “substantially inconsistent” with the information the Court of Inquiry had.
She said it would be possible for the Court of Inquiry to be reopened, but “the threshold for doing so is very high and the new information would need to render the findings of the Court of Inquiry unsafe”.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.
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