HMNZS Waikato (F55)
| History | |
|---|---|
| New Zealand | |
| Name | HMNZS Waikato |
| Namesake | Waikato province of New Zealand |
| Operator | Royal New Zealand Navy |
| Builder | Harland and Wolff |
| Laid down | January 1964 |
| Launched | 18 February 1965 |
| Commissioned | September 1966 |
| Decommissioned | 1998 |
| Refit | Major modernisation refit 1986–88 |
| Homeport | Tauranga, New Zealand, but based out of Devonport Naval Base, Auckland |
| Identification | F55 |
| Nickname(s) | "The Mighty Y" |
| Honours & awards |
|
| Fate | Sunk on 18 December 2000 as an artificial reef |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Leander-class frigate |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 372 ft (113 m) |
| Beam | 41 ft (12 m) |
| Draught | 19 ft (6 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 27 knots (50 km/h) |
| Range | 4,600 nautical miles (8,520 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Complement | 18 officers, 248 sailors |
| Sensors & processing systems | Type 965 air search radar. 993 main search radar. 1006 Navigational Radar |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | Originally a Wasp helicopter, later a Kaman SH-2G |
HMNZS Waikato (F55) was a Leander Batch 2TA frigate of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). She was one of two Leanders built for the RNZN, the other being the Batch 3 HMNZS Canterbury. These two New Zealand ships relieved British ships of the Armilla patrol during the Falklands conflict, freeing British ships for deployment.