HMNZS Canterbury (F421)

History
New Zealand
Name	HMNZS Canterbury (F421)
Namesake	Canterbury Region
Operator	Royal New Zealand Navy
Builder	Yarrow Shipbuilders
Laid down	12 June 1969
Launched	6 May 1970
Commissioned	22 October 1971
Decommissioned	21 March 2005
Homeport	Lyttelton
Fate	Scuttled 3 November 2007 as an artificial reef
General characteristics
Class and type	Leander-class frigate
Displacement	2,945 tonnes full load
Length	113.4 m (372 ft)
Beam	13.1 m (43 ft)
Draught	5.5 m (18 ft)
Propulsion	2 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers delivering steam to 2 × English Electric geared steam turbines, 30,000 shp (22.4 MW) to 2 shafts
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Range	3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Endurance	30 days or 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	245 + 15 officers
Sensors and processing systems	Air Search Radar: Signal LW-08 D Band: Range 265 km (165 mi) for 2 m2 (22 sq ft) target Air Surface Search Radar: Plessey Type 993 E/F Band Navigation Radar: Kelvin Hughes Type 1006 I band Hull Sonar: Graseby Type 750 Medium Frequency Active Electronic Surveillance: Argo Phoenix intercept and Jammer, Telegon PST 1288 HVU IFF system: Cossor Mk XII Data System: Plessey/Marconi Nautis F with Link 11 Weapons Control: RCA TR-76 I Band
Armament	2 × Vickers 4.5"(113mm) L45 DP guns in one Mk 6 twin mounting Sea Cat missile system removed early 1990s and replaced by Phalanx CIWS 4 × 12.7 mm (1 in) AA guns Mod 5 Mark 46 torpedoes in Mark 32 torpedo tubes 2 × Mark 36 SRBOC Mod 1 chaff launchers
Aircraft carried	Originally a Wasp helicopter, later a Kaman SH-2G, armed with Mod 2 ASW Mark 46 torpedoes Maverick AGM-65(NZ) Air-to-surface missile Depth charges M60 machine gun

HMNZS Canterbury (F421) was one of two broad beam Leander-class frigates operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) from 1971 to 2005. She was built in Scotland and launched in 1970. Commissioned in 1971, Canterbury saw operational service in much of Australasia and other regions like the Persian Gulf. She undertook operations such as supporting UN sanctions against Iraq and peace-keeping in East Timor. With her sister ship HMNZS Waikato she relieved the Royal Navy frigate HMS Amazon in the Indian Ocean during the Falklands War. Early in HMNZS Canterbury's career, in 1973, she relieved the frigate HMNZS Otago, as part of a unique, Anzac, naval operation or exercise at Moruroa during anti-nuclear protests, supported by a large RAN tanker, providing fuel and a large platform for Australian media. This was due to F 421 being a more modern RNZN frigate, with then current Rn surveillance radar and ESM and a more effectively insulated frigate from nuclear fallout, with the Improved Broad Beam Leander steam plant, for example, being remote controlled and capable of unmanned operation and therefore the ship provided a more effective sealed citadel for operations in areas of nuclear explosions.

Canterbury was decommissioned in 2005. In 2007, she was scuttled in the Bay of Islands to provide a dive wreck. She lies in 38 metres (125 ft) of water.^[1]