HMNZS Wellington
anchored in the lagoon
Image by Stu Cawker
navy news
HMNZS Manawanui
SHIPS IN PACIFIC ON EXPLOSIVE RUN
items and suspicious packages across New Zealand."
"For the navy the EOD expertise is held mainly by our divers,
There is no better way of beating the winter blues than with a
who undertake an eight month EOD course and are part of the
deployment to the South Pacific, especially one that offers a lot
Northern Region's Explosive Response Team," says lieutenant
of bang for your buck.
commander Leslie.
The Royal New Zealand Navy's Operational Dive Team, along
This year, Operation Pukaurua took place in Munda, Solomon
with HMNZ Ships Wellington, and Manawanui, deployed to the
Islands where the teams worked to clear
tropical climates of the Solomon Islands
a United States ammunition dump on
and Kiribati on an operation that located
Sasavelle Island, and work around the
and disposed of over 2,000 explosive
island of Rendova. During the second
remnants left over from the conflict of
world war, the Japanese built an airstrip
the second world war.
at Munda to serve as a staging point to
Operation Pukaurua 2013 is a
Guadalcanal and the area was bombarded
multinational Explosive Ordnance
from the air and sea.
Disposal operation involving teams
The teams utilised a variety of
of highly trained specialists from the
specialist equipment to search and
New Zealand Defence Force, Australian
locate the remnants, including metal
Defence Force, United States and
detectors, underwater sonar equipment
Canadian navies, as well as local support
and a New Zealand Army Explosive
from the Solomon Islands Police Force.
Detection Dog.
The operation is held every two years
"We found eight unexploded 500 and
and is an opportunity to use EOD
1,000 pound bombs on the sea floor
expertise in Pacific communities and
which were cleared by the dive teams."
create a safer regional environment
The skills of the EOD teams were not
in an area where second world war
Inspecting an unexploded shell prior to
limited to the sea, as they worked around
explosives and other dangerous
clearance are Air Force SRGT Michael Hartley,
Navy CPODVR Rangi Ehu and Army CPL Corey
the town of Munda to clear explosives
remnants of war are still present.
Dunnett
that were located close to people's
"The effect of the remaining
homes. The local residents made the
unexploded ordnance from the second
operation easier by leading the EOD teams to over 2,500 individual
world war has a considerable impact on the local infrastructure
items of explosives and ammunition, including dangerous white
and economics of the communities in the Pacific," said the
phosphorus shells, in areas close to where people live.
Operational Dive Team's commanding officer, lieutenant
commander Trevor Leslie who is overseeing the entire operation.
HMNZS Wellington supported the EOD Teams for the first task
"All three services have an excellent EOD capability and are
on Sasavelle Island
always on call to clear explosive
A montage of an explosion underwater
72
Professional Skipper September/October 2013
www.skipper.co.nz
