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On 12 November, weather permitting, the decommissioned Navy frigate F69 will be scuttled off Tapa Te Rangu Island, near Wellington Airport, after more than 30 years of service with the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Her new role will be as an artificial marine reef and dive attraction for visitors from throughout New Zealand and overseas.

The 3084 tonne, 113 metre vessel was launched by the Royal Navy in 1969 as HMS Bacchante, transferring in 1983 to the Royal New Zealand Navy, where she was renamed HMNZS Wellington.

In Royal Navy service, she sailed throughout Europe, and to destinations including North Africa, the Persian Gulf, North and South America and the Caribbean, before joining the NZ Navy and sailing throughout New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands, South-East and North Asia, the Persian Gulf and the Maldives.

Her New Zealand Navy activities ranged from medivac and rescue operations to fishing protection, cyclone relief, and participation in Australia’s historic 1988 Bicentennial Navy salute, while in the Royal Navy she was deployed on assignments including sea rescues, support activities in the Falklands War and even tracking a stricken Russian submarine from Scotland to Norway.

She was decommissioned in 1999, and is currently moored at Wellington’s Taranaki Wharf, outside the national museum Te Papa Tongarewa.

“The F69 reef will add an exciting new dimension to our tourism inventory, and will offer a new destination to the international dive market,” said Chris Lamers, General Manager Marketing for Positively Wellington Tourism.

“The location for the reef has been chosen because of the generally clear water in the area, which is already popular with local divers,” said Mr Lamers.

“It will be very accessible for commercial sightseeing, and close enough to the city centre for half day tours, as part of a broader itinerary,” he said. “And very importantly, the F69 reef will be environmentally sustainable and beneficial to the local marine ecosystem.”