The HMNZS Wellington or F69 Wellington Frigate is a young and large wreck that was scuttled in 2005.
| Name Dive Site: | HMNZS Wellington (F69) |
| Depth: | 15-22m (49-72ft) |
| Visibility: | 2-15m (6-49ft) |
| Inserted/Added by: | splash_gordon |
| Rated: | Rated 5.0, 2 votes |
| Specifications: |  |
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The frigate HMNZS Wellington was scuttled November 13th 2005, and was sitting upright in 21 meters of water, East of Tapu Te Ranga Island. Today you will find the frigate in three sections, which results in 2 separate exciting dives. The visibility ranges from one meter to 15 meters, with an average of about eight meters.
Boats of all sizes surrounded the former HMNZS Wellington (F69) a Batch Leander Class frigate as it sunk to her resting place off the coast if Island Bay in Wellington, to become a living reef for divers. It took just one minute 50 seconds to sink HMNZS Wellington in the waters off Island Bay. Two divers at SplashGordon, Dave Drane and Craig Hopkins were part of the very first group of divers to dive this amazing vessel with our Wellington Mayor, Kerry Prendergast, after police gave the all clear.
A Leander class frigate, the F69 Wellington served 18 years in the Royal New Zealand Navy, after first serving 12 years in the Royal Navy (UK) as the HMS Bacchante. After a three year refit, the Bacchante was decommissioned as the Wellington on 21 August 1986. After it’s decommissioning, it sat at Devonport and was used primarily as parts for the HMNZS Canterbury. The vessel has a length of 113.21 meters, a beam of 13.4 meters and a draft of 4 meters with displacement of 3,084 tonnes. The Wellington was powered by a twin screw steam turbine, driving two shafts with the ability to deliver 30,000 horsepower. Fitted with 115mm guns and seacat guided missile system, it was later replaced by phalanx triple barreled torpedo tubes and a WASP helicopter, carrying homing torpedoes. Her top speed was 30 knots and had a compliment of 250 officers and ratings.
There are presently three mooring lines tied to the frigate and there is already plenty of fish life around and in the wreck. Although the top of the wreck is fairly shallow, we recommend divers be advanced open water level or higher or alternatively fairly experienced open water divers. By experienced we mean, have done 30 dives plus and have dived in similar conditions. If unsure, we can provide an experienced guide for a small additional cost. Please request this when booking if needed.
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- NZ Sea Adventures, 9 Marina view, Mana, PoriruaNZ Sea Adventures
| "Ever since you were a kid, yo... www.scubadiving.co.nz 04 233 8238 04 233 9580 | 9 Marina view, Mana Porirua |
NZ Sea Adventures has been around since 1990 and has focused on the safety, fun and adventure of diving . We are passionate about diving, and our aim is to give you the best diver training possible. We are the senior PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Centre in the Wellinton region and maintain a 100% safe record. Check out our webpage www.scubadiving.co.nz
New Zealand Sea Adventures was established in 1990 by Tony Howell in Titahi Bay, Porirua. From that beginning the NZ Sea Adventures name grew and became the leading PADI scuba diving training facility in Wellington/Porirua. On the 12th of October 2000 NZ Sea Adventures was awarded the Wellington Regions only PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Centre rating. After 14 years the NZSA shop was moved out to Kilbirnie where it remained for four years. In 2008 we moved back home to Mana in Porirua. Here we have continued training excellent Scuba Divers, supplying the best dive equipment available and much much more. Having our own on-site dive pool certainly helps. NZSA is Wellington's only Technical diver training facility. We offer TDI courses from Enriched air/Nitrox right through to Advanced Trimix, including Instructor level training. The ocean is our greatest life source and the most amazing place to be in. This is why NZ Sea Adventures has always helped, supported and educated our divers in ways to help our enviroment. We are a PADI award winning Go Eco Operator and we run regular underwater cleanups and the Project AWARE Course for FREE, as we strongly believe you cannot put a price on caring for our oceans. We are based at 9 Marina view, Mana, Porirua. The first left as you come over the Paremata bridge when heading north. Our staff are friendly, passionate and excited about diving and we welcome you to come in, have a coffee, chat about diving and we will help you with whatever direction you wish to take with diving.
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