Leander class frigates

[nickd]

Can anyone who has dived on the Wellington, Canterbury and Waikato (i.e. more than one of them) comment on how similar in internal layout they are? I'm guessing they are identical but don't want to take that for granted. Especially since they aren't all from the same batch of Leander frigates.

[Jamie O]

Hi Nick,

Is your question about how they are now or how they used to be? I've dived the Waikato and Canterbury lots and the Wellington once, so I can answer how they are now:

The Wellington - not much left. When I dived it last year the floor of the bridge was at sand level, so realistically it isn't much of a wreck anymore. So no comparison with the other two.

The Waikato vs the Canterbury: The most obvious difference is that the bow section just forward of the bridge has broken off the Waikato and now lies 10-15m away from the aft section of the ship. The next major difference is that when the Waikato was stripped prior to sinking far more equipment was removed, many of the doors widened and more internal walls removed. This makes the Waikato far easier to dive in.

The general layout of both ships is the same, but with all the changes made during the sinking preparation they can seem pretty different on the first few dives.

Hope this answers your question.

[Phantom Menace]

And while you are discussing the Canterbury - anybody have an idea of the depths of certain spots on the Canterbury?

Specifically:
[list=]Wheelhouse windows
Deck in front of wheelhouse
Bow (top)
Helipad
Stern (top)
[/list]

I don't usually go in for wrecks but did jump in for a quick look-see on the way past Deep Water Cove on Friday (we took a friend out to Cape Brett abd round the place a bit).

No, I didn't have a depth gauge - I was free-diving (just interested in the depths I was getting to - didn't want to push it too much though).

[ChuckyBob]

Going off the profile of my last dive the deck at the stern is 28.5m and the deepest point under the stern is 37.5m ( 1300hrs 4 jan. Check tides for more accuracy)

[Phantom Menace]

Cheers. The stern did feel deep - a long swim back up - but I don't think I got to 28m. Felt more like 25m?? I didn't quite get to the point of hanging off the deck fittings at the stern but swam round a little a metre or 2 above.

I was in the water from 11am-midday Fri 7 Jan - high tide was 10:30am from memory. Each drop dpwn onto the wreck felt quite eerie - particularly once I went negatively bouyant and was just sinking without kicking.

[nickd]

....
The general layout of both ships is the same, but with all the changes made during the sinking preparation they can seem pretty different on the first few dives.
....

Thanks Jamie - that's what I was interested to know. Have only had a brief nosey around the Wellington so far and large chunks of that are spread across the seabed - good dive though! Keen to dive on a mostly intact one now.

[Cameron_R]

And while you are discussing the Canterbury - anybody have an idea of the depths of certain spots on the Canterbury?
...

Find much more here:
http://www.northlanddive.com/canterbury-wreck.html

Amongst the pages above you can find this:

[Phantom Menace]

Thanks Cameron.

Looking at that graphic I did:
* Warm-up dives to the top of the mast and the general area there
* poked round the bridge a little at 22m
* visited the deck in front of the bridge at 24m
* Bow at 22m
* Stern at 27m. Although I must admit I didn't go all the way down to the stern - stopped a little short and had a bit of a look round from above (it felt deep!)

It was quite a new experience free-diving a wreck (I visited the Rainbow Warrior a few years ago on the way past one day). Given the tide was close to full I would say my max depth was 25 or 26m with dive times of round 1m - to 1:30 max.

All this is interesting as I do not usually have much of a way of measuring the depth of my dives (and I don't usuually dive that deep).

[nickd]

Turns out someone I know spent time in the navy and served on these ships. I'm told that the internal structure is pretty much identical in all of them (not taking into account changes made for sinking). Differences being in the uses the various compartments were put to - this apparently varied quite a bit between the different ships.

[SidemountPros]

I know this is an old string but to bring it up to date for those researching diving Leander Class Wrecks in New Zealand or HMS Scylla (Plymouth, UK) or HMAS Swan (WA).

I am a Tec Diver specialising in Tec Sidemount Diving but also served for 14 years in the Royal New Zealand Navy as an Engineer Officer, six of these on Leanders, HMNZS Canterbury and Wellington. I was the MEO (Chief Engineer) on Canterbury in 1992 and obviously know this class and the wrecks well.

The_Canterbury_Wreck_Cover_for_Kindle.jpg

I have recently released the book, "The Canterbury Wreck: A Diver's Guide". The book is a complete reference to diving the Canterbury wreck. It describes the ship in detail, its history, the various decks and compartments, what they were used for, how the crew lived, the current state of compartments as seen by a diver and some ideas on routes and plans for diving the ship. The book includes numerous images and diagrams showing the ship, its layout and dive routes.

It is available at selected dive stores and centres in New Zealand and also via Amazon at - https://goo.gl/8BqX2j

I'd also be more than happy to answer any questions on this forum regarding diving the Leander wrecks or the ships.