A New Zealand naval ship that sank after smashing into a coral reef in the South Pacific was left on autopilot, an inquiry has found.
An interim report into the incident said human error was to blame for the sinking of HMNZS Manawanui, the first ship that New Zealand has lost since the Second World War.
Yvonne Gray, the vessel’s British-born captain, is originally from Harrogate, Yorkshire, and previously served in the Royal Navy before moving to New Zealand with her wife.
She became the target of online trolling in the wake of the £48-million ship’s sinking on Oct 5, prompting New Zealand’s defence minister to criticise “armchair admirals” and stress that Commander Gray’s gender was not to blame.
However, the report has revealed that the crew failed to realise the vessel was on autopilot. They wrongly believed that its failure to respond to direction changes was because the thruster control had failed.
The cause of the disaster was the ship’s autopilot “not being disengaged when it should have been”, according to Rear-Adml Garin Golding, the head of the New Zealand’s navy and presenter of the interim report.
He said: “Having mistakenly assessed a thruster control failure, standard procedures should have prompted the ship’s crew to check that the ship was under manual control rather than in autopilot.
“This check did not occur. Remaining in autopilot resulted in the ship maintaining a course toward land, until grounding and eventually stranding.”
He said that “the direct cause of the grounding has been determined as a series of human errors”.
After crashing into coral reef off the Samoan island of Upolu, a fire broke out in the engine room and the ship began to sink.
All 75 people on board the survey vessel were rescued safely, although the disaster became an embarrassment for the New Zealand military.
The ship is one of nine vessels in the country’s small navy.
Rear-Adml Golding added that the incident had “obviously” had an impact on New Zealand’s reputation. “This has really knocked the navy for six,” he said.
Judith Collins, the defence minister, said: “We were all terribly disappointed in what happened.”
Following the sinking, social media in New Zealand was rife with comments about “diversity in action”, sexist remarks about “women drivers” and homophobic references to Cdr Gray’s sexuality.
At the time, Ms Collins said: “The one thing that we already know did not cause it, is the gender of the ship’s captain – a woman with 30 years of naval experience.”
Cdr Gray said losing the ship meant that her “very worst imagining” as captain had become reality.
HMNZS Manawanui, which is Māori for “steadfast” or “big heart”, was based at Devonport Naval Base in Auckland.
Cdr Gray started her Royal Navy career in 1993 as a warfare officer, serving on frigates, mine hunters and aircraft carriers. She and her wife Sharon emigrated to New Zealand in 2012.
