HMS New Zealand (1911)

New Zealand in Australia, May 1919
History
United Kingdom
Name	New Zealand
Namesake	Dominion of New Zealand
Builder	Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering, Govan
Laid down	20 June 1910
Launched	1 July 1911
Commissioned	19 November 1912
Stricken	19 December 1922
Fate	Sold for scrap, 22 January 1923
General characteristics
Class and type	Indefatigable-class battlecruiser
Displacement	18,500 long tons (18,800 t) at normal load
Length	590 ft 3.5 in (179.9 m)
Beam	80 ft (24.4 m)
Draught	27 ft (8.2 m)
Installed power	31 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 44,000 shp (33,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × shafts; 2 × steam turbine sets
Speed	25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range	3,340 nmi (6,190 km; 3,840 mi) at 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h; 27.0 mph)
Complement	818 (1913), 853 (1919), 1070 (1921)
Armament	4 × twin 12 in (305 mm) guns 16 × single 4 in (102 mm) guns 2 × single 18 in (450 mm) torpedo tubes.
Armour	Belt: 4–6 in (102–152 mm) Decks: 1.5–2.5 in (38–64 mm) Turrets: 7 in (178 mm)

HMS New Zealand was one of three Indefatigable-class battlecruisers. Launched in 1911, the ship was funded by the government of New Zealand as a gift to Britain,^[1] and she was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1912. She had been intended for the China Station, but was released by the New Zealand government at the request of the Admiralty for service in British waters.

During 1913, New Zealand was sent on a ten-month tour of the British Dominions, with an emphasis on a visit to her namesake nation. She was back in British waters at the start of the First World War, and operated as part of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, in opposition to the German High Seas Fleet. The battlecruiser participated in all three of the major North Sea battles—Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank, and Jutland—and was involved in the response to the inconclusive Raid on Scarborough, and the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. New Zealand contributed to the destruction of two cruisers and was hit by enemy fire only once, sustaining no casualties; her status as a "lucky ship" was attributed by the crew to a Māori piupiu (warrior's skirt) and hei-tiki (pendant) worn by the captain during battle.

After the war, New Zealand was sent on a second world tour, this time to allow Admiral John Jellicoe to review the naval defences of the Dominions. In 1920, the battlecruiser was placed in reserve. She was broken up for scrap in 1922 to meet the United Kingdom's tonnage limit in the disarmament provisions of the Washington Naval Treaty.