New Zealand ship Manawanui sank after crew left autopilot on

Senior crew didn’t notice the autopilot was still engaged when they struggled to control a thruster and failed to stop HMNZS Manawanui running aground.

Mistakes on the bridge of a New Zealand navy ship under the command of a former senior Royal Navy officer caused the 6000-tonne vessel to plough into a reef off Samoa, where it caught fire and sank.

A military court of inquiry found that senior crew did not notice the autopilot was still engaged when they struggled to control a thruster and failed to stop it running aground.

The $NZ130 million ($118m) hydrographic vessel Manawanui was lost because of a series of human errors, Rear Admiral Garin Golding, head of the Royal New Zealand Navy, told reporters.

“Muscle memory from the person in control should have leaned over to that panel and checked whether the screen said autopilot or not,” he said.

A Royal New Zealand navy ship ran aground off the Samoan island of Upolu, with all 78 on board in life rafts.

The ship was under the command of Yvonne Gray, a former Royal Navy commander who emigrated to New Zealand with her wife in 2012. She took command of the vessel in 2022. It was her first command in a naval career that started in the UK in 1993 as a warfare officer aboard British frigates and mine hunters.

The court is expected to continue until next year. Golding said that given human error had been identified as the cause, a separate disciplinary process would begin after the inquiry.

Three crew who were on the bridge as the disaster unfolded are likely to face proceedings, Golding added. They were the officer in control of the ship, an officer supervising that person, and the ship’s commanding officer. The navy chief would not name them.

Yvonne Gray was praised for saving her crew when the vessel ran aground while surveying a reef off the coast of Samoa. Picture: SWNS/The Times

After the sinking on October 6 Gray was praised for quickly ordering its 75-strong crew to abandon ship. Days later, New Zealand’s defence minister, Judith Collins, suggested a loss of power was the cause.

Soon afterwards Collins defended Gray after abuse online. Collins said there was a “misogynistic narrative” from “armchair admirals”, with some claiming Gray was appointed because of diversity requirements.

The Times