HMNZS BREEZE T371
Class……………………………Requisitioned Motor Vessel
Builder……………………….. Scott & Sons, Bowling
Yard number………………. 324
Laid down..………………….
Launched….…………………5 Oct 1933
Completed.………………….Nov 1933
Propulsion.…………………..1 shaft : Driven by a 2-stroke single acting 5-cylinder oil engine, manufactured by British Auxiliaries Ltd., Glasgow
Speed..…………………………10 knots
Armament:
1 x 4-inch (102mm) gun,
2 x 20mm Oerlikon guns,
2 x Lewis machineguns,
50 depth-charges, ASDIC, Radar
History
1933: Built as BREEZE for Canterbury Steam Shipping Co. Ltd., Lyttelton, New Zealand
1942: Oct : Requisitioned for the Royal New Zealand Navy, as HMNZS BREEZE
1945: Returned to Canterbury Steam Shipping Co. Ltd
1964: Sold to Madrigal Sg Co Inc, Manila, retained name BREEZE
1966: Sold to Balabac Nav Inc, Manila and renamed BALABAC
1970: Sold(?) unknown owners renamed DON BENIGNO
1980: Sold(?) to Balabac Nav Inc, Manila and renamed BON ESTEBAN
1981: Sold to Sarmiento Lumber Co and renamed SARMIENTO
1989: Deleted from Lloyds Register
Wartime Service
Prior to the Second World War Breeze was part of the inter-island service along with her sister ship Gale (which was also commissioned into RNZN service). In July 1940 the Chief of Naval Staff proposed a mobile flotilla of minesweepers for New Zealand service. This came out of the discovery of the minefields laid by the German raider Orion and highlighted the urgent need for minesweeping off New Zealand ports. Breeze was one of a number of vessels that it was thought would be suitable to conversion to a minesweeper.
For full details see : navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-collections/ships/breeze/
HMNZS BREEZE in an undated photo, believe taken in New Zealand waters just after commissioning(1942?)
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HMNZS Breeze (T02/T371) was a coastal cargo boat which was requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and converted into a minesweeper.
Breeze joined the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla at Tulagi in April 1943. On her arrival she was also formed, with Matai and her sister ship Gale, into the 9th Auxiliary Minesweeping group within the flotilla. They carried out night-time patrol and escort duties under COMSOPAC control. The Japanese were well north by this time, but occasionally made sudden attacks into American strongholds around Guadalcanal.
In July 1943, prior to being fitted with radar, Breeze collided with USS LST-895 off Guadalcanal while patrolling in a monsoon rainstorm. Grazing port to port, she had a boat wrecked.
During convoy escort duty in Ironbottom Sound she was attacked, but not damaged, by dive-bombers.
From time to time the flotilla boats would return to Auckland for refits, usually escorting freighters bound the same way.
By the middle of 1944 the owners were demanding the return of Breeze and her twin Gale. COMSOPAC released her on 10 November 1944.
Fate[edit]
She was sold to the Philippines in 1964 and renamed Balabac in 1966.
Breeze was owned by the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company. She was taken up on 3 March 1942, under protest, to replace the Puriri which had sunk in a minefield. She was a sister ship to Gale.
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