Leading accident investigators are bewildered by the NZ Government's Press Conference (by Defense Minister Collins & Naval Command) which gave the world's media the headline, "NZ Navy: Human error caused Manawanui sinking". The top people in this line of business repeatedly state such accidents are caused by many factors that combine to form a "perfect storm". Trying to argue there's one factor, like human error, is always misplaced. On that note, a US global maritime expert called Sal Mercogliano, who runs a YouTube Channel called "What's Going on with Shipping?" with 340,000 subscribers, has commented on the sinking of NZ's third largest navy ship, The Manawanui. Sal "has degrees in Military & Naval History, Maritime History, Nautical Archaeology & Marine Transportation. He's a former merchant mariner & teaches courses in maritime history, security & industry policy". His YouTube video is below. You've got to like Sal. Sal says, "[The Manawanui] was a commercial ship [used in oil exploration from Norway]. I've heard repeatedly from sources that NZ did not pay the full amount of money in the conversion to get that dynamic positioning system installed in it. This track line [where the ship was supposedly surveying] could have been put into the system and the ship would have automatically run the track [turns included, without need for manual control]. That did not appear to happen. I think there's a big issue here on whether or not the auto-pilot system on this vessel was 100%".
Jacinda Ardern is the "Sponsor" of Sunken Manawanui. It was bought by her government in 2018. According to Sal, it was converted on the cheap. He appears to agree with what Ardern's Defense Minister (at the time of the purchase) told Radio NZ after the sinking: "My ministerial team purchased the vessel from Norway, used for oil exploration, & refitted it, getting it into service in 11 months .. it astonished our partners, the audacity that we would buy a commercial vessel of that type & press it into military service. We bought Manawanui knowing she was not a war ship, she's a commercial operation... but with that comes the risk that commercial vessels don't have the same level of redundancy in their systems or design that warships do - you can't seal off compartments, create water tight compartments & keep the vessel afloat so it can be towed, salvaged & repaired. Unfortunately with commercial vessel of this type, you know that in a worst case situation you're going to have an issue .."
So our Former Defense Minister implies that, had Manawanui been up to proper naval standards, it could've well stayed afloat & been salvaged. How convenient of the NZ Navy & Government to throw its crew overboard with the headline about "human error". Maybe the most important "human error" arose out of a Cabinet Decision that former PMs Ardern and Hipkins made? Maybe they're the ones who should face disciplinary action for sending sailors to sea in a ship that was not fit for task. Maybe they'd like to confirm or deny Sal's line that, "I've heard repeatedly from sources that NZ did not pay the full amount of money in the conversion to get that dynamic positioning system installed in it".
By the way, unusually for a Navy ship, our mate Sal notes Manawanui had no rudder. Instead it turned by changing the direction of its propellers, called "Azipods" (see photo below). Sea Salt Sal reckons that when the ship started heading to land, the crew spun the control dial which they thought had turned the Azipods 180 degrees to reverse course, and applied thrust. But because the ship was on auto-pilot, the Azipods didn't turn 180 degrees, and instead kept powering the ship toward the reef, but now at higher speed. Sal can't work out why the crew didn't turn thrust to zero. He reckons the crew got confused which way the Azipods were pointing. I suppose Ardern & Hipkins aren't available for comment - she's busy burning CO2 air miles & he's busy designing his cunning capital-gains-tax-inspired return to power. Samoa's environment seems to be of little importance to both, aside from giving talks about global warming & rising sea-levels in the Pacific at the UN - whilst their Budget Second Hand Azipod Ship lies leaking oil and diesel underwater.
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