HMNZS PUKAKI
- Directed Readiness Evaluation
By LET Joe Goldsworthy
On 13 August we sailed for our Directed Readiness Evaluation (DRE). This was the day we had all been training for since the ship was delivered in May. We knew that the next 24 hours were going to be intense. We had already been at sea for 3 days prior with some of the Maritime Operational Evaluation Team (MOET) getting the last little bit of training in before the big day. Pukaki would be the third IPV to go through DRE (luckily both Rotoiti and Hawea had passed on a few stories of what to expect).
The day started off:
- a small fire incident took out our Senior Rates’ Mess,
- machinery breakdowns during the fire incident, and
- a Man Overboard.
And we had only just rounded North Head!
Then things started to ramp up.
- AMT Matheson “fell” down a ladder and needed to be “taken to hospital” for the remainder of our DRE, which meant we were one man down.
- Some of the Main Machinery and our electronics equipment started to “break”.
- As we were off trying to diagnose the problems, an Engine Room “fire” began (the biggest incident you can have on a ship). A smoke machine ensured lots of realism.
- Then our casualty had to be winched off ship via helicopter, leaving just enough hands to deal with the fire.
- About an hour or so later with the fire extinguished it was back to sorting out the equipment problems.
Later in the day (with the sea starting to get rough) we were hunting a “suspicious” fishing boat Star Key; once it was located, our Boarding Party suited up and, after a briefing, were sent over to investigate.
But the Star Key “caught fire” with the Master of the boat “badly burnt” while the Boarding Officer slipped and “knocked himself out,” leaving LMT Lovey to take charge of the situation. Our remaining crew still in Pukaki were getting as much gear and personnel we could spare over to the boat to fight the fire, and help out the casualties.
Once the fishing boat fire was extinguished, and the boarding operation completed, we were back underway. Settling down for a quick dinner, we were hit with “toxic gas” in our Auxiliary Machinery Space, complete with a “casualty”, followed by a “flood” in the Engine Room. It was a pretty restless evening! When we were allowed to sleep most fell asleep where they sat—in the Junior Rates Mess, too shattered to make it to their pits.
SAR
At around 0130, the Navigating Officer woke us over the Main Broadcast, saying the ship was responding to a real Mayday call. Within 15 minutes all hands were gathered in the Junior Rates’ Mess for a briefing, lookout rosters were made up and lookouts set in place. After 10 hours of searching in 4 metre seas, with winds around 35–40 knots, the search was called off. We shadowed the (small) Whangarei Coast Guard boat back to the harbour entrance, before we headed back to Devonport.
On the way back, the MOET team debriefed us on our DRE. We had passed with a “standard achieved” and a big “well done” on our real life SAR efforts. Needless to say we were all pretty stoked.
We arrived back in Devonport on the Friday after roughly 30 hours of constant work, exhausted but proud. Not only had we achieved what we had spent the last two and a half months training to do, but we had also shown what the IPVs are capable of doing at a moment’s notice.
Next up?
We have now completed the Officer of the Watch Basic course sea training phase along with port visits to Akaroa and Wellington in company with Taupo. Soon we will head to our home port of Nelson for our homecoming formal visit.
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