New Zealand Royal Navy Ship Helmed By Country's First Lesbian Captain Sinks

There may be a reason that commercials for militaries around the world only seem to air commercials with traditional masculine soldiers on the heels of war. Progressive policy making bringing DEI to the military has been chastised for much more than just political posturing, it's been highlighted as an imminent national security risk. Proponents of defense policy making that focuses on inclusivity rather than meritocracy were confronted with the validity of the argument against them following the sinking of the Royal New Zealand Navy's HMNZS Manawanui.

The vessel became the first ship in New Zealand's fleet to sink since World War II after it caught fire and capsized just one nautical mile from the Samoan island of Upolu in the early hours of Sunday morning. The ship is also the first to be lost during peacetime in the history of New Zealand. Before meeting that ignominious fate, the ship had already made made history when it became captained by Yvonne Gray, the first lesbian captain to named by the Royal New Zealand Navy. In the wake of the sinking, criticism about the merit of her appointment has become amplified.

The HMNZS Manawanui was commissioned as a specialized ship to serve in the navy's diving and ocean imaging missions after it was purchased in 2019. It met its untimely demise during a peacetime mission conducting a survey of a reef off of the coast of Upolu for the first time since 1987. The ship abruptly caught fire before capsizing hours later. Fortunately, all 75 of the personnel aboard during the mission were evacuated safely. Given the scope of the mission it was conducting, those aboard included civilian scientists alongside military personnel conducting the survey of the reef. Of the 75 evacuated, only 1 person was treated for minor injuries but was discharged shortly thereafter. Another 17 of the passengers sustained minor cuts, bruises, and suspected concussions, although none required any hospitalization.

The insult added to those injuries has caused much more harm than anything sustained by the crew. Captain Gray made headlines in 2022 when she took the helm of the HMNZS Manawanui just 4 short years after it had first been commissioned in 2018. In doing so, she became the first lesbian captain in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy after being promoted from her post as the commanding officer of its Mine Counter Measures Team. Her appointment to the post was celebrated by the New Zealand Defense Ministry as a crowning achievement of its mission to cultivate an inclusive military. In the wake of the ship's sinking, the motives behind promoting her to that post have become the focal point of fervent criticism as to whether her appointment was based on merit or political expediency.

Although highlighting Gray's sexuality drew reactionary criticism at the time of her appointment, it amounted to little more than an another echo in the overarching outcry against the pervasive influence of progressive policy making. It wasn't until the sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui that Gray would find herself on the receiving end of vitriol for her captaincy.

The vitriol against Collins that implicated her gender and sexuality as being factors affecting her competency as captain of the sunken ship was vociferously rebuked by the New Zealand Ministry Of Defense. The ire aimed at Gray was taken as especially offensive to New Zealand’s Defense Minister Judith Collins, who herself was named the first woman to lead the defense ministry in the country's history. Collins was named to 7 different ministerial positions following her ruling coalition's victory in the 2023 New Zealand General Election. Collins holds those positions concurrently, including that of Attorney General Of New Zealand in addition to being its Minister Of Defense.

“The one thing that we already know did not cause it is the gender of the ship's captain, a woman with 30 years' naval experience who on the night made the call to get her people to safety,” Collins stated when addressing the rampant ridicule against Gray online. She dismissed any premise that Gray was a DEI hire, stating “We are all appointed on merit, not gender,” before putting the embattled captain's critics in her cross hairs. “I think that he should keep his comments to people who drive trucks rather than people who drive ships,” Collins said. “These are the sorts of people I'm calling out and I'm happy to keep calling them out for as long as it takes to stop this behavior.” she remarked, ridiculing one social media poster who took aim at Gray for her failed voyage for his work as a truck driver.

Collins continued to take the trolls to task, categorizing them as "armchair admirals" for their criticism of Gray despite their lack of naval experience. "I thought seriously in 2024 what the hell is going on here with people who are sitting there in their armchair operating a keyboard making comments about people that they do not know, about an area they do not know and they are just vile. Where's a bit of decency." Collins scolded.

Since becoming the first woman to hold the office of Defense Minister Of New Zealand, Collins has named Major General Rose King as the nation's first female to be in charge of the country's army. Presently, approximately 20% of New Zealand's enlisted military are female. Despite that seamless assimilation, Collins has expressed her disgust with what she deems abuse of women for their enlistment in New Zealand's armed services.

Collins continued her ardent defense of Gray by lauding her leadership, which she states "saved lives". Despite that positive spin, the sinking of the ship is an unmitigated disaster as the Royal New Zealand navy now only has 8 commissioned vessels in its fleet. The dire state of New Zealand's rapidly antiquating military was put into perspective in March when a report was released describing its navy as being "extremely fragile". In spite of the overall state of the navy's disrepair, New Zealand’s Chief Of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding stated that the HMNZS Manawanui underwent routine maintenance before its final deployment, with no indications of any structural or mechanical issues that would have led to its sinking.

The magnitude of the loss of the ship has prompted the New Zealand government to order a special military court of inquiry into its sinking. The inquiry will be led by senior military officers. The New Zealand Defense Ministry has stated it suspects that a fuel spill was the cause of the fire which led to the ship sinking. Contrary to that, the Deputy Prime Minister Of Samoa Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio dismissed that speculation when he stated that divers and marine experts found no evidence indicating that as the cause of the disaster. Samoa’s Marine Pollution Advisory Committee stated that the ship was "leaking oil from three separate locations", but that there continues to be "no trace" of oil washing up onshore.

New Zealand's history has been synonymous with advancing women's rights. The country is recognized as the first to grant women suffrage in 1893. A woman has been elected Prime Ministry Of New Zealand 3 times. Despite demonstrating a cultural clearly committed to championing women's rights, the most recent of those prime ministers – the wildly unpopular Jacinda Ardern – was a vocal critic of what she forewarned as the rise of misogyny in the nation. Given Ardern's authoritarian tenure as prime minister, that criticism seems little more than a deflection from the rightful reasons she became so reviled.

Although citing the rise of misogyny is a rhetorical tactic used by progressive liberals time and time again to steer discourse away from merited criticism against them, there is one element of fairness for that argument in this instance. Despite being purchased in 2019 for over $100 million NZD, the Royal New Zealand Navy decided not to purchase a policy to cover the HMNZS Manawanui with replacement insurance. That decision on top of the navy purchasing the vessel from Norway even though it was already 20 years old at the time of its acquisition clearly shows that incompetence in the leadership of New Zealand's military is not exclusive to woman.