Commander Yvonne Gray (Credit: New Zealand Defense Force)
After New Zealand lost one of its only nine Navy Vessels in an unexplained accidents off the coast of Samoa, the female Defense Minister of the country came to public with a strong statement.
But she was not ready to explain why the aging Navy hardware is in such poor state of maintenance that out of the remaining eight ships only five are operational.
Instead, Judith Collins focused on bashing what she called were ‘vile and misogynistic online remarks’ by ‘armchair admirals’ about the Lesbian female captain of the HMNZS Manawanui that ran aground, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa.
After all, while the sinking may not in the end be the female captain’s fault, the appalling state of the island-nation Navy is her responsibility – there’s no escaping that.
Associated Press reported:
“’Seriously, it’s 2024′, Judith Collins told reporters Thursday. ‘What the hell’s going on here?’
After days of comments on social media directed at the gender of Commander Yvonne Gray, Collins urged the public to ‘be better’. Women members of the military had also faced verbal abuse in the street in New Zealand since the ship — one of nine in the country’s navy — was lost on Sunday, Collins said.”
Everyone on board was safely evacuated, suffering only minor injuries, after the vessel struck the reef off the coast of Upolu it was studying.
The cause of the disaster is not yet known.
“’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 said.”
New Zealand Navy ship caught fire and sank in the Pacific Ocean
The Minister was so distressed that she went as far as singling and commenting a social media post by a truck driver from Melbourne, Australia.
“’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’.”
In New Zealand, about 20% of military members are women.
Collins is New Zealand’s first woman defense minister, and said she supports captain Gray – who lost that ship that was her first command – and also Maj. Gen. Rose King, the country’s first woman army chief, who entered into her role in June.
The minister insisted that all military members are appointed for merit, not gender.
“The sinking prompted fears of a major fuel spill. On Thursday, officials in Samoa said while the vessel was leaking oil from three places, the amount was reducing each day and was dissipating quickly due to strong winds in the area. Most of the ship’s fuel appeared to have burned out in the fire, according to a statement by the Marine Pollution Advisory Committee. Officials were due to meet with locals Thursday to discuss how to remove the vessel’s anchor and three shipping containers from the reef without further damaging the fragile marine ecosystem.”
The country’s government ordered a military court of inquiry into the sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui, to be led by senior military officers.
It will assemble for the first time today.
The Manawanui was a specialist dive and hydrographic ship, in service for New Zealand since 2019, but was 20 years old having previously belonged to Norway. Purchased for $61 million, it was not covered by replacement insurance.
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