Listen to a broadcast about the protest against the September 1980 visit to Wellington by the USS Truxtun.
Transcript
The Truxtun steamed into Wellington Harbour with no problems whatsoever. At about 7, a helicopter dropped a pilot on board, and she began moving soon after that through the narrow harbour entrance. At that moment about three protest boats shot out from Breaker Bay, but the Truxtun was too fast for them, and she left them wallowing in her wake.
She’s now nearing her anchoring place off Kaiwharawhara; she seems to be just off the container wharf at the moment. The three or four protest boats are being flanked by police boats, which outnumber them by about three to one; they’re way behind the Truxtun now, and with the tide against them, and the weather, they’ve got no way of catching up.
On the harbour, this is Bronwyn Williams.
The USS Truxtun enters Wellington Harbour on 25 May 1982 surrounded by escort boats and a flotilla of protest vessels.
This was the third time the Truxtun had come to New Zealand; the previous visits were in 1976 and 1980.
Image courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: EP/1982/1640/27
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image.
Sound file from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. ('USS Truxton nuclear protest' (1980), 1980s compilation disk. Reference number COMP 2, 1980, tk5)
