Prime Minister Norman Kirk told the 242 crew of HMNZS Otago that their Mururoa mission was an ‘honourable’ one – they were to be a ‘silent accusing witness with the power to bring alive the conscience of the world’.
Mururoa Protest
Events In History
Articles
Nuclear-free New Zealand
The sinking of the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland in July 1985 shocked the nation. The incident galvanised an anti-nuclear movement that had emerged in opposition to both French nuclear tests at Mururoa and American warship visits to New Zealand. Read the full article
Page 2 - Nuclear testing in the Pacific
After the Second World War the United States, along with its French and British allies, frequently tested nuclear weapons in the Pacific
Page 5 - Sinking the Rainbow Warrior
In 1985 New Zealand was basking in its position as leader of the anti-nuclear movement. Then on 10 July, two explosions set by French Secret Service agents ripped through the hull
The Royal New Zealand Navy
Seventy years old in October 2011, the Royal New Zealand Navy is today an integral part of the New Zealand Defence Force. But its 1941 establishment was the result of a long process of naval development. Read the full article
Page 7 - New directions
The RNZN’s independence as a service came to an end when the Ministry of Defence (created in July 1963) was reconstituted to incorporate all three armed services on 1 January
