HMS Philomel berthing at Queen’s Wharf, Wellington, on 16 March 1917 after returning from wartime service overseas. When the ship docked for maintenance in Bombay (Mumbai) earlier that year, it was discovered that major repairs were needed to its deck and hull. Rather than undertake this expensive work, the Royal Navy detached the ship from its fleet and sent it back to New Zealand. A guard of 50 corporals from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, as well as several VIPs, greeted New Zealand's first warship when it arrived in Wellington. Once back in New Zealand waters, Philomel served as a stationary depot ship then as a training and accommodation facility at Devonport naval base, Auckland.
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