Torpedo Bay Navy Museum, naval museum in Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand
Torpedo Bay Navy Museum is the official museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy, housed in 1896 buildings at Torpedo Bay in Devonport that were built to control naval mines at the mouth of Waitematā Harbour. Refurbished for NZ$1.5 million, it opened there on 9 October 2010, replacing an earlier museum.
The building was constructed in 1896 and served the naval fleet as an administrative center for mines and torpedos to protect the harbor. The site's development is closely tied to the nation's defense strategy in the late 1800s.
The piupiu, a Māori warrior's skirt, was presented to the commander of HMS New Zealand during the ship's 1913 visit to New Zealand. Captains of the battlecruiser wore it in battle during World War I as a good luck charm. The garment is among the first displays in the museum.
The museum occupies the 1896 mine-control buildings at Torpedo Bay, at the end of King Edward Parade in Devonport, a short walk from the Devonport ferry terminal. The former single-room museum at HMNZS Philomel opened only two hours a week to navy personnel; the Torpedo Bay site, opened on 9 October 2010, is the public museum.
The 1913 piupiu given to HMS New Zealand's commander was worn by the battlecruiser's captains in battle during World War I as a good luck charm. The same gallery also covers the cruiser HMNZS Achilles, but the submarine fight it displays is the 29 January 1943 action off Guadalcanal, where the minesweepers HMNZS Kiwi and HMNZS Moa engaged the larger Japanese submarine I-1.
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