The TEV Rangatira was a roll-on/roll-off vehicle and passenger ferry launched in 1971 for the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. She is significant for having been the World's last surviving passenger ship with steam-powered turbo-electric transmission. (Modern turbo-electric ships, including and s such as Celebrity Millennium, have gas turbines.)
Rangatira had a varied existence, including serving as an accommodation ship and barracks ship between 1977 and 1983. The Union Company sold her in 1986 and she returned to being a ferry. From 1986 onwards, she passed through a succession of owners who renamed her three times and registered her under three different flags of convenience: as Queen M in 1986, Carlo R in 1990 and Alexander the Great in 2001.
After a failed attempt to convert the vessel into a cruise ship she was scrapped in 2005.
Name
Rangatira is Māori for "chief (male or female), wellborn, noble". The 1971 ship is at least the sixth to carry the name. The first Rangatira was in service between Great Britain and New Zealand by 1857. The second was an iron-hulled steamship built in 1863 and wrecked in 1880. The third was a Shaw Savill Line steamship built in 1890 and sold and renamed in 1909. The fourth was a Shaw Savill Line steamship built in 1909 and wrecked in 1916. The fifth was the Union Company ferry , a turbo-electric ship that was in service from 1931 to 1967.
Building and delivery
The Union Company ordered the new Rangatira from Swan Hunter of Wallsend in Tyneside, England on 15 May 1969. She was launched on 23 June 1971 by June Blundell and undertook initial sea trials on 20 September or 20 December. Her completion was delayed by an industrial dispute at Swan Hunter so she was fitted out at Southampton, England. She was delivered to Union Steam Ship Company (UK) Ltd in January 1972 and sailed from England on 16 February carrying a cargo of motor cars. On 18 March she reached Wellington, New Zealand and discharged her cargo.
The new Rangatira had turbo-electric transmission, with twin turbo generators and electric propulsion motors built by AEI of Manchester. In addition she had bow thrusters for easier berthing. Compared with the more common reduction gearing between steam turbines and propeller shafts, turbo-electric transmission has lower energy conversion efficiency and an inferior power-to-weight ratio. But it gives quicker manoeuvrability, being able to change propeller speed more quickly and also give full power astern if needed.
Rangatira was built with capacity for 768 passengers (159 fewer than her predecessor ) and 200 vehicles. Rangatiras overnight cabins included one 6-berth, one 10-berth and one 12-berth dormitories.
New Zealand ferry
The new Rangatira was to work the "Steamer Express" route between Wellington on the North Island and Lyttelton on the South Island, replacing the TEV Wahine that had been wrecked in Cyclone Giselle in 1968. On 28 March 1972 she made her first voyage from Wellington across Cook Strait and along the South Island east coast to Lyttelton. On this first trip she carried a full complement of 768 passengers.
As soon as the new Rangatira was in service, the TEV Maori was withdrawn and work began to strip her of equipment. However, on 18 September Rangatira developed a serious fault with her port turbine, reached Wellington at reduced speed two and a half hours late and had to be taken out of service for repairs. The Maori was quickly re-equipped and on 20 September was returned to service until Rangatiras repairs were complete and she able to resume duty on 16 October.
On 19 June 1973 Rangatira damaged her port rudder and propeller while berthing at Lyttelton. She was taken out of service for repairs, drydocked at Wellington on 20 June and returned to service on 2 July.
On 30 October 1973 Rangatira was en route from Lyttelton to Wellington when her starboard turbine suffered damage to a thrust bearing and a rotor. She reached Wellington over two hours late but was repaired and returned to service on 2 November.
Financial losses, subsidy and withdrawal
For almost a decade the Steamer Express route had lost traffic between the North and South islands to its competitors. In 1962 New Zealand Railways had introduced its Cook Strait rail ferries on the route between Wellington and Picton, offering a much shorter sea crossing for freight and cars. Domestic aviation between the two islands was also expanding and becoming more affordable, especially after the National Airways Corporation (now part of Air New Zealand) introduced Boeing 737-200 aircraft in 1968.