Lesbian ‘DEI hire’ captain charged over sinking of $100M navy ship

The lesbian “diversity hire” captain of a Royal New Zealand Navy ship that ran aground and sank off Samoa has been charged with negligence over the loss of the vessel along with two other officers.

The $100 million HMNZS Manawanui, which was under the command of UK-born homosexual Yvonne Gray, crashed on the south side of Upolu on October 5, 2024, due to human error including failure to turn off autopilot, an inquiry found last year.

Commander Gray, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Gajzago and a third officer will face now court-martial over the disaster, which was the navy’s first ship loss since World War 2, and resulted in New Zealand paying Samoa NZ$6 million in compensation for environmental destruction caused by sinking.

The charges were certified for trial and laid on Monday, and while pleas have not been entered Commander Gray has indicated through her lawyers that she will fight the allegations, The New Zealand Herald reported.

Todd Simmons KC for Commander Gray said his client had “endured a lot of unjustified criticism” and welcomed the opportunity to respond to the charges, while lawyer Matthew Hague for Lieutenant Commander Gajzago said there had been “fundamental flaws” in the court-martial process.

Commander Gray faces a charge of negligently permitting a ship to be lost by allegedly being absent from the bridge while within one nautical mile of a reef, with an alternative charge of failing to perform a duty for the same alleged conduct.

She faces a separate charge alleging she failed to ensure an appropriate plan was in place while the ship was in uncharted waters.

Lieutenant Commander Gajzago, who was command supervisor on the bridge, also faces a charge of negligently causing a ship to be lost by allegedly failing to supervise the third officer and prevent the ship from running aground.

The third officer, who was officer of the watch at the time of the crash, is facing the same charge for allegedly turning the vessel towards a reef half a nautical mile ahead while travelling at more than four knots, and failing to disengage autopilot and take manual control quickly enough to avoid the reef.

After the sinking of the ship, which was one of just nine in the New Zealand Navy, Commander Gray was given blanket positive corporate media coverage for getting all 75 personnel on board off alive, and Defence Minister Judith Collins called the evacuation a “triumph” and criticism of the captain “misogynistic”.

But her then came into question after it was revealed she had been promoted amid a push for diversity and inclusion in the NZDF, and many asked why she was given command of a ship ahead of local candidates.

Commander Gray, who moved to New Zealand with her “wife” in 2012, was lauded in a June 2023 New Zealand Department of Defence press release celebrating her and three other female commanders, in which one gushed about a culture change in the navy due to a “focus on diversity, equity and respect for personnel”.

Another of the female captains praised alongside Ms Gray, Fiona Jameson, crashed her own ship in May 2024.

“The direct cause of the grounding has been determined as a series of human errors which meant the ship’s autopilot was not disengaged when it should have been,” Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding said while announcing the results of the inquiry in November.

“The crew did not realise Manawanui remained in autopilot and, as a consequence, mistakenly believed its failure to respond to direction changes was the result of a thruster control failure.

“Having mistakenly assessed a thruster control failure, standard procedures should have prompted ship’s crew to check that the ship was under manual control rather than in autopilot. This check did not occur.

“Remaining in autopilot resulted in the ship maintaining a course toward land, until grounding and eventually stranding.”

Timeline:

• On Saturday 5 October 2024, HMNZS Manawanui was conducting survey operations on the southern side of Apia, Samoa in a strong breeze of up to 25 knots and moderate swell.
• The survey was conducted in a box-shaped area, running east to west in survey lanes that start on the outside, working inwards.
• At about 6.15pm, the ship’s crew attempted a routine turn to starboard, initially to a course of 340 degrees, within the survey area, as part of a turn. The crew attempted to turn off the 340 degree course to starboard towards an easterly course but the ship did not respond as intended.
• Shortly after, Manawanui left the approved survey area, and in an effort to stop the ship, the crew conducted further actions that they believed should have resulted in the ship essentially braking.
• Manawanui did not slow or stop, and instead the ship started to accelerate towards the reef, grounding for the first time at or about 6.17pm at a speed of more than 10 knots.
• The ship then travelled around 635 metres (400 yards) before becoming stranded, grounding multiple times along the way.
• Full control of Manawanui’s propulsion system was not regained until 10 minutes later, at 6.27pm, when the ship’s autopilot was disengaged. The inability to turn the ship to an easterly direction from the 340 degree course and stop the ship is attributed to the ship being in autopilot mode.
• Unsuccessful attempts were then made to manoeuvre the ship off the reef.
• Manawanui was brought to emergency stations after the grounding, and searches were conducted to check for damage.
• No damage or flooding was detected inside the ship. However, stability assessments made after the grounding indicated Manawanui was no longer stable.
• At approximately 6.46pm, about 30 minutes after the initial grounding, the decision was made to abandon ship.
• The timeliness of the decision to abandon ship and to keep Manawanui’s generators running contributed to the successful abandonment process and likely prevented serious injuries or death.
• The ship suffered a series of catastrophic fires after being abandoned, before capsizing and sinking on the morning of Sunday 6 October.

Header image: Left, Yvonne Gray (New Zealand Defence Force). Right, the HMNZS Manawanui sinking (Profile Boats).

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