8 December 2008
Rear Admiral Jack Steer, Vice Chief of Defence Force, will join Navy Veterans, their friends and family members when they gather at the Bridge of Remembrance on Sunday 14 December at 1030 am to commemorate those who have lost their lives at sea in service to New Zealand.
The service is conducted annually on the Sunday nearest to the 19 th of December, as it was on that night 67 years ago (1941), off the coast of Tripoli, Libya, that HMS Neptune struck mines and sank resulting in the loss of all 150 New Zealanders on board. 21 of those lost were from Christchurch.
The death of two officers and 148 ratings is the greatest number of casualties ever suffered by the Royal New Zealand Navy in a single incident. Neptune had been destined to become our country's third cruiser, along with Achilles and Leander; hence the large number of New Zealanders on board.
A total of 561 New Zealander's lost their lives in Navy service during WWII and a further 181 have been lost since the end of that war. These figures do not include the many New Zealand merchant navy men who also lost their lives.
The service will be conducted by Army Chaplain Leon O'Flynn.
The media and members of the public are warmly welcome to attend the Memorial Service.
ENDS
For further information please contact Commander Rex Edwards (03) 353 4050 or 0274 723 852
There are currently 665 New Zealand Defence Force personnel deployed on 16 peacekeeping operations, UN missions and defence exercises around the world.