The Royal New Zealand Navy ship, Manawanui, which ran aground and sank off the coast of Samoa last year was the result of a series of errors. This was found by a government investigation, which highlighted inadequate crew training and weak leadership, reports "Reuters", reports News.bg.
The final report of the court of inquiry indicates that the crew failed to identify the risks associated with the survey task the ship was carrying out and that supervision was insufficient.
"The direct cause of the ship's grounding was determined to be a series of human errors," the report says.
The Manawanui, a specialized diving and hydrographic vessel, ran aground on a reef in southern Samoa in October while carrying out surveys. All 75 crew members survived.
The interim report, published in November, found that the crew did not realise that the ship was on autopilot, leading to the misconception that the lack of response to control inputs was the result of a failure of the thruster. The final report confirmed these findings.
The Chief of the New Zealand Navy, Garin Golding, said the report "highlights the gap between the job as we envision it and the job as it is done", with a series of problems compounding the immediate cause.
Golding added that the navy had already started to implement some of the report's recommendations, while others would take longer.
Defence Minister Judith Collins told reporters that the government would announce "very shortly" plans for the country's defense capabilities, but did not give a specific deadline.
In New Zealand's National Security Strategy for 2023.