WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s defense minister has issued a stinging rebuke of what she called “vile” and “misogynistic” online comments by “armchair admirals” about the captain of a navy ship It ran aground, caught fire, and sank Off the coast of Samoa.
“Seriously, it’s 2024,” Judith Collins told reporters Thursday. “What the hell is going on here?”
After days of comments on social media directed against the gender of Commander Yvonne Grey, Collins urged the public to “be better”. Collins said female military personnel had also faced verbal abuse on the streets in New Zealand since the ship – one of nine in the country’s navy – was lost on Sunday.
All 75 people on board were evacuated to safety, sustaining only minor injuries after the ship ran aground on a reef it was surveying about a mile off the coast of Upolu, Samoa’s most populated island. The cause of the disaster is unknown.
“The only thing we really know that it wasn’t to blame was the gender of the ship’s captain, a woman with 30 years of maritime experience, who made the call at night to get her crew to safety,” Collins said.
She added that one of the posters was a truck driver from Melbourne, Australia.
“I think he should reserve his comments for the people who drive trucks rather than the people who drive ships,” Collins said. “These are the people I contact and I am happy to continue to contact them as long as necessary to stop this behavior.”
About 20% of New Zealand’s regular army personnel are women. Collins is New Zealand’s first female defense minister, and said she stood alongside Gray and Major General Rose King. The first woman to lead the army in the countrywho took over her role in June.
“We are all hired based on merit, not gender,” Collins said.
The sinking raised fears of a major fuel leak. Samoa officials said Thursday that while the ship was leaking oil from three places, the amount was decreasing every day and dissipating quickly due to strong winds in the area.
Most of the ship’s fuel appeared to have burned in the fire, according to a statement from the Marine Pollution Advisory Committee. Officials are scheduled to meet with local residents on Thursday to discuss how to remove the ship’s anchor and three shipping containers from the reef without harming the fragile marine ecosystem.
The New Zealand government ordered the formation of a military tribunal to investigate the incident, which will be headed by senior military officers. It will meet for the first time on Friday.
New Zealand Navy Commander Admiral Jarren Golding told reporters after the ship sank that passengers, including foreign civilian and military scientists, had left the ship on lifeboats in “difficult conditions” and darkness.
Those on board have since returned to New Zealand by plane.
The specialist diving and hydrograph vessel has been in service to New Zealand since 2019, but is 20 years old and was previously owned by Norway. The military said the ship, which was purchased for NZ$100 million ($61 million), was not covered by replacement insurance.
The state of New Zealand’s aging military equipment has prompted warnings from the Defense Agency, which in a report in March described the navy as “extremely fragile”, with ships grounded due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them. Of the eight remaining ships in the Navy, five are currently operational.
HMNZS Manawanui underwent a maintenance period prior to deployment, Golding said.
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