TSS Wahine I 1913-1951

Designed especially for the Wellington-Lyttelton service, the TSS Wahine I was launched in 1912. The TSS Wahine I was similar to the Māori in construction and ran in conjunction with it in the Wellington-Lyttelton service from 1913.  

The TSS Wahine I had a passenger capacity of 852. It was 114.3 metres in length and could do up to 20.5 knots. It was built to Lloyds 100 A class and had a double bottom. The propelling machinery consisted of three sets of turbines supplied with steam from water-tube boilers. 

In 1915, the UK Admiralty requisitioned the TSS Wahine I for employment as a minelayer and troopship. It was involved in many missions, including the Gallipoli campaign, and carried out 76 operations laying over 11,000 mines.

During World War II, the TSS Wahine I was again employed as a troopship on a variety of missions in the Pacific and 38 years after launching was employed in the Korean War as a troop carrier.

In 1946 it was refitted and transferred to the Trans-Pacific passenger service between Sydney and Wellington, which it carried out until the end of 1948.

It came to grief when it ran aground and was abandoned on Masela Island in the Arafura Sea on 15 August 1951 while carrying New Zealand troops to Korea.