{{Short description|Passenger steamship (1912–1951)}} {{Italic title prefixed|3}} {{other ships|TEV Wahine}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:TSS Wahine in Wellington Harbour.jpg|thumb|In Wellington Harbour about 1936]] '''TSS ''Wahine''''' (meaning "woman" in Maori) was a [[Union Company|Union Steamship Company]] passenger [[steamship]] that was launched in Scotland in 1912 and wrecked in the [[Arafura Sea]] in 1951. She spent most of her career on inter-island [[ferry]] route between [[Wellington]] and [[Lyttelton, New Zealand]]. She was a [[minelayer]] in [[World War I]], and a [[troopship|troop ship]] in World War I, [[World War II]] and the [[Korean War]].<ref name=NZMR>{{cite web |url=http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/wahine1.htm |title=T.S.S. Wahine 1913 – 1951 |work=The New Zealand Maritime Record |publisher=New Zealand National Maritime Museum |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=27 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627115342/http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/wahine1.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[William Denny and Brothers]] built ''Wahine'' in [[Dumbarton]] as yard number 971. She was launched on 25 November 1912 and completed on 9 April 1913. Her registered length was {{cvt|375.0|ft}}, her beam was {{cvt|52.2|ft}} and her depth was {{cvt|23.7|ft}}. As built, her [[tonnage]]s were {{GRT|4436}} and {{NRT|1798}}. ''Wahine'' had three [[Propeller|screws]], each driven by a [[steam turbine]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?&ref=15463 |title=Wahine |work=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |access-date=15 August 2022}}</ref> High-pressure steam powered her [[port and starboard]] turbines. Exhaust steam from them powered a low-pressure turbine that drove her middle screw. To help her berth at Lyttelton, ''Wahine'' had a rudder on her bow as well as one in the conventional place at her stern.<ref name=NZMR/>

[[File:HMS Wahine 1917 IWM SP 423.jpg|thumb|As a minelayer in [[dazzle camouflage]] in 1917]] The [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|UK Admiralty]] chartered ''Wahine'' in July 1915. She was a troop ship, including in the [[Gallipoli campaign]]. In May 1916 she was converted into a minelayer. In March 1919 the Admiralty returned her to her owners, and in February 1920 she returned to the inter-island route.<ref name=NZMR/>

In November 1941 ''Wahine'' became a troop ship again. In January 1942 she was evacuating mostly women and children from [[Fiji]] to [[Auckland]] when a Japanese submarine tracked her. A US [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|Flying Fortress]] on escort duty sank the submarine with [[depth charge]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=F |year=2020 |chapter=6: Fiji and War in the Pacific |title=Miner with a Heart of Gold: biography of a mineral science and engineering educator |place= |publisher=Friesen Press |isbn=978-1-5255-7765-9}}</ref> On 19 December 1942 ''Wahine'' rammed and sank the minesweeping trawler ''[[Minesweepers of the Royal New Zealand Navy#Converted trawlers|South Sea]]'' inside [[Wellington Harbour]]. There was no loss of life.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/taranaki-daily-news/20070414/282071977457986 |newspaper=[[Taranaki Daily News]] |title=The South Sea scandal |date=14 April 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?194125 |title=HMNZS South Sea (T08) (+1942) |website=Wrecksite |access-date=27 May 2022}}</ref>

After World War II the Admiralty returned ''Wahine'' to her owners again. In 1946 she was refitted, and in February 1947 she was transferred to the [[Trans-Tasman]] Sea service between Wellington and [[Sydney]]. She served this route until the end of 1948, when she returned to Wellington as the relief ship for the route to Lyttelton.<ref name=NZMR/>

In July 1951 the New Zealand Government chartered ''Wahine'' to take [[Royal New Zealand Corps of Transport|New Zealand Army Service Corps]] troops to Korea. On 2 August she left Wellington carrying 577 troops. She called at [[Cairns]], [[Queensland]] and [[Darwin, Northern Territory]], where she left on 14 August. At 5:40&nbsp;a.m. on 15 August she ran hard aground on the Masela Island Reef off Cape Palsu in the [[Arafura Sea]], being held as far aft as her engine room. In response to her distress call, [[Standard Vacuum Oil Company]] tanker ''Stanvac Karachi'' rescued all aboard. Salvage attempts were unsuccessful and the ship was abandoned as a total loss.<ref name=NZMR/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{New Zealand inter-island ferries}} {{1951 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wahine}} [[Category:1912 ships]] [[Category:Cook Strait ferries]] [[Category:Korean War ships]] [[Category:Maritime incidents in 1951]] [[Category:Ships built on the River Clyde]] [[Category:Ships of the Union Steam Ship Company]] [[Category:Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean]] [[Category:Steamships of New Zealand]] [[Category:Troop ships]] [[Category:World War I minelayers]] [[Category:World War I ships of New Zealand]] [[Category:World War II ships of New Zealand]]