Fifty years dedicated to Navy

Commander Muzz Kennett, Warrant Officer Electronic Technician (WOET) Mark Naldrett-Jays MNZM and Chief Petty Officer Cryptologic Technician (CPOCT) Darby Allen MNZM, DSD are three graduates from training intake 75/1.

The trio celebrated 50 years of service last month with an intake reunion at Devonport RSA, which included the Deputy Chief of Navy Commodore Quentin Randall presenting them with their cap tally boards, detailing the ships and shore units they have served in. Commander Kennett, the youngest in an intake of around 180 boys, had the duty of cutting the reunion cake with the oldest intake member at the reunion.

Commander Kennett turned 16 two days before his arrival at training establishment HMNZS Tamaki on 15 January.

“You could join at 16. Your time in service until 17 and a half years was called boys’ time and didn’t count towards your actual time in service. That’s since been corrected.”

As a Boy Scout in Whangārei, he’d been thinking about joining the services. “Navy recruiters came to Whangarei Boys’ High School and awakened my interest. I sat the entrance exam and got accepted as a Weapons Electrical Mechanic. I was in the fifth form at that stage.”

He got on a bus to Auckland and took the ferry across the harbour to Tamaki. After basic training both he and WOET Naldrett-Jays did WEM training, then became radio mechanics. For this kind of technical trade, Navy life is about courses ashore, then going to sea, he says.

CDR Kennett likes to think of his Navy time as two careers, making Warrant Officer in the early nineties, then commissioning in 2002 and tackling a watchkeeping course, sending him on the path of a seaman officer career for the next 20-plus years. Notable postings include commands of Inshore Patrol Craft HMNZS Kahu and HMNZS Manawanui III, the Navy’s dive tender from 1988 to 2018.

His wife Gail might have remarked that command of Manawanui was “just getting your own fishing boat” but they accomplished a lot with that ship, he says. One highlight was taking Manawanui to the Solomon Islands in 2016 for Operation Render Safe, with divers removing explosive remnants of war.

He is currently in charge of the Navy’s Operation Performance Analysis Unit.

“Some people leave the Navy to have a second career, but I’ve had a pretty good one. There’s always ups and downs, and postings not as good as others, but this organisation has given me opportunities, and key to that is taking them. When the Navy has asked me to do things, I’ve done it.”

He's fond of Manawanui’s old official homeport, Whitianga, and is eyeing up retirement there.

WOET Naldrett-Jays was interviewed by the Navy Today magazine at the 45-year mark, where he commented on how the years “had snuck up on him”.

The intervening five years seems to have gone by at the same rate, he says.

He is currently the Navy’s Inspector Combat Systems, providing shore support for the fleet for all combat systems. But he’s not been short of recent sea postings, including two years posted in frigate-systems-upgraded HMNZS Te Mana.

As a teenager from Naenae, Lower Hutt, he says he enjoyed the camaraderie of basic training. In his trade he progressed from Weapons Electrical Mechanic to Radio Mechanic, which evolved to Electronics Technician.

“I’ve enjoyed every posting I’ve had. They’ve always been good to me, and I’ve always enjoyed myself. I joined to go to sea, and I still enjoy going to sea. I would always talk up the life to young people.”

He was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2003.

CPOCT Allen was 16 years and one month old when he joined. “I took the 4am train from Hamilton to Auckland and got met by a sailor at the train station. There was a bunch of us who hopped onto an open-backed truck and got driven over to Tamaki.”

He joined as a radio operator, reaching Chief Radio Supervisor and becoming the Navy’s first Communication Analyst.

“I’ve had thousands of hours of sea time. For me, the old HMNZS Canterbury frigate was one of the best ships around. I’ve been around the world twice, including the Silver Jubilee Royal Fleet Review at Spithead in 1977.”

CPOCT Allen was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1998 and received the Distinguished Service Decoration in 2009. He is currently the Head of School for the Communication Technician trades.

In 50 years, WOET Naldrett-Jays and CPOCT Allen say the biggest changes they’ve seen are the advances in technology.

“The introduction of the Anzac frigates, that was a huge change for us,” says CPOCT Allen. “I’ve served on both of them, and we had to understand the technology and adapt ourselves to meet that.”

CPOCT Allen says it’s the constant challenges that keeps in him in the Navy. “This ever-changing world we live in, where you’re trying to make a difference. I’ve done four tours in Afghanistan. And today’s tri-service environment means there’s always more challenges, always more variety.”