Benefits
Centrally located for ease of deployment to either north or south. With south seas deployments to the Southern Ocean being the norm rather than the exception it is vital our ships and crews have a quicker trip.
The major assets our Army has is based at Waiouru, Linton and and Trentham. The majority of these are based at Linton, 3 - 4 hours by road (or rail) and straight onto new wharves at base of Ngauranga Gorge and on to Canterbury. Also a railhead to transfer capital equipment from northern bases.
Seasprite (and NH90's) will be moving from Whenuapai to Ohakea also a short trip to Wellington for deploying to helo-capable vessels.
Wellington, as a deep water port will take any sized ship (depth averages at 20m.). Currently I have all ships of the RNZN based in Port Nicholson (Whanganui a tara) except the IPV's which will retain a presence in the Auckland area.
Access to harbour tugs.
There is room for one more structure - a floating dock big enough to house Aotearoa if required. Thinking Wellington back in the day. This would be a civvy run affair with all Navy ships taking precedence over civvy requirements. My guess that will be slightly northeast from the proposed wharves (towards Petone).
So why HMNZS Neptune?? In WWII the greatest casualty for NZ ships was the sinking of HMS Neptune in the Med with 150 Kiwi's losing their lives. Stands to reason this base bear that name as a testament to them.
Here is my (very rough) drawing. Not to scale but for effect.
If you want to have your say - there is a Reply box at end of this blog.
Added 3/9/19
Word is there are two other options, Picton or Whangarei. The pros:
Whangarei - deep water harbour but restricted for space for shore facilities
Picton - centralised.
Cons:
Whangarei, moving the facilities and infrastructure away from a centralised area.
Picton, though central and deep water channels easy to block with sunken ships etc.
