Who would have thought that leaving a $100 million navy ship on autopilot, steaming directly toward a dangerous reef, would be a problem.
Now we all know. And Yvonne Gray, a “diversity hire” for the New Zealand Navy, is facing charges, along with two of her officers.
The Noticer in New Zealand explained that Gray and the two others have been charged with negligence and will face court martial.
The report said Gray faces a charge of negligently permitting a ship to be lost by allegedly being absent from the bridge while within one nautical mile of a reef, with an alternative charge of failing to perform a duty for the same alleged conduct.
A report at Not the Bee explained a “most viral” story was when Gray, “the lesbian captain of a New Zealand military ship,” allowed her to run aground and sink.
It was the HMNZS Manawanui that was lost, after costing $100 million to build and be commissioned in 2018 as a survey and dive vessel.
Gray had joined the New Zealand Navy after a career in the British Navy and moving to New Zealand after a vacation there with her lesbian partner.
Said Not the Bee, “The fact that she’s a lesbian wouldn’t have mattered as much if the woke officials at the New Zealand Defense Force hadn’t run a glowing article praising her for being a woman and a lesbian in an attempt to show how inclusive they are. Such practices have made the wider public wonder if people are being put in charge of warships because they are competent and qualified, or because they check a certain box!”
Further, the report said, “Essentially, the crew forgot that the ship was still in autopilot and then forgot to disengage the autopilot while trying to figure out what was going on with the vessel’s thrusters.”
The disaster happened Oct. 5, 2024, and had been under investigation since. New Zealand also has had to pay Samoa millions for the damages to the reef.
This incident further sparked more questions about DEI when the New Zealand Navy’s specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, The Manawanui, sank on Sunday on a reef off the coast of Samoa that it was surveying. Its 75 crew and passengers were ordered to abandon the vessel on life… pic.twitter.com/3GwMvx1LUY
— Victoria ⏳ (@Loveof1776) January 4, 2026
HMS Manawanui
Clean up job cost
$100 MILLION of Kiwi tax payer dollars.
Is this ANOTHER example of how DEI hires are a complete and utter disaster for all parties concerned ?? pic.twitter.com/k07P2GZZPA
— Commander DC (@nzpoliticsgroup) July 6, 2025
The New Zealand government will pay Samoa $3.51 million (USD) in compensation following the sinking of HMNZS Manawanui on a Samoan reef in October 2024.
Pollutants have been removed from the ship and plans to salvalge the wreck are still being considered pic.twitter.com/A3GgqiUYuS
— Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) October 6, 2025
New Zealand has paid Samoa NZ$6 million in compensation after a navy ship captained by a “diversity hire” lesbian ran aground on a reef and sank.
An inquiry found the HMNZS Manawanui crashed on October 5 last year due to human error, including failure to turn off autopilot. pic.twitter.com/eEzevIRwjJ
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) October 7, 2025
A lawyer for Gray called the complaints about his client “unjustified.”
The ship was one of just nine in the New Zealand Navy. It burned, capsized and sank after the grounding.
The report said, “Commander Gray, who moved to New Zealand with her ‘wife’ in 2012, was lauded in a June 2023 New Zealand Department of Defence press release celebrating her and three other female commanders, in which one gushed about a culture change in the navy due to a ‘focus on diversity, equity and respect for personnel.’”
Another female captain, Fiano Jameson, the report said, “crashed her own ship in May 2024.
