10th Coast Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery

April 2022 10th Coast Regiment,Royal New Zealand Artillery Cap badge Royal New Zealand Artillery.png Cap badge of the Royal New Zealand Artillery 1940–1967 New Zealand New Zealand Army Coastal Artillery Wellington The 10th Coast Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery was a territorial coastal artillery regiment of the New Zealand Army. The regiment was formed in 1940 as 10th Heavy Regiment, New Zealand Artillery and controlled the coastal defence batteries around Wellington Harbour.Henderson Green Cooke 2008 318 The regiment was progressively expanded and by the end of the war had batteries all over the lower North Island.NZ Coastal Artillery Units of World War 2 http://riv.co.nz/rnza/rf/ww2/nz2.htm 2022-03-10 Royal New Zealand Artillery Association https://web.archive.org/web/20081015043526/http://riv.co.nz/rnza/rf/ww2/nz2.htm 15 October 2008 dead The regiment was reduced to a cadre in 1957 and disbanded in 1967, along with the other coastal artillery regiments (9th and 11th).Cooke Crawford 2011 322-323Cooke 2016 822-823 History thumb|One of the 9.2 inch guns at Wrights hill operated by the regiment, 1957 Since the First World War, the coastal defences of Wellington had come under a single battery, 15 Heavy Battery (15 Coast Battery prior to 1934). In March 1940, 15 Heavy Battery was broken up into three batteries and the overall force increased in manpower. The 10th Heavy Regiment was formed in July 1940 to command the Wellington defence batteries, which included both coastal artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. In 1941, the regiment was expanded to include the coastal artillery batteries which covered other ports in the lower North Island. At its peak size in 1943, the regiment consisted of eight batteries in nine locations:Cooke 2016 275-277 70 Battery (Palmer Head: three 6" Mk XXI) 71 Battery (Fort Dorset: two 6" Mk VII, two 4" Mk VII and four 12-pounder guns) 72 Battery (Fort Ballance: two 4" Mk VII, one twin 6-pounder and two 75 mm guns) 73 Battery (Opau, two 6" Mk VII guns) 77 Battery (Napier: two 6" Mk VII and four 40 mm Bofors. Gisborne: one 5" Mk VIII gun) 78 Battery (New Plymouth, two 155 mm, four 40-mm Bofors 140 Battery (Wanganui: one 5" Mk VIII Gun 165 Battery (Wrights Hill, two 9.2" Mk XV guns) The regiment name was changed to 10th Coast Regiment in October 1944Cooke 2020 77 and in the same year, the coastal defences were effectively mothballed. After the war it was decided that only the defences at Wellington should be kept in an operational state by a small peacetime garrison.Henderson Green Cooke 2008 365 In 1948 the territorial force was reorganised. All the New Zealand Artillery became part of the Royal New Zealand ArtilleryCooke Crawford 2011 287-288 and the batteries were renumbered as:Cooke 2020 87 101 Battery (Fort Dorset) 102 Battery (Palmer Head) 103 Battery (Fort Ballance) 104 Battery (Wrights Hill and the twin 6-pounder at Fort Ballance) It was decided in 1957 that the coastal artillery regiments were no longer necessary. The armament and equipment were placed on a care and maintenance basis, while the regiment was reduced to a cadre. Over the coming years, the equipment was scrapped and much of the facilities and land were sold off. The regiment eventually dropped to a single quartermaster sergeant, but continued to exist on paper until it was formally disbanded in 1967.Cooke Crawford 2011 322-323Cooke 2016 822-823 Notes Citations References Cooke Peter Defending New Zealand: Ramparts on the Seas 1840-1950s Defence of New Zealand Study Group 2016 Wellington 978-0-473-06833-2 Cooke Peter Crawford J. 2011 The Territorials Random House Auckland 978-1-86979-446-0 Henderson Alan Green David Cooke Peter D. F. The Gunners:A History of New Zealand Artillery Reed Publishing 2008 Auckland 978-07900-1141-7 Cooke Peter Wrights Hill: New Zealand's 9.2-inch Coast Defence Batteries Defence of New Zealand Study Group 2020 Wellington 978-0-473-50506-6 Category:Artillery regiments of New Zealand Category:Coastal artillery regiments Category:Military units and formations established in 1940 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1967