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by pjleonhardt
3072 days ago
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> all nuclear weapons are banned > US navy is banned from operating in NZ waters as they don't disclose what ships are nuclear powered or carrying weapons One does not lead to the other. All of the US submarines and air craft carriers are nuclear powered (and no other ships). None of the aircraft carriers have nuclear weapons, and only the SSBN submarines can carry nuclear weapons on board. If your second statement is true (I don't know), then it is likely that NZ also is banning any nuclear powered ships; not just those with nuclear weapons. |
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The ban on US Navy vessels stemmed from the fact that technically, any US Navy ship could carry nuclear weapons, and the USA would neither confirm nor deny if a particular ship had nuclear weapons. It was a bit of a hangover from the Cold War. The USA wasn't very happy at all in 1984 when NZ declared itself nuclear free.
Not all US Navy ships are banned in NZ waters now, a US Navy destroyer (USS Sampson) visited in 2016 for the Royal New Zealand Navy's 75th birthday, and ended up helping in disaster recovery when the magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake happened at the same time, alongside the Canadian Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Japanese Navy. To reciprocate the favour, the frigate HMNZS Te Kaha joined the Nimitz carrier group to replace the USS Fitzgerald after it collided with a container ship.
Military relations with the USA have improved markedly in the past decade. Due to the whole nuclear free thing, the NZ Navy wasn't allowed to dock in the military area in Pearl Harbour for years, they had to dock with all the civilian ships, but now they're allowed to dock in the military area. They've also participated in RIMPAC since 2012.