27/06/2026
On this day, sixty years ago in June 1966, HMNZS Hickleton participated in an armed action that led to the award of a DSC to the Commanding Officer, LT CDR Peter Wright and a DSM to AB Charles Taylor for their courageous actions.
For background, let's journey back to early 1965, when, during the Indonesian Confrontation, the Government of New Zealand offered military assistance to the newly formed Federation of Malaysia. The offer took the form of the New Zealand Navy manning two Royal Navy Ton-class minesweepers, Hickleton and Santon. The ships would conduct anti-infiltration patrols to counter the increasingly aggressive Indonesian actions toward Malaysia. The Royal Navy would meet the running costs of the two ships while the RNZN paid the ship’s companies. There were three rotations of ship companies for each ship during its commission.
The minesweepers were joined by a Royal Navy vessel. The ships worked in two-week cycles, in three patrol areas. All the vessels patrolled at night on set patterns. During the day, one of the three vessels was on patrol duty. At night, the ships were kept darkened.
In late June 1966, Hickleton departed from the Sarawak patrol area, bound for Singapore. During the passage, the crew were employed preparing the ship for a visit by the Governor General of New Zealand, Brigadier Sir Bernard Fergusson.
At about 0930 am on 28 June, while approaching the Singapore Straits in fine weather, a 6m kumpit (large, traditional, wooden-hulled vessel), powered by a small outboard motor, was sighted about three miles northwest of the Horsburgh lighthouse. The craft was about 180m off Hickleton’s starboard bow, tracking south across the ship’s path. The Officer of the Watch, Gunnery Officer SLT Wilson, observed that the craft was carrying three men in military uniform and a boatman. He promptly called the Commanding Officer, LT CDR Peter Wright, who in turn ordered ‘Approach Stations’ (order for approaching a suspicious vessel).
As Hickleton passed astern of the kumpit, the crew brought up and mounted Bren guns, port-side twin Vickers machine guns, and Lanchester machine guns to the bridge and port quarter. Meanwhile, LT CDR Wright took control from the port bridge wing whilst Midshipman Churchill manned the conning voice pipe.
The ship approached within 18 m of the craft and ordered it to stop. The ship’s interpreter had been left at Kuching, so SLT Wilson repeatedly called the Malay word Berhenti, meaning stop, through a powered megaphone. The repeated verbal and hand signal orders to stop were ignored. The kumpit could not outrun the ship. However, its maneuverability enabled it to keep turning back on itself whilst Hickleton tried to get it alongside.
After about ten minutes of maneuvering around each other, at less than 50m, LT CDR Wright ordered the bridge Bren gun to fire single shots across the kumpit’s bow. These warning shots were also ignored. Further shots were then aimed at the craft’s outboard motor in an effort to immobilise it. One of the Indonesian crew members then lifted a heavy machine gun from below the gunwale and fired at Hickleton from about 40m. LT CDR Wright ordered ‘All guns open fire!’ and the kumpit was immediately immobilised with a burst of fire from Hickleton’s machine guns. At the same time the kumpit boatman dived or fell, overboard and was towed behind the crippled craft.
Physical damage to Hickleton was limited to a small bullet hole in the bridge superstructure above the port Vickers’ mounting, and another in the signalman’s flag locker and funnel casing. During the action, SLT Wilson shouted down a voice pipe to the ship’s radio operator to send a flash radio signal to the Fleet Commander.
The signal stated, ‘Have engaged armed sampan vicinity Horsburgh Light; request medical assistance.’ Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, the radio operator accidentally left out the word medical and Royal Navy ships exercising to the north, having intercepted the radio message, swung into action. The frigate, HMS Plymouth, raced south at high speed with her gun crews closed up while the aircraft carrier, HMS Eagle, launched supporting aircraft.
With the action over, Hickleton then investigated three other small craft nearby before returning to the scene of the incident. Of the four persons in the sampan, two had been killed and two were seriously wounded. The wounded were ordered to remove their trousers before climbing on board Hickleton. This was to avoid hand grenades or other weapons being smuggled onto the ship. The prisoners were then restrained and moved aft to the sweep-deck. Indonesian Marine identity papers were found on the prisoners.
As Hickleton had no medical staff on board, the CO ordered the transfer of the wounded sailors to the Royal Navy frigate for medical attention. It is understood that both wounded men died of their wounds the following day.
Following the action the Governor General, Sir Bernard Fergusson, announced that the Queen had been pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished service in operations in Malaysia.
Lieutenant Commander Wright was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his ‘able and courageous handling of a difficult situation’ on 28 June 1966 when his ship was returning to Singapore after an exercise in Borneo waters.
Able Seaman Charles Taylor was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his courageous, cool and controlled action in the face of enemy fire.
This was the first engagement of gunfire with an enemy by a Royal New Zealand Navy ship since the Korean War and the last in the 20th Century. Images show two telegrams AB Taylor received, a letter of congratulations from CO Hickleton, LT CDR Peter Wright and the gazette listing of both his and LT CDR Wright's awards. The last image is of Charles, known as Ken, probably with his parents, wearing his DSM. Read more about Hickleton on our website: https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-collections/ships/hickleton-and-santon/ Read more about AB Taylor's service on our medal's website: https://medals.navymuseum.co.nz/profile/taylor-charles-kenneth/
