Calliope Dock facts for kids

Royal Navy steam-and-sail corvettes HMS Calliope and HMS Diamond in the dock during opening festivities 1888.

Survey ship HMNZS Resolution of the Royal New Zealand Navy in the dock in 2008.

The Calliope Dock is a historical stone dry dock on the grounds of the Devonport Naval Base, in Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand. It was built in 1888 to service ships of the British Royal Navy, and is still in use today.

As built it measured 525 ft (160 m) by 110 ft (34 m), narrowing to 80 ft (24 m) at the gate. The water on the sill was 33 ft (10 m) deep. It was extended in 1936, 1943 (to 185 m (607 ft)) and again in 1996.

History

At the time of its construction, it was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and a strategic asset for the Royal Navy. It was named for Calliope Point, out of which it had been hewn by hand over three years. Coincidentally, one of the two first ships to enter it (as a show of her capacity) was HMS Calliope. Administered at first by the Auckland Harbour Board, the dock was transferred to the navy when the Auckland naval base moved from Torpedo Bay to Devonport, into a swamp area next to the dock.