High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! HMS New Zealand was one of three Indefatigable-class battlecruisers built for the defence of the British Empire. Launched in 1911, the ship`s construction was funded by the government of New Zealand as a gift to Britain, and she was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1912. She had been intended for service on the China Station, but she was released by the New Zealand government at the request of the Admiralty for service in British waters.