So when you see pictures like above and people see why there is heaps of room for the frigate and navy vessels... Well the problem while this is somewhat true, ships like HMNZS Canterbury can not fit the Calliope Dry Dock. The new tanker HMNZS Aotearoa most definitely can not fit, and if the DCP 2019 is kept on path I would add the enhanced sealift vessel will most likely be too big as well.
The dry dock at Devonport Naval Base also does civilian commercial vessels as well but limited to the smaller end of the range of vessels that could use the facilities if they were available in New Zealand. As stated in the article the Interislander ferries could be serviced here in NZ instead of going overseas to get it done. The only other dry dock is at Lyttelton which is even smaller.
So why don't they just make Calliope bigger?
There simply is not the room to expand Calliope to the size that is needed to fit a vessel like Aotearoa in. But even if we could at a squeeze expand Calliope so it could fit a vessel like Aotearoa, if you are going to do a project like this you need to future proof your self so in reality, the dry dock needs to be bigger and be able to handle vessels much larger than the navy's current largest vessel (HMNZS Aotearoa) and there is no room at Calliope for that.
The dry dock was completed in 1888 so it is 131 years old (at the time of this article) It has had a few systems upgrades over the years from new gates to new pumps etc. Calliope will still have its use for small to medium-sized vessels.
