New Zealand’s Defense Minister Judith Collins has decried what she called misogynistic online comments about the woman commander of a navy ship which ran aground, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa on Sunday.

Collins said she was appalled to see online trolling from "armchair admirals, people who will never have to make decisions which mean life or death for their subordinates". She ad

Over the weekend, the Royal New Zealand Navy’s hydrographic, diving and salvage ship, HMNZS Manawanui, ran aground off the southern coast of Samoa. All 75 of the ship’s company abandoned ship safely and only minor injuries are reported.

Judith Collins said a "deeply concerning, misogynistic narrative" had been directed at Commander Gray and told one of her critics, a male truck driver from Melbourne, to stick to commenting about "driving trucks rather than driving ships".

New Zealand Defence Minister Collins has condemned sexist remarks blaming female captain for the HMNZS Manawanui sinking near Samoa.

The sinking of a Royal New Zealand Navy ship in the South Pacific had nothing to do with the fact that the British-born captain is a woman, the country’s defence minister said, criticising “armchair admirals” who are speculating on the causes of the disaster.

The Manawanui, the New Zealand Navy's specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, sank at a reef off the coast of Samoa that it was surveying.

New Zealand's Defence Minister on Thursday publicly criticised online trolling of the female captain of a naval vessel that sunk at the weekend, saying while the cause of the incident was unknown, it had nothing to do with the captain’s gender.

New Zealand’s Defense Minister Judith Collins has decried what she called misogynistic online comments about the woman commander of a navy ship which ran aground, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa on Sunday.