venues, but were seen as an unacceptable loss in capability. Around the same time, the 1984-elected Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand implemented a nuclear-free zone, which incensed the United States of America and led to a deterioration of relations between the two nations, including the American withdrawal of support for New Zealand under the ANZUS security treaty. In response, the New Zealand government sought to improve ties with Australia; one such avenue was to promote military interoperability between the countries by standardising equipment and procedures where possible. The Australian NSC project was seen to have "virtually identical" requirements to the RNZN's proposed Replacement Combat Ship concept, and the need to replace the warships dovetailed with the need to improve relations with Australia. On 6 March 1987, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the two nations and RNZN representatives were invited to collaborate on the project. To recognise their involvement, the project was renamed the Anzac Ship Project, taking the name from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps of World War I. The New Zealanders' involvement was structured to allow their involvement in the selection of the design and shipyard and explore options for New Zealand industry involvement: when the time came to commit, they could either continue cooperating into the construction stage of the project, independently order the ships from the designer or abandon the project entirely. The proposed baseline characteristics called for a vessel capable of reaching speeds of and a range of at based on a Combined diesel or gas (CODOG) propulsion system, able to operate in Sea State 5, and capable of operating a Seahawk-size helicopter. The ship was to be fitted with a main gun and an eight-cell launcher for a point-defence missile system, and fitted for but not with a torpedo system, anti-ship missiles, and a close-in weapons system. Tenders were requested by the project at the end of 1986, and 19 submissions were made, 12 of which included ship designs: the Netherlands' M-class (later Karel Doorman-class) frigate, a design based on the German MEKO 200 multipurpose frigate design, Italy's Maestrale-class frigate, the French F2000 design, the Canadian Halifax-class frigate, the German Type 122 (later Bremen-class frigate), Norway's Nordkapp-class offshore patrol vessel, the British Type 23 frigate (which was proposed by two different shipyards), South Korea's Ulsan-class frigate, and an airship design proposed by Airship Industries. By August 1987, a cost ceiling