was berthed at Devonport Naval Base until the problems could be addressed; this was slow in coming, and by June 1997, Charles Upham was being referred to as "the Calliope South Windbreak". Delays included a reassessment of Defence finances and operational requirements prioritising spending on the Army, and government calls for an independent report into the ship's acquisition and suitability for conversion. The report found that the vessel had been acquired reasonably and was suitable for modification, although the new Alliance Party criticised this review as a whitewash. In October 1997, Cabinet agreed that conversion of the vessel would be considered in 2000, near the end of the three-year planning cycle. A month later, the Alliance Party published The Scandal of The Chales Upham the first of two booklets criticising the ship and her acquisition. By April 1998, pressures on the defence budget caused priority for funding the conversion to be reduced, and the RNZN made Charles Upham available for civilian charter until such funding became available again. In early 1998, the ballast tanks were refitted, and an STP was installed. On 12 May 1998, Charles Upham sailed on a bareboat charter to Spanish company Contenemar SA, where she was used to transport oranges and lemons around the Mediterranean. The Alliance Party released their second booklet, The Biggest Lemon Ever to Leave Auckland, in July 1998, which claimed the sealift ship was "doing a passable imitation between a lemon and a white elephant". To counter the claims being made by the Alliance Party and sections of the media, the Audit Office compiled an internal report in September commenting on the allegations, along with other advice received by the government relating to the ship. To serve the public interest, Defence Minister Max Bradford authorised full disclosure of all information the Ministry of Defence and the RNZN could make public, resulting in the November 1998 publication of the document Official Information Pertaining to the Military Sealift Project HMNZS Charles Upham. In July 1999, the Cabinet gave approval in principle for the conversion to occur. An election in November 1999 saw the transition from the Fourth National Government to the Fifth Labour Government, and a new review into Charles Upham was ordered. The Sealift Review was completed in November 2000, and found that although the ship had limitations, retaining and modifying the vessel was the most cost-effective option for maintaining a strategic sealift