New Zealand would make HMNZS Canterbury available for use where the British thought fit to release a Royal Navy vessel for the Falklands

On 20 May 1982, Robert Muldoon announced that New Zealand would make HMNZS Canterbury, a Leander-class frigate, available for use where the British thought fit to release a Royal Navy vessel for the Falklands. The New Zealand government expelled the Argentinian ambassador following the invasion. The Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, was in London when the war broke out.