The NZ Prime Minister Sid Holland decided to accept to purchase a reconditioned "Royalist" for £4 million in March 1955 after a seven week visit to the US and UK where he met Richard Nixon, John Foster Dulles and Churchill who stressed the reality of hydrogen bombs. Holland told the NZ Parliament than he was more influenced by the advice of the British Minister of Defence Harold Macmillan, to refocus NZ defence on the Pacific and shorter lines of communication to the SE Asia rather than Middle East. British First Sea Lord and Admiralty Minister stressed the availability of 'Royalist' and that an order of two or three anti-submarine frigates would probably proceed, the T12 type was untested and unproven, and the RN viewed it was desirable to wait for new types of frigates suitable for NZ conditions with more gun power and anti-submarine capability: modified Whitby-class frigates or redesigned Type 41 frigates with 3/70 or 4/62 gun turrets effective against missiles and jets