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.