Frigates were also sent to participate in the first Gulf War, and more recently Operation Enduring Freedom. The RNZN has played an important part in conflicts in the Pacific as well. Naval forces were utilised in the Bougainville, Solomon Islands and East Timor conflicts of the 1990s. The RNZN often participates in United Nations peacekeeping operations. The Navy's operational authority was the Commodore, Auckland, from 1 January 1961 which changed to the Maritime Commander in March 1993 (now the Maritime Component Commander. Among the Commodores Auckland was Commodore J O'C Ross, who later wrote "The White Ensign in New Zealand", and later Rear Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff John McKenzie. The RNZN has played a much broader role than just conflict-related activities. Since 1946, it has policed New Zealand's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone for fisheries protection. It also aids New Zealand's deployment in Antarctica, at Scott Base. One of the best-known roles that the RNZN played on the world stage was when the frigates and were sent by the Labour Government of Norman Kirk to Moruroa Atoll in 1973 to protest against French nuclear testing there. The frigates were sent into the potential blast zone of the weapons, where both ships witnessed one airburst test each which forced France to then change to underground testing. In May 1982 Prime Minister Rob Muldoon seconded the frigate "Canterbury" to the Royal Navy for the duration of the Falklands War. "Canterbury" was deployed to the Armilla Patrol in the Persian Gulf, to relieve a British frigate for duty in the South Atlantic. "Canterbury" was herself relieved by in August. Until the 1960s, the RNZN had, in common with other Dominion navies, flown the White Ensign as a common ensign. Post-war, the foreign policies of these independent states had become more distinctive and there was a wish and a need for separate identities, particularly if one Dominion was engaged in hostilities where another was not. Thus, in 1968, the RNZN adopted its own ensign, which retains the Union Flag in a top quarter but replaces the St George's Cross with the Southern Cross constellation that is displayed on the national flag. The hydrographic survey ship of the RNZN until 2012 was , succeeding the long-serving . "Resolution" was used to survey and chart the sea around New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. A small motor boat, SMB "Adventure", was operated from "Resolution".