N.Z.'S NEW CRUISER.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 16, 20 January 1926, Page 8

N.Z.'S NEW CRUISER.

ARRIVES TO-MORROW. EXCELLENT " SEA SHIP. BUILT AT COST OF £900,000. ' H.M.s. Diomede, the second cruiser of the D class to be commissioned for the New. Zealand .Station, will arrive at Auckland from England at 10 o'clock to-morrow morning. The Diomede, which recently completed an extensive overhaul after some months of duty in China waters, has a displacement of about 4750 tons, being very similar in design to the Dunedin, which came out to the Dominion with the - Special Service ■ Squadron in May, 1924. She is 445 ft in length, and is I fitted with '40,000' h.p. oil-burning engines, which give'her a speed of approximately 29 knots. Like the Dunedin, the Diomede has six fiin guns and twelve torpedo tubes. > Her secondary armament, however, is slightly heavier than that of the older vessel. ' The Diomede, which is known as a protected light cruiser, was built at a cost of between £800,000 and £900,000, and carries a crew of 460 all i told. The Diomede came off the stocks in ; 1922, and after carrying out successful trials became attached to the sth Cruiser Squadron in the China Sea. While thus engaged she proved herself an excellent sea boat. She was recalled ■ about six months ago and refitted at Portsmouth. It is . interesting .to note that the Dominion's new cruiser is under the command of a New Zealander, Capt. J. S. M. Ritchie, of Christchurch. Captain Ritchie was educated at Wanganui College, and ! entered the Navy in 1899. Since tha 1 . date he has served on the Australian, China, and Mediterranean Stations, and also with the Atlantic Fleet. He was appointed to the rank of captain in 1923.