NEW DESTROYERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 2, 3 January 1934, Page 5

NEW DESTROYERS

FIVE FROM ENGLAND. FLOTILLA REACHES SYDNEY. INSUBORDINATION DENIED. Sunlight was clearing the morning haze from' Sydney Harbour as, with that punctuality traditional to the Navy, the flotilla of five destroyers, the Stuart leading, entered the Heads on December 21. Low and rakish seahounds, seeming small against the bluff of the northern headland, the Waterhen, the Vendetta, the Vampire and the Voyager lined straight behind the Stuart, in that order. • « Handled with a swift efficiency, the destroyers tied up at 7.30 at Garden Island, and the commander, Captain A. G. Lilley, R.N., of the Stuart, who had been up all night, went to bath and breakfast preparatory to a busy morning of official calls. So ended a voyage of 12,000 miles, arduous for destroyers, which are built for short cruising, and for their officers and men. On loan from Britain to augment the Australian Navy, the destroyers already have the "H.M.A.s." on their deck lifebuoys. Details of Armament. Six torpedo tubes with 21in mouths are in two groups of three amidships. Fore and aft are 4.7 in guns, five of them on the Stuart, the other ships carrying four. Each ship mounts a searchlight and. anti-aircraft gun. The flotilla complement is 433, which is about a full complement for three ships, so that when the Vampire and t*e Vendetta, which are the two going out of commission, pay off, it is expected that their men will be absorbed on the other ships, - -

"It's moonshine to say there has been dissatisfaction aboard," said a coxswain. "We're being paid to bring these ships out, and we've brought 'em —ana we don't want the public to get the idea that we are squealing about the trip."

Reports of discontent and insubordination on the trip out were denied by Captain Lilley. "I have found the Australian ratings keen seamen and, on the whole, excellent fellows," he said.