FEAT ACCLAIMED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 172, 22 July 1940, Page 7

FEAT ACCLAIMED.

AUSTRALIA REJOICES.

Two Fights, Two Kills, Is Record Of Ships Named Sydney.

HAPPY COINCIDENCE.

United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received noon.) SYDNEY, this day. The cruiser Sydney's exploit is acclaimed throughout Australia. Flags arc being flown on all Government buildings to-day in honour o: the "great naval exploit." The news created a thrill throughout the Commonwealth, and became the subject of favourable comment iu naval circles.

The first naval member of the Australian Xaval Board. Admiral Sir Ragnar Colvin, said: "The outcome of the engagement is no more than 1 shoulJ have expected from my knowledge of the Sydney's captain, Captain Collins. It is a happy coincidence that the new Sydney should have distinguished herself in the same manner as her predecessor of the same name at Cocos Island in the last war."

Mr. A. Cameron, Minister of the Navy, was delighted at the Sydue\ "a success. He added: '"Two engagements, two kills —that is the proud record of the ships with the name of Sydney." He recalled that it was the Australian destroyer Voyager that sank an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean last month.

The Prime Minister, Mr. R. G. Menzies, expressing delight at the Sydney's achievement in the Mediterranean, and also acknowledging the congratulatory cablegram from the Xew Zealand Prime Minister, the Et. Hon. P. Fraser, said: "It was a fine exploit. It makes the name of Sydney a household word, and indissolubly links it with the great traditions of the British cXavy. It seems only the other day when I and some of my colleagues went out through the Heads in H.M.A.S. Sydney to witness a shoot."

Captain J. A. Collins, who is a Tasmanian, is regarded as an outstanding officer, and is particularly skilled in gunnery. The Sydney's crew is almost wholly Australian, 40 per cent being from New South Wales, 30 per cent from Victoria, and the remainder fron: other States.