U-BOAT DETECTION

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 119, 22 May 1941, Page 5

U-BOAT DETECTION

TRAINING SCHOOL i SUCCESS OF GRADUATES ) _____ £ c Virile young Australian and New Zealand naval officers and ratings \ are playing their part manfully, j along with other representatives of c the British Empire, in the Battle of the Atlantic and in the Mediter- J ranean, and many of them are gradu-, ates from the anti-submarine school < in Sydney. < The school has made a valuable * contribution in the fight against the ". U-boat menace. Believed to be the. only one of its kind in the Empire' outside Great Britain, the school isi' at present working at high pressure and turning out several hundred officers and ratings a year. Most of these men are for small ships, destroyers and patrol craft, of the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy and the New Zealand Navy. |There has been no lack of recruits for the service, and, indeed, thfcj naval authorities have had a wide|, ■choice to select from. The men at the school are from all walks of life. Some are farmers' sens with a love for the sea. Most of the graduates have seen service, states the "Sydney Morning Herald." Many have been in action 'against enemy submarines, and I some have been decorated and mentioned in dispatches. One man, a , sub-lieutenant not long ago, has now ! been promoted to the rank of a ' lieutenant - commander with the j Royal Navy. . About 90 officers and several hun|dred ratings from the school are inow serving overseas. They are i nearly all Australian-born. Eleven per cent of the officers have been decorated. An English expert, a commander ! in the Royal Navy, started the school , ! six months before the outbreak ofj .ithe war. Since then it has grown' i I enormously in size and importance. -i He has found that the Australian (temperament is such that young [men Iα training want to know the

reasons for orders which are given. This quality, he says, has been an advantage, because it has helped them to learn about the anti-sub-marine equipment quickly. The Australians have shown themselves very adaptable to the-service. The actual work of anti-submarine men on a warship is to operate the Asdic submarine detection device, and when a submarine is located to give directions for the throwing of depth charges. The use of this equipment is taught in the Anti-submarine SchooL In service the device is operated bv ratings under the direction of ah officer. The present practice is to grant probationary commissions to young men who begin the course with the necessary educational and physical qualifications. The Intermediate Certificate is the minimum. At the end of their course, part of which is served in Melbourne and at sea, they are confirmed in their rank and drafted to ships. The course for ratings is shorter and the educaitional qualifications not so high.