KING’S VISIT TO FLEET

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22436, 24 June 1938, Page 11

KING’S VISIT TO FLEET

MODERN SEA BATTLE REHEARSED MESSAGE OF CONGRATULATION TO COMMANDER [umsH om<m wieelsss.) RUGBY, June 22. At the conclusion of his visit to the Home Fleet, the King sent the following message to the Com-mander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet and the Captain-in-Charge at Portland:

“My short visit to the Home Fleet afforded me the greatest pleasure, and it has also been full of interest for me. I congratulate all ranks and ratings, both afloat and ashore, on their high standard of efficiency and the marked progress which I can see is being made in every direction.” The King spent the morning inspecting the shore establishments at Portland Dockyard. He devoted considerable time at the anti-sub-marine school to see the newest devices for detecting and dealing with submarines. He later made a visit to the cruiser Southampton while many phases of a modern sea battle were actively rehearsed. At the moment of the King’s arrival a gas attack by enemy aircraft was supposed to be imminent, and officials and ratings, all in gas masks, were ready to defend the ship. As the King went forward along the quarter-deck, anti-aircraft guns were firing at imaginary enemy aeroplanes, and suddenly a Walrus amphibian aircraft was catapulted across the flight-deck at a terrific speed and soared up to try to engage the raiders, Aircraftsmen, who were ghostly figures in gas masks and protective clothes, rushed to the hangar, brought out a second Walrus and hoisted her to the catapult machine, and in a remarkably short time she was in the air.

It was a triumph of organisation and an impressive display of the cruiser’s air defence forces. A Royal Salute was fired as the King left for the shore, and holiday crowds and townsfolk lined the streets of Weymouth and cheered His Majesty enthusiastically as he drove to the station and entrained for London.