Damaged Submarine On Surface In Gale

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29336, 15 October 1960, Page 12

Damaged Submarine On Surface In Gale

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, Oct. 14. The British submarine Anchorite is bucketing through galeswept seas 300 miles north of Auckland tonight on her way back to Devonport with a damaged forward hydroplane. She has been ordered not to dive. The hydroplane, one of the forward and after sets which control the submarine’s diving and surfacing, similar to the way elevators control the altitude of an aircraft, is reported to be loose and thrashing about in the heavy seas.

The Anchorite was on her way from Auckland to Sydney with the British destroyer Carysfort when she reported the damage today. She was 220 miles west of North Cape and 400 miles north of Auckland. She is expected to reach port' tomorrow night.

The naval officer-in-charge, at Auckland (Commodore J. O’C. Ross) said there was a 35-knot south-westerly wind blowing and the seas were reported as “rough to very rough.” The hydroplane was jammed half in and half out. Hydroplanes were normally retracted when a

submarine was on the surface. The Anchorite was on the surface whep the fault was noticed and it was possible that she was exercising her hydraulics. It was not known what the damage was, said Commodore Ross. It was possible that a piston bad collapsed or that there was a fault in the gearbox. Apart from the likelihood of damage to machinery, there was no danger to the submarine or her crew.

The Anchorite was damaged 12 days, ago when she struck an uncharted rock pinnacle in the Hauraki Gulf while cruising at six knots 110 feet below the surface. She was sailed back to Auckland and docked. Damage to her port bow was repaired. She sailed on Wednesday two hours after leaving the dock. Commodore Ross said that, at this stage, there was no association between the damage sustained in the gulf and that reported today. With the Carysfort forming a navigational .“haven” around her, the Anchorite was making eight knots for Auckland tonight. It was reported from the Navy Office, Wellington, that an attempt would probably be made to retract the hydroplane in Auckland, so that the submarine could sail again for Sydney or that the hydroplane machinery would be flown to Sydney for repair and flown back to be replaced in the submarine.