Royal Navy ships to call at Lyttelton

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34047, 10 January 1976, Page 11

Royal Navy ships to call at Lyttelton

About 340 officers and men of the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary will descend on Lyttelton on Tuesday for a week’s shore leave and a taste of southern hospitality.

The men are from H.M.S. Llandaft, an aircraft direction frigate, and the stores support vessel Resurgent. The ships are part of a Royal Navy group deployment engaged on a round-the-world trip. H.M.S. Llandaff was launched by Countess Mountbatten in November,

1955, and received her first commission in March, 1958. When first built, her design was considered revolutionary, and marked the beginning of today’s modern, streamlined Navy. She is powered by eight diesel engines giving a range and economy of fuel far in excess of a standard vessel of comparable size. She is equipped with a comprehensive radar system, and has an all-round weapon-handling capability. H.M.S. Llandaff was the first Royal Navy vessel to have plastic used extensively in her living quarters, and was also the first to use nylon and terylene ropes. She displaces 2100 tons, and is captained by Commander G. Oxley. The Resurgent has slightly more humble origins. She was built in 1951 for the

China Navigation Company as a passenger ship on the United Kingdom-Far East run. and was then known as the Changchow 111. She joined the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1953 and since then has served throughout the world replenishing Royal Navy ships with ammunition and naval and victualling stores. The Resurgent displaces 14,400 tons and is commanded by Captain C. Gordon Butterworth. ARRIVALS Nil. DEPARTURE Port Auckland (2.43 p.m.), 10,200, Capt. V. A. Hunt, Napier (Blue Star Port Line). Japan Totara ( ),7009, Capt. F. Fukuhara (Japan Line). EXPECTED ARRIVALS Turakina. Wellington, today. Cosmas, Marsden Point, today. Frysna, Auckland, today. Coastal Trader, Auckland, January 12.