NAVAL ACTIVITIES

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 293, 6 September 1932, Page 9

NAVAL ACTIVITIES

Warships in the Gulf DAY AND NIGHT FIRING For the next few weeks the cruisers of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy will be carrying out gunnery exercises in the Hauraki Gulf. H.M.S. Dunedin is in the gulf at present, and will return on Thursday. On September 12, she will leave port in company with H.M.S. Diomede, flagship of the squadron, and the two cruisers will carry out a complete programme of combined gunnery exercises with the co-operation of one of the sloops and aircraft from the Hobsonville air base. Day and night firing will be carried out by the cruisers when they are in the gulf together. They will also carryout a concentration shoot, when the target will be towed by one of the sloops, and there will be the usual antiaircraft gun practice, with a target towed by an aeroplane. The Diomede and Dunedin will leave Auckland on October 3 on their cruises to southern ports. They will return together on December 9, and will then remain in port until after the New Year, while Christmas leave is granted. The two sloops, H.M.S. Veronica and H.M.S. Laburnum, are due back from their annual Island cruises this month. The Veronica will arrive at Auckland on Monday after a cruise of over two months, during which she has visited Noumea, Ocean Island, and the Fiji group, as well as other Islands in the Pacific. The Laburnum is due back at Auckland on September 19.