H.M.S. ACHILLES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 182, 30 April 1936, Page 10

H.M.S. ACHILLES

First Captain For New' Zealand Service THE NEW CRUISERS H.M.S. Aelitiles, the now cruiser which is to replace the Diomede in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, and which was until recently in the Second Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet, was to have been recommissioned for New Zealand toward the end jf March bv Captain L. G. Glennie, who has just completed the technical course for senior officers. Captain Glennie was among the senior naval students at the Imperial Defence College last year, and the Achilles will be his first command as a captain. He was promoted captain in December, 1933, while in command of H.M.S. Blanche and a division of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean. When the Great War began, Captain Glennie was serving as a sub-lieu tnenant of the cruiser Hampshire. After promotion to lieutenant early in 1915, he served in the flotilla-leaders Broke and Ithuriel, and, from March, 1918, in command of the destroyer Nepean. He was promoted commander in April, 1923, and since then has commanded the destroyer Wishart and served in the Ordnance Department. He graduated at the Naval Staff College in 1929. The Achilles, which is one of the ■five cruisers of the Leander class, has a displacement of 7030 tons on an overall length of 554 feet 6 inches, a breadth of 55 feet 8 inches and a mean draught of 16 feet. Built by Cammell, Laird and Co., Ltd., at Birkenhead, tne Achilles was completed in 1933, when she was first commissioned for service in the Second Cruiser Squadron. She carries eight 6in. guns, four 4in. antiaircraft guns and 21 smaller guns, and is fitted with eight 21in. torpedo-tubes. She also carries a seaplane. The Achilles is fitted with geared turbine engines of 72.000 horse-power, giving her a speed of 321 knots. She carries a complement of 570 officers and men. The Leander, name-ship of the class, will join the Achilles on the New Zealand station later in the year, when she replaces H.M.S. Dunedin. In comparison with the new ships, the Dunedin and Diomede have a displacement of 4850 tons and a speed of 29 knots, and are armed with six 6in. guns, three 4in. anti-aircraft, guns, nine smaller guns and four triple torpedo-tubes.