A NAVAL CRUISE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 157, 31 March 1937, Page 10

A NAVAL CRUISE

Seven Australian Ships Coming VISIT TO DOMINION Arrival at Wellington on Saturday A naval event of considerable interest will be the arrival at Wellington on Saturday morning of a squadron comprising most of the active service ships of the Royal Australian Navy. The three available ships on the New Zealand station, 11.M.5. Achilles, flagship of Rear-Admiral the Hon. E. 11. Drummond, and the escort sloops Wellington and Leith, will meet the Australian ships in the Tasman Sea and carry out exercises with them before coming into Wellington. The assembly of ships at Wellington will provide the greatest concentration of British naval power since the visit of the Special Service Squadron about 15 years ago. The ships of the Royal Australian Navy which are coming to Wellington are 11.M.A.5. Canberra, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral It. IL O. Laue-Poole. C. 8., 0.8. E., the cruisers Australia and Sydney, the destroyer flotilla leader Stuart, the destroyers Vendetta and Waterhen and the escort sloop Swan. Combined Exercises at Sea. At 9 o’clock this morning H.M.S. Achilles will put to sea from Wellington and will overtake the escort sloops Wellington and Leith, which departed last night. The three ships will meet, the Australian Squadron in the eastern Tasman Sea, to carry out a series of exercises extending over two days before coming to Wellington, where they will arrive on Saturday morning. The Swan will leave the other ships nt sea and will proceed direct to New Plymouth for a visit of two days. She is due here next Tuesday.

On April 7 H.M.S. Achilles, with the Wellington and Leith, will leave Wellington for the Hanraki Gulf to carry out a week’s exercises. The Australian ships will depart from Wellington on the same day for a tour of New Zealand ports, and subsequently will join up again with the New Zealand ships, tlie two squadrons arriving at Auckland ou April 16. Australian Ships’ Tour. The following coastal itinerary lias been arranged for the Australian ships: Canberra and Sydney, at Lyttelton, April 8 to 13: Australia at Port Chalmers. April 8 to 13; Stuart and Vendetta at I’ictou, April 7 to 9, and at Dunedin, April 10 to 13; Swan at Napier, April 8 to 12 and at Gisborne, April 12 to 15; Waterhen at Nelson April 7 to 9, and at Timaru, April 10 to 13. The whole Australian squadron will be at Auckland from April 16 to 21.

Arrangements are well in hand for the entertainment of the visiting officers and men in Wellington, and a schedule is being drawn up. On Saturday afternoon there will be Rugby and Soccer matches for the men, and a dance for four or tire hundred petty officers and uteu has been arranged by the Navy League on Monday night. The Navy League has also arranged a dance in honour of RearAdmiral Lane-Poole and his officers on Saturday night. On Tuesday a Ministerial luncheon will be tendered at Parliament Buildings. As announced yesterday, 1000 ranks and ratings from the Australian and New Zealand ships will march through tlie city on Tuesday morning. Powerful Cruisers. The Australia and Canberra, both of which have visited Wellington on previous oeeasious, are the largest units of the Royal Australian Navy. They are cruisers of 9870 tons displacement, 630 ft. in length and 68ft. 4in. in breadth, with a mean draught of 16ft. 3in. They were built by John Brown and Co., Ltd., at Clydebank, in 1927-28. Each ship carries eight Sin. guns, four 4in. anti-aircraft guns, and 24 smaller guns as well as eight 21in. torpedotubes. Fitted with geared turbine engines of 80,000 horse-power, the Canberra and Australia have a speed of 314 knots.

Tlie cruiser Sydney, which belougs to the -same class as the Achilles, very closely resembles that ship, but has two funnels in place of the one big “trunked” funnel of the New Zealand ship. Originally begun as the Phaeton under the Imperial Government’s 1932 construction programme, the Sydney was subsequently taken over by the Commonwealth Government. Built by Swan, Hunter aud Wigham Richardson, Ltd., at Wallsend-on-Tyne, the Sydney was completed in September, 1935, and commissioned by her present commander, Captain J. U. P. Fitzgerald, R.N. On November 1, 1935, the Admiralty announced that the Commonwealth Government had placed the Sydney at the disposal of the British Government and she temporarily relieved the Achilles on the Second . Cruiser Squadron, Homo Fleet, at Gibraltar. The Sydney lias a displacement of 7000 tons and measures 560 ft. in length and 56ft. Sin. iu breadth, with a mean draught of 15ft. Sin. She is armed with eight 6in„ four -lin. (antiaircraft) and 21 smaller guns and two quadruple 2lin. torpedo-tubes. She also carries one seaplane. The Sydney, which has a speed of 324 knots, carries the name of the Australian cruiser which destroyed the German cruiser Emden at Cocos-Keeling Island in November, 1914. Destroyers and a Sloop. The Stuart is a destroyer flotilla leader built in 1918 and presented by the Imperial Government, with several destroyers to Australia some years ago. With a displacement of 1530 tons, she measures 332 ft. 6in. in length and 31ft. 9in. in breadth. She has a maximum speed of 364 knots, and is armed with five 4.7 in. guns, one Sin. anti-aircraft and seven U_cht guns. The Vendetta and Waterhen, built in 1917-18, are destroyers of 1090 tons displacement, 312 ft. in length and 29Jft. in widtli. They have a speed of 34 knots and are armed with four 4in. and six light guns and six torpedotubes.

The Swan is an escort sloop of the same type as the Wellington and Leith. Like her sister ship, tlie Yarra. tlie Swan was built nt Cockatoo Island. Sydney, nnd wns completed only a few months ngo.