COAST DEFENCE IN N.Z.

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 289, 5 September 1945, Page 6

COAST DEFENCE IN N.Z.

Wellington During The War NO MATCH FOR BIN. GUN CRUISER As far back as 1036 requisitions were placed by New Zealand with the War Office for heavier artillery capable of engaging an Sin. gun cruiser. Such demands were then being made that it was only recently that the final equipment for operating such heavy weapons—-the piece alone weighs nearly 30 tons—was to hand, and in course of installation. The requisitions, which were placed between 1936 and 1938, did not menu that the New Zealand Army was anticipating war; merely that it was known from authoritative sources that Germany and Japan were building Sin. gun cruisers, and it was necessary to have artillery capable of engaging them.

Other demands had to have preference over those of New Zealand. The result was that during the entire war period there was no coastal artillery in tbe country capable of engaging an S-inch cruiser. There was the air arm to bomb such an intruder, but the fact of an attack not resulting is further evidence of the good fortunes of New Zealand at a critical period. A Wellington battery fired what is believed to be the first shot by coastal artillery in this war—a warning shot at the British ship. City of Delhi, which did not obey the Navy instruction to stop for identification. This Was so early in the war that the ship’s captain may not have known it had started. The shot was fired by a -Lin. examination battery. The coast defences of Wellington did not again have occasion, here to fire “in anger.” That such action was unnecessary was good fortune for Wellington, whose port was a pivot one during critical days—the floating dock and the capital and headquarters of the civil and militray administration.' It was also rooof that the const defences had fulfilled their purpose, which is something akin to fire insurance. The cover is taken, but the insurer—in this case the public through the defence authorities—hopes it will not be necessary to collect on the policy. The function of coastal batteries is to rotcct the coasts and ports and friendly shipping in adjacent waters. The defences are installed first to deter an enemy from making an attack, and should this not succeed, to lie capable of resisting such attack. The effectiveness of the defences depends first on the extent to which the enemy believes the coast to be defended, and, second, upon the ability to withstand an attack. Events showed that the coast defences must have proved a deterrent. Sydney, for- instance, was not so fortunate. Midget submarines attacked the Harbour there and a submarine landed a shell in a suburb.

When war broke out the artillery strength in Wellington was 150 Territorials who had been training under the peacetime system, and the armament was bin. and 4in. guns and 12-pounders. The guns were sited to protect the harbour entrance, net as counter-bombardment Qrtillery against light cruisers of equal or less shelling range, and deal with light offensive craft like surfaced submarines or motor-torpedo boats. There was nothing to equal an Sin. cruiser with its range of 30,000 to 40,000 yards. A number of additional guns of the types mentioned were received, including bin. naval guns, which were used to fill up the gaps, mainly the outer limits of Look Strait.

It was not till 1943 that the major ! oo e e! ? vier u uus i’ e fluisitioned in lßdo-38 arrived. These were non-ef-tective without the hydraulic and pumping equipment, fire-control equipment, ineluding radar to be situate on coastal vantage points, the plotting rabies for the batteries themselves, and other items. In 1942 the Public Works Department started the excavations and tunnelling tor the magazines, engines and other accommodation for both the equipment and the men needed to operate the big guns, the pieces of which alone are above ground. This work was practically completed on one site in 1944. This site is overlooking a populous Wellington suburb and it will likely remain a prohibited area for some time. The gunners at this site get only glimpses of the sea. Wellington’s topography is such that it is difficult to site gips, and the tasks guns might be called on to perform were such that firing practically all round the compass could be entailed.

The service of such heavy guns means radar equipment round the various headland points in Cook Strait to obtain the line and range to a particular target. Though the sets may be miles from tlie batteries, displacement correctors give the line and range required by the guns. Such “lags” as time of shell flight, the interval to get the order from the radar set to the batteries, the seconds occupied by operation of the plottiug equipment at the batteries, aud the distance travelled by tlie target meantime, are taken up by table life direction at the gun site.

The latest typo of anti-M.T.B. guns, ordered in 1938, ami capable bf rapid lire to counter fust-moving surface craft" or submarines awash, were in place in Wellington’s eoa'st ’defences in 1943.

It is a compliment to the artillery arm in Wellington that Lieut.-General Sir Guy Williams, an adviser from the War Office, who made certain recommenda tions on the defence of New Zealand, including the siting of coastal artillery, did not suggest any changes in existing or proposed gun sites for Wellington’s defences. After having been continuously in an operational role since September 2, 1939, the Wellington const artillery will revert to its peacetime role very soon, once orders to that effect are received from the Commander in Chief, South-west Pacific. The normal establishment for their operational role would have been 1200, and the peak strength was 740. Today it i s just over 200. On a peace basis approximately 40 mon will be needed to keep the guns serviceable. Whatever form territorial training takes it) the future, those in (ho Artillery will bo able to train on such advaueefl equipment, as radar and other scientific aids. A number of artillery pieces, includin'- nnti-nirerafl guns, have been sold bv the War Assets Realizations Boaril. some to tlie British Taeilic Fleet. All that remains of the anti aircraft battery at Wndestown is tlie eoucreie emplacements.