NEW TRAINING SHIP

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 92, 19 April 1920, Page 8

NEW TRAINING SHIP

DETAILS OF H.M.S. DIAMOND

(?RQa OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON-, 16th February. Recently the Admiralty offered to the New Zealand Government H.M.S. Sapphire as a training-ship to replace the Amokura, but upon inspection her boilers "were found to be in a bad condition. The light cruiser Diamond, a sister ship, was, offered in place of the Sapphire, and she is at present at Chatham Dockyard awaiting instructions concerning her refiitting. The first Diamond in naval history was a merchantman, and was part of the British forces opposing the Armada, The first warship of this name was launched during the Cromwell period. The present Diamond was laid down at the works of Messrs. Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, early in 1903, and was launched the following yew. She hoisted the pennant for, he» Tiiaiden commission on the 7th February, 1905, having cost £235,100 to build and equip. She is one of a ' quartette of . light cruisers of the Topaze type. Her displacement is 3000 tons, horsepower 10,066, speed 22 knots, length 360 feet, beam 40 feet, draught 14 feel;; armament, 12 4in guns and Bof 3 pounders. ' •

Diamond was attached to the Grand Fleet-during the early part of the war, then to a, gunnery school for experimental work. Next she was transferred to Harwich, and afterwards served in the Mediterranean, where she flew the flag of Rear-Admiral E. Kiddle, C.B.E. Last Juno she paid off, and since that time she has been berthed in the Msdway.

How soon the necessary alterations.are likely to be taken in hand and completed, it is at present impossible to say. No details have yet been arranged concerning her personnel, but there is an impression that- possibly some of those on board may be naval men who ' are thinking of settling overseas, in which case, of course, they would be paid off when the vessel reaches New Zealand. There are, too, still a good many New Zealander* here who have served in the Navy, and it is not unlikely that some of these may go out in the vessel. While the vessel is the gift of the Admiralty, the cost of necessary alterations, etc., will be borne by the New Zealand Government