AUSTRALIAN NAVY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 137, 14 June 1927, Page 12

AUSTRALIAN NAVY

CANBERRA LAUNCHED

BY PRINCESS MARY

ENTHUSIASM AT GLASGOW

Princess Mary made a hurried trip to Glasgow recently to launch H.M.A.S. Canberra, the second of the two new 10-000-ton Australian cruisers, cabled the London Correspondent of the "Sydney Morning ■ Herald" on Ist June. This entailed spending two successive nights in. the train, as the Princess wished to be back for tho Derby. Before the launching Princess Mary was given a' civic reception at Clydebank, a neighbourhood notorious as a homo for Bolshevism. There she was enthusiastically welcomed. Streets and houses were beflagged, and school children lined up outside schools along the route. The shipyard was en fete, and the launching was witnessed by a large crowd, representative of all sections of Glasgow. - As Princess Mary cut the red, white, and blue ribbon and smashed a bottle of Australian wine on the Canberra's bows she was surrounded by the elite of Glasgow, and looked down on a mass of upturned faces. All the vantage points of the slips were occupied by shipyard employees in brown dungarees. As Sir Joseph Cook subsequently stated, Australia regarded it as most fitting that, "while the Duke and Duchess of York launched Canberra in Australia, Princess Mary should launch the the cruiser Canberra at tho Clyde." The launching went without a hitch. Many of those present inspected the Australia in an adjoining basin. Machinery is already installed in the Australia, which is expected to be ready for trials in February, and to be completed next May. LUNCHEON CEREMONY. A luncheon was given by the build-' cis, John Brown and Co., Ltd., to mark the event. Lord Aberconway, proposing the toast of "Success to the Canbcrra_ and tho Commonwealth," said that it seemed fitting, after'reading of the wonderful reception given to the Duko and Duchess of York in Australia, that Princess' Mary should be present to receive, as it were, the echoes of that great reception. As Australians had been patriotic and generous enough to place the construction of the Canberra with John Brown and Co., Ltd., the company felt that nothing must bo spared to make the Australian Navy worthy of the people of the Commonwealth. Britain .regarded the sympathy of the Dominions as the greatest asset she, as a nation, possessed. Anything linking the Motherland and the Dominions was a source of pride to every Briton. Expressing Australia's thanks to Princess Mary, Sir Joseph Cook revealed that in order to perform tho launching Princess Mary cancelled an important engagement. '"How like the Royal House, which to us in Australia seems permeated through with a sense of public duty," declared Sir Joseph Cook, amid cheers. "We in Australia are hoping that, man for man, ship for ship, discipline for discipline, the Australian will fit-into the Imperial Navy like a section of a bookcaso fits into tho whole. That is the Australian's hope, because he is proud to be a section of the Imperial Family." Sir Charles-Eljis, managing; director of the company, presented Princess Mary with a gold and tortoiseshcll casket, containing a diamond brooch, which the Princess later said she intended to wear at the Derby. Sir Charles Ellis said that tho Boyal Family was the strongest Imperial tie. Princess Mary was given a great reception when she briefly returned thanks. Speculation is rife as to the length of service tho Australia and Canberra will see, owing to tho termination of the "Washington Convention in- 1930. Even naval shipbuilders are convinced that the naval limitation conference at Geneva in June mca"ns business, and it is ncceptod that the sizo of cruisers after 1930 will, be limited to 6000 or 7000 tons, but this is not expected to involve the scrapping of 10,000-ton cruisers built under the Washington Convention; Australian official circles do not understand why Australia has no representation at tho Conference. OFFICIAL MESSAGES. His Excellency tho Governor-General (Lord Stonehaven) has received the following message from His Majesty the King: "It gives me great pleasuro to inform you that the Canberra was safely launched this afternoon by my daughter, Princess Mary. (Signed) George B.I." His Excellency dispatched an acknowledgment in the following terms: "Lord Stonehaven, with humble duty, begs leavo to thank Your Majesty for your gracious messago announcing that the Canberra was safely launched by Her Royal Highness the Princess Mary. On behalf of the Government and people of Australia, ho has the honour to express tho gratification caused by this further proof of Your Majesty's interest, and the pleasure felt at the gracoful act and auspicious association of Princess Mary with the latest addition to Your.Majesty's Australian Navy." THE TWO CRUISERS. H.M.A.S. Canberra and her sister ship the Australia, which was launched earlier in the year, belong to the "Kent" class, and will bo practically identical with the nine cruisers of the type that are being added to tho British Navy under a programme adopted in 1923-24. H.M.Ss. Berwick, Cornwall, Cumberland,' Kent, and Suffolk have been commissioned. Tho Dovon-shil-e, London, Shropshire, and Sussex are undor construction. The type has been described as "tho most offlcient fighting ship permitted by the Washington Treaty.". The ships havo a displacement of 10,000 tons, geared turbines, four screws, a designed horse power of 90,000, and an estimated speed of 32 knots. The main armament consists of eight 8-inch and four 4-inch guns. These are the first flush decked cruis ers since _the Powerful and Terrible. Ihcir noticeable points are a rather high freeboad, comparative lack of sheer forward, and a general absence of ilare. The .mist two features have reached their most noticeable development in the E oo d and Effingham types. The light masts without platforms or tops havo not been repeated in large British cruisers since the "Edirar"class was built under the Naval Defence Act. The graceful effect result- „!£ i. B. o,mewh» t marred by th° Ponderous bridge structure, containing the controls and observation posts which in previous British ships wL carVM » the foremast. The annual upkeep of each vessel is stated by a British Tilth ority to be £238,850 aUtU