OUR WARSHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 129, 5 June 1929, Page 10

OUR WARSHIPS

EXTENDED CEUISES

OCEAN EXERCISES

All the warships on the New Zealand station are scheduled to leave on extended cruises this month.

The cruisers Dunedin and Diomede will leave Auckland to-day for Australian waters and will be absent from New Zealand for approximately two months. The cruisers will first proceed to Norfolk Island .and remain there three days, afterwards going to Hervey Bay, on the Queensland: coast. • ThY nest port of call will be Brisbane, whers the ships will remain six days from 20th to 26th June, when'they will sill for Sydney. . After eight days in Sydney the cruisers will go to Jervis Bay, en the coast of New South Wales, and from Jervis Bay they will sail for Melbourne, where they will remain from 10th to 18th July. Next on the itinerary is Hobart, whence they return to New Zealand, arriving at Wellington, on 29th July. At present undergoing extensive overhaul m Calliope Docks the sloops Laburnum and Veronica are busily preparing for a four months' cruise of the main groups ana outlying islands of the ■Pacific The Laburnum will cruise as far afield as Ocean Island, while the • Veronica will include in its itinerary the French possession of Tahiti, some 2000 miles to the norths-east MANY ISLANDS TO BE VISITED. The Laburnum's programme covers a period from 17th June to 19th October, her first call being Suva, where she will remain a week. Ocean Island is next m the itinerary, following which the Laburnum will visit the Gilbert and Mhce Groups, returning on 13th August to buva, where she will remain for another week. Levuka, Lambosa, ana Lautoka will then be visited, after which the sloop will return to Suva about the middle of September. From this time until her return to Auckland the Laburnum's movements are uncertain. ' * ■ H.M.S. Veronica will also leave Auckland jm 17th June, the nr ß t port' of call being Nukualofa, where she will stay for five days before sailing forNine, Pago Pago (American Samoa), Nassau, Manahiki, Penrhyu, Baiatea and Papeete. A stay of one week will be made at Papeete, where the Veronica eT° a, leaving the French port <m 20th July she will call at the islands of Mauke, Mangaia, Barotonga, Aitutaki, Palmerston, and again at Pago Pago for five days fr6m 9th to 14th August, during which time the bunkers will be replenished. . . ....'"-. The next fortnight -will be spent in visiting various islands of Western Samoa, whence she will go to Suva for 11 days, leaving there on 11th September for Lautoka, where eight days will be spent in gunnery practice and diversion for all hands in the form of a regatta. From 19th September until 12th October the Veronica will cruise around and visit lesser-known islands of the Fiji group, finishing with four days at Suva where coal will be taken in. She will -sail finally from Suva for Auckland on 12th October, arriving .back at the base seven days later. NEW RELIEF CREWS. As their period of service ok the New Zealand station has, expired the crews of the Laburnum and Veronica will leave Auckland on Thursday for Wellington, and will sail for England by the Tamaroa on Saturday. . The relieving crews, comprising 140 ratings, are due at Wellington by the Corinthic .on ', Friday. 1 Com-missioned-Gunner Clarke is in charge of the relieving «rews from England, and will take the place of Commis-sioned-.Gunner Sorier, of the.Laburnum, who will be in .charge of the "crews Telieved. '