DISTINGUISHED NAVAL OFFICER

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 94, 22 April 1933, Page 22

DISTINGUISHED NAVAL OFFICER

Through periodical visits during the last 52 years, Admiral C. L. Napier, R.N. (retired), who reached Sydney recently by .the Orient liner Orama, has watched- Sydney grow. Admiral Napier first came to Australia as a midshipman on H.M.S. Inconstant, flagship of the squadron which brought Princes Albert (Edward) and George (now King George V) to the Commonwealth in 1881. As Flag-Cap-tain of the Australian station, Admiral Napier was next in Sydney in 1904, in command of H.M.S. Euryalus. In 1907 he was appointed Captain-Superin-tendent of Sydney Naval Establishments and Captain-in-charge, New South

Wales, with headquarters at Garden Island-, where he aerved until 1909. During tho war he was in charge of submarine defence on the east coast of England, with headquarters at Harwich, at the mouth of the Thames. Ho retired in 1919. Admiral Napier recalls (states the "Sydney Morning Herald") the first enlistments for the Australian Navy, commenced in 1905 and 1906. Until the establishment of the Australian Squadron just before the war, the men were trained in the ships of the Rc-yal Navy serving on the Australian station. He said that, in his opinion, the needs of the Commonwealth in the matter of naval defence would not be best served by a squadron c-f battle cruisers. What was required was a fleet of speedy light cruisers, with !a long cruising range, to protect trade routes. Since his retirment Admiral Napier has wintered in the South of Trance, under medical advice. This year he has conic to Australia fo-r a change.