NAVAL BASE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 14

NAVAL BASE

CHANGES IN COMMAND

Having been recommissioned at Wellington by Captain L. C. P. Tudway, D.5.0., D.S.C., H.M.S. Leith, one of the two Imperial sloops attached to the New Zealand Division of the Eoyal Navy, will return^ to Auckland tomorrow to begin a further term of service on' the New Zealand Station, says the' "New Zealand Herald." The Leith completed her first commission this week, and her former commander, Captain Oliver Sevir, his officers, and ratings were paid off on Wednesday.

Among Captain Tudway's officers are Lieutenant A. C. A. Duckworth, Lieutenant J. A. Harper, Surgeon-Lieu-tenant H. J. Bennett, and commissioned engineer Mr. V. D. Hodge. With Captain Tudway and the new crew they arrived at Wellington by the Rangitane on Wednesday and went on board the Leith on Thursday morning.

Captain Tudway, the second commander of the sloop since she was completed at the Devonport Dockyard in 1934, was promoted to his present rank a year ago and held temporary command of the Fishery Protection and Minesweeping ■ Flotilla before his appointment to the Leith. During the Great War he served with distinction in the Mesopotamia section" in command of the armed iaunch Sumana in the operations of the advance on Kut, the attack on Ctesiphon, and the subsequent withdrawal to Kut. He was among those taken prisoner by the Turks.

On his return to England after the Armistice he \vas appointed to the Revenge and the Warspite until 1923, when he was given command of the gunboat Robin on the China Station. Before his promotion to the rank of captain he was executive officer of .the St. Vincent, the boys' training establishment at Gosport, for two years. Captain Bevir.and most of his officers and men left New Zealand by the Rangitata on Thursday. Another change in the personnel of the Naval Base will take place in January, when Commander J. B. E. Hall, in command of the sloop Wellington, will be succeeded by Commander G. N. Loriston-Clarke. The date for the -change of command is January 18, and Commander Hall, who is returning to England for other duty, will leave Auckland shortly afterwards.

Commander Hall had his ship inspected for the last time on Friday by the Commodore of the New Zealand Station, Rear-Admiral the Hon. E. R. Drummond. Early in the week the Wellington was taken into the Hauraki Gulf to prepare for what was primarily her annual inspection and on Friday morning she moved into the stream and was boarded by the Commodore.