SECOND MINESWEEPER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 61, 9 September 1941, Page 8

SECOND MINESWEEPER

SENT DOWN SLIPWAY

CEREMONY AT AUCKLAND

(P.A.) ' AUCKLAND, This Day.

A fortnight after the launching of the minesweeper Hinau her sister ship Rimu was sent down the slipway today after being christened with a bottle of New Zealand wine by Mrs. Parry, wife of Commodore Parry, Chief of the Naval Staff.

Like that of the Hinau it was a perfect launch,-the stout steel and wooden vessel sliding slowly into the Waitemata, where it was picked up by a tug and towed to the fitting-out basin. She carried a sprig of rata at the bow, and as she gathered speed down thegreased ways the New Zealand Ensign, Union Jack, and the White Ensign were broken out on board. There were cheers from the large crowd present and the National Anthem was played.

Commodore Parry congratulated all associated with the construction and launching of the ship.

Referring to the fact that Auckland had a substantial shipbuilding industry in the past, he said that although steel had superseded wood there was no reason why larger ships of war, and also commercial vessels when the war was over, could not be built in the Dominion. Quoting the case of Japan he added that the absence of iron should not be a bar as there was plenty available in Australia. He hoped that New Zealand firms would take advantage of the opportunity.