ACHILLES TRADITIONS

Evening Star, Issue 22504, 24 November 1936, Page 14

ACHILLES TRADITIONS

NAVAL DEEDS OF THE PAST FAMOUS FOR TWO CENTURIES H.M.S. Achilles is a name which has been famo'us in the annals of the Royal Navy during the past two centuries. Achilles, son of Pcleus and Thetis, was the bravest, handsomest, and swiftest of the army of Agamemnon in the Trojan wars. The head of this great warrior, “ with helmet all gold,” and “on a field red,” is the badge of H. Achilles, whose motto is Fortiter in Re (Bravery in Action). The badge is prominently displayed on the forepart of the ship’s navigation bridge. In the wardroom is a beautiful silver statuette of the warrior whose name is borne by the ship. Another prized possession of the cruiser is her large bell, which, suitably inscribed, was presented by Lady Stanley, wife of Lord Stanley, then Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, who,named the ship when she was launched at Birkenhead on September I, 1932. A WOODEN SCHOONER. The first Achilles in the Royal Navy was a wooden schooner purchased in 1747 for service in the West Indies. In the following year she was taken bytwo Spanish privateers between Jamaica and Martinique in a fierce action in which the Achilles lost a large number of her crew killed and wounded. In 1757 was launched at Harwich the second Achilles, a fourth-rate of 1,234 tons and 61 guns, and a ship that saw much active service. In the year following that of her launching she assisted to capture the French Raisonnable, which was taken into, the Royal Navy, and which Nelson joined as his first ship in 1771. The Achilles in 1759 flew the flag of Rear-Admiral Rodney in the squadron which bombarded Havre during the operations of the Seven Years’ War. In 1761 the Achilles was one of the squadron which captured Belle Isle. She was finally sold out of the service in 1784. The third Achilles was a storeship of 14 guns, built in 1781, and sold a few years later, H. ACHILLES AT TRAFALGAR. In 1798 there was launched at Gravesend yet another Achilles, of I, tons and 74 guns, carrying a crew of 640. This ship was present at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, under the command_ of Capf tain Richard King. She was sixth ship in the lee line of battle led by ViceAdmiral Collingwood, whose flag was in the Royal Sovereign. It is of interest to recall that the French fleet at Trafalgar included a 74-gun ship, the Achille, which was blown _ up during the action. H.M.S. Achilles had a long life of 66 years, being finally sold out of the Navy in 1864. The next Achilles, which was launched in 1861, was notable as being one of the first “ ironclads ” in the Royal Navy. She was one of the squadron of ships commanded by Sir Geoffrey Hornby that, in 1871. forced their way through the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora to Constantinople. This Achilles was also present at the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882. WITH THE GRAND FLEET. In 1905 there was launched at Elswick an Achilles vastly different from any of her: predecessors. She was an armoured cruiser of 13,350 tons displacement and 480 ft in length, and mounted six 9.2iu and four 7.5 in -guns as her main armament. Her sister ships were the Cochrane, Natal, and Warrior, and all served in the Grand Fleet during the war. The Achilles missed the Battle of Jutland, as she was away refitting at the time. The Warrior, which belonged to the First Cruiser Squadron, sank during the night of the action, in which she was badly damaged by gun fire. The Natal was destroyed by an internal explosion in harbour. On March 16, 1917, the Achilles, Captain F. M. Leake, attended by the armed boarding steamer Dundee, Commander Selwyn M. Day, R.N.R., was on patrol duty in the high latitudes north of the Shetland Islands. It was a stormy day, and just before noon a steamer was sighted to the eastward. She was steaming fast, and it was not until 2 o’clock that the Achilles, at 15 ‘ and later at 18 knots, came up with her,, ACTION WITH GERMAN RAIDER. The steamer stopped when ordered and obeyed a further signal to turn toward the Dundee, which had fallen astern. Captain Leake then ordered the Dundee to lower a boat and examine the stranger, which was flying .the Norwegian flag and bore the name Rena. Commander Day was suspicious of the ship, which appeared larger than the Rena shown in ‘ Lloyd’s Register,’ and which had steamed unusually well. He told his officer, Lieutenant F. H. Lawson. R.N.R., that he thought the ship was a disguised raider. Lieutenant Lawson at once volunteered to take charge of the boarding boat, which was put into the water at a quarter to 3 and was soon out of sight on the lee side of the stranger, The Dundee kept on her port quarter, but Commander Day noticed that the steamer was continually turning, and kept his two 4in gun crews closed up at their stations. At 20 minutes to 4 the stranger’s Norwegian flag painted on her port quarter fell overboard with a crash. Commander Day waited no longer and gave the order to fire; almost as he did so two torpedoes passed the Dundee’s stern, only a few yards away. At close range the Dundee raked the enemy with her 4in guns, every shot going home. About five minutes later the heavy guns of the Achilles opened fire, and the enemy ship, burning fiercely, was partly hidden m clouds of smoke. For nearly an hour the Germans stood up against the stream of shells which poured into the doomed vessel. Just after half-past 4 the shin sank. There were no survivors. Lieutenant Lawson and his boat’s crew perished with the Germans; they were doubtless made prisoners when they wenx alongside. The enemy ship was the German raider Leopard, which had left port two days earlier in an attempt to break out into the Atlantic. She was formerly the British ship Yarrowdale. 4,652 tons register, which had been captured by the German raider Moowe on her first cruise in the Atlantic in 1916, and had been fitted with numerous guns and two torpedo tubes. H.M.S. Achilles remained on patrol duties for the rest of the war, and was broken up in 1919. The keel of the present Achilles was laid on June 11, 1931, by H.R.H. Prince George. She was launched by Lady Stanley on September 1, 1932. and commissioned on October 5, 1933.