TANKER NUCULA

Evening Star, Issue 22682, 23 June 1937, Page 3

TANKER NUCULA

LONG SERVICE ENDS When the Admiralty oil tanker Nucula arrived at Auckland last week with a cargo of fuel from San Pedro for the New Zealand Division of tho Royal Navy, she completed her last voyage in the service of the station. In accordance with a proposal announced last year by the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, it has been decided to lay np the vessel at Auckland, and an inventory of her equipment is now being taken as a preliminary to this step. In addition to bringing stores of oil from the United States for the ships of the New Zealand station, the Nucula in the past has also been used as a supply ship for some of the warships when they have made their annual cruises to the Pacific Islands,- meeting them at some point in the South Pacific and refuelling them for a continuation of their voyages. Such ships as the Veronica, Leith, Diomede, and Dunedin have not had a long enough cruising range for them to undertake long cruises to islands without supplies of oil from the Nucula. With the arrival last year of the modern cruiser Achilles and the approaching arrival this year of her sistership the Leander, it has been found, however, that the Nucula can quite safely he dispensed with, these ships having sufficient cruising range for them to make cruises to isolated islands without difficulty. The Nucula has also been proving expensive to maintain. When she is finally laid up it is intended to store the naval fuel in the tanks provided for this purpose at the Devonport naval base. For some time, too, the tanker will continue to act as a store ship until sufficient oil tanks have been provided at or near the base to contain all the supplies of fuel necessary for tho warships.