FAREWELL, ACHILLES

Evening Star, Issue 25895, 12 September 1946, Page 7

FAREWELL, ACHILLES

N,Z.’S GRATEFUL TRIBUTE MR JORDAN VISITS FAMOUS CRUISER BELLONA REPLACES HER —DOMINION PERSONNEL (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 10.10 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 11. New Zealand’6 last farewells and grateful tribute to the cruiser Achilles were said yesterday at Sheerness, when Mr W. J. Jordan (High Commissioner) paid a special visit to the cruiser to mark her paying off and the severance of her historic association with the Royal New Zealand Navy. “ This ship in its way means as much to New Zealand as the Victory means to Britain,’’ said Mr Jordan, addressing the ship’s company assembled on the quarterdeck. “ I hope when she has finished her service a use may still be found for her in New Zealand, so that she may end her time there.”

Mr Jordan emphasised the pride the people of New Zealand felt in the Achilles and her war record. He said that, although many of the young New Zealanders serving in her were new to Britain, they could be sure of a welcome, both for themselves as New Zealanders and for the tradition their ship represented. _ In the same way, any of the Imperial members of the ship’s company who returned to New Zealand could be sure of a welcome from the people of the Dominion. Mr Jordan continued that he saw the departure of the Achilles from the New Zealand Navy with deep regret. Even now he hoped a way might be tound eventually to return her to New Zealand. At the call of the officer commanding, Captain W. E. Banks, three lusty naval cheers were given for Mr Jordan. The High Commissioner, who was accompanied by Mr S. R. Skinner, New Zealand Naval Affairs Officer in London,, lunched with Captain and Mrs Banks and the senior officers, and then carried out an informal inspection of the lower deck, where he spent a considerable time talking with the men. Before leaving Sheerness, Mr Jordan received the permission of the officer commanding the Nore, Admiral Sir H. M. Burrough, to ask Captain Banks to order the “ splicing of the main brace ” on the Achilles. The cruiser’s eight weeks’ voyage from New Zealand wa6 made in calm weather, and included calls at Darwin, Colombo, Port Said, Algiers, Malta, and Gibraltar. Steaming up the Australian coast, she travelled for a period inside the Great Barrier Reef, and at Darwin was visited by Air Vice-Marshal A. de T. Nevill and Mrs H. G. R. Mason, who with their party were then awaiting air transport to Britain from there. TRANSFER TO INDIAN NAVY. The traditional ceremony of crossing the Line was observed with impartiality, which did not even save the captain from immersion by Father Neptune. During the two days the cruiser spent at Colombo, leave parties were able to visit Kandy, in the interior, on the eve. of the famous festival of the Sacred Tooth. The call at Algiers was not scheduled, and was made for the purpose of landing an appendicitis case. At (Malta the cruiser found two of her war-time associates, the Leander and the Ajax. Sufficient time was spent at Port Said to give her leave parties an opportunity to visit Cairo, and at Gibraltar to enable leave personnel to inspect the defences of the (Rock. The Achilles will be dry docked at Chatham, and then will transfer to the Indian Navy. As soon as the ammunition is unloaded and the necessary work carried out prior to. dry docking, the majority of the ship’s company, will go on leave in Britain. ■ Approximately 370 of them will then transfer to the Bellona, which is to replace the Achilles in the New Zealand station; others take their discharge, and some officers commence courses at British naval stations. On board the cruiser when she arrived at Sheerness there were over 2,000 food parcels purchased by members of the ship’s company for friends and relatives in Britain, and 113 cases of foodstuffs presented- by the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Wellington Navy League for distribution through the Royal Navy Benevolent Fund organisation.

One of the most valued mementoes of the ship’s final cruise in New Zealand waters is a collection of photographs taken at New Zealand anchorages, views of receptions given by the ship’s company in New Zealand ports, and an album of Press cuttings recording the cruiser’s farewell tour. Although not many of the original company who manned the Achilles at the outbreak of the war, and who fought her so gallantly at the River Plate still remain on board, it was obvious that both Royal Naval and New Zealand Naval personnel were deeply impressed by the warmth of the reception they were given in the Dominion. The Bellona. which will replace the Achilles on the New Zealand station, is a Dido class cruiser of 5,450 tons, and a sister ship to the Black Prince, already on the New Zealand station. BELLONA’S COMMISSION. The Bellona is expected to be commissioned on October 1, and to sail for New Zealand on October 10. Of her total complement of 530, 478 officers and men will be New ZealanderA The majority of these will transfer from the Achilles, but approximately 100 from the Gambia. The Bellona will leave Britain equipped to the highest possible level of fighting efficiency for her ship class. The Dido class cruisers were the latest to be commissioned before the end of the war, although some later vessels of similar type were building when the war ended.

The Bellona is commanded by Captain M. B. Laing, C.8.E., (R.N., who held a number of important service and administrative appointments during the war. At the outbreak of war Captain Laing was posted to the staff of the Vice-Admiral commanding the Northern Patrol Later he went on the operations division of the Admiralty. He was then posted to temporary command of the aircraft carrier Furious, until 1942. when he was appointed a member of the British Naval Mission to Washington as liaison officer to the American Pacific fleet. On relinquishing this post he became deputy chief of staff to the Commander-m-Chief. Mediterranean, a post he held until given command of the Bellona.

Caption Laing was awarded the 1M.8.E. in 1942. and mentioned _ m despatches for distinguished services in the organisation of amphibious operations in the Mediterranean jn 1945. He was made a C.B.E. later in the same year.