LAUNCHING OF RIMU

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20656, 9 September 1941, Page 6

LAUNCHING OF RIMU

NEW ZEALAND VESSEL HINAU SISTER SHIP (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. ' A fortnight after the launching of the minesweeper Hinau. her sister ship the Rimu was sent down the slipway to-day after being christened with a bottle of New Zealand wine by Mrs. Parry, the 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 she was picked up by a tug and towed to the fitting-out basin. A sprig of rata at the bow, and as the ship gathered speed down the greased ways, the New Zealand Ensign and the Union Jack and the White Ensign were broken out aboard and cheers were given by a large crowd v. hile 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to the fact that Auckland had a substantial shipbuilding industry in the past, he said that although steel had superseded wood, there was no reason why larger ships of war, and also commercial vessels when the war was over, could not be built in the Dominion.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 Pie hoped that New Zealand firms would take advantage of the opportunity.