GUIDED BY RADAR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22588, 17 March 1948, Page 6

GUIDED BY RADAR

AUSTRALIAN WARSHIPS

ENTRANCE TO WELLINGTON

LINK WITH OTHER NAVIES (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March IG.

Navigating its way into Wellington harbour by radar, the cruiser Australia, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral H. B. Fnrncomb, and the destroyer Bataan of the visiting Australian ‘squadron edged their way this morning through thick fog and mist to berth at Aotea Quay. Rear-Admiral Farncomb in a press interview predicted many years of useful service ahead for the most efficient cruisers of the conventional design despite reports that various nations were investigating changes in design as a result of the development of the atom bomb.

Captain H. J. Buchanan, of H.M.A.S. Australia, also emphasised that a ship like the cruiser Australia was bv no means an obsolete fighting unit.

The value of combined naval exercises not only between Australian and New Zealand ships, but also between units of the British Dominions and the United States was a point stressed by Rear-Admiral Farncomb. “Such combined exercises are of great benefit because they ensure that we keep a common doctrine going in respective of navies and make sure that we are working on common lines with the Royal Navy,” he said

About 400 men in the cruiser Australia are under 20 years of age, indicating that the Australian Navy today is a young man’s navy.

The Australian squadron visited Dunedin and Lyttelton before coming to Wellington, and before arriving at Auckland, the next port of call, they will be joined by the Be'llona which later will take part in combined exercises.