HURRAH!

Gisborne Times, Volume LX, Issue 9799, 8 May 1924, Page 5

HURRAH!

HALS': REPULSE TO VISIT GISBORNE.

BATTLE CRUISER TO' ANCHOR TO-MORROW.

WILL REMAIN IN BAY PROM 8 A.M. TILL 3 P.M.

The keen disappointment felt in , ■Gisborne and the surrounding dist- ) y nets at the fact that the Special Service Squadron would not anchor in the bay, especially after a preliminary notice to the effect that the ships would remain here two liours resulted in the Prime Minister 'being bombarded with telegrams from leading citizens. The persistency of the attack had its effect, for yesterday afternoon telegrams were received from. Wellington to the effect that H.M.S. Repulse would arrive in Gisborne to-morrow morning at eight o’clock and remain at anchor in. the bay until three o’clock in the afternoon, during which time the vessel would be thrown open to visitors. The first telegram was received by the Mayor (Mr Geo. Wildish), from the Prime Minister, and read as follows : With reference to your telegram of 30th ult., I have to inform you that Vice-Admiral • Sir Frederick Field, commanding the •Special Service Squadron, lias intimated that, having regard to the time allowed‘for the visit of the squadron to Napier, namely, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on the 9th inst., and also to tidal conditions at Gisborne and at Auckland, it was impossible for a suitable' time! to be arranged for the squadron to make a stay at Gisborne. In these circumstances, the Admiral. in his desire to meet the wishes of the citizens of Gisborne and the surrounding district has consented that the. battle-cruiser H.M.S. Repulse shall be detached from. the squadron after leaving Wellington to-morrow, and shall proceed direct to Gisborne, arriving on Friday, May 9, at 8 a.m., and remaining till 3 p.m., when she will proceed to join, the remainder of the squadron on route to Auckland, and passing four miles off Gisborne at 4 p.m. This is the best arrangement that can be made, and I feel sure will bo appreciated by you all. This will also ' provide opportunities, weather conditions permitting, for adult citizens and children personally to visit this very fine modem battle cruiser. Satisfactory arrangements for the transit of visitors to and from the: ship will, of course, be left to your local committees.

Similar telegrams were receive*! by Sir James Carroll. Mr W. D. Lysnar, M.P., and Mr W. Hamilton Irvine, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. The secretary of the Harbor Board (Mr H. A. Barton) received the following telegram from Vice-Admiral Field:

Repulse will anchor at Gisborne at 8 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and leave again about 2' p.m. Remainder of squadron, will not visit Gisborne. Please inform necessary authorities.

In reply to his telegram, which came from the Minister of Internal Affairs. Mr Lysnar forwarded the following message:—l duly received your wire and am 'very grateful to youj for arranging for the battlecruiser H.M.S. Repulse to stop at Gisborne on Friday, and am. sure it will bo greatly appreciated by the people of' this district, and particularly so bv the children. Please convey" to tlici Admiral this district’s thanks for arranging for the Repulse to stoo at Gisborne.

PUBLIC MEETING TO BE HELD THIS MORNING.

MAYOR APPEALS TO CITIZENS AND TO LOCAL BODIES.

Immediately on receipt of the telegram the Mayor got in touch with several leading citizens and members of local bodies, and decided. to call a public meeting, to be held at, the Borough Council Chambers at 10 o'clock this morning, when committees will be sot up to. make arrangements in connection with the visit. Speaking last evening to a . Times representative, the Mayor said the time was, indeed short in w hicli to make arrangements, but that, of course, could not be helped. The success of the visit depended on tne instantaneous response made by citito be present at the meeting this morning. Personally, he felt very pleased that the children of Poverty Bay, and also the adults, would have the opportunity, so seldom afforded cne in these smaller ports, of inspecting at close quarters such a magnificent vessel. He felt that the jsens of Gisborne-, and the residents of the surrounding district would rise to th occasion, and make the visit one to be remembered for many years. There. were many arrangements to make at to-day's meeting. The transport of country children to town the conveyance from the wharf to the vessel and the return for both town and country children, arrangements for meals for country children—there were matters that needed attention and which he could recall at a minute’s notice. There .were numerous detailed arrangement to be made, and be desired the help of every citizen. r . .. , Mr Wildish said he intended to suvvest that the . school chiidren should be conveyed if possible to the battle cruiser in the three b o lighters owned by the Gisborne Slme > farmers’, each lighter bemg _ s°T>aratelv. He -had been inform.a that about 400 children could be carried on each lighter, and that one trip an hour could be nmclo comfortablv. That would mean that i/W children per hour could be taken on + > thu ship Then there was .the 'ito K./tbo trawl.ars Vteh. nnght rerhans be used for adults. y r in all these cases, the permission of the owners must first be.ul ed. He had spoken on Hie phone last evening to Mr J. ' • ~-p ]yr 5 chairman of directors of tho G SM .M and Mr Nolan had promised the use of the company’s There should be no trouble with the depth of water in the river for it would be high tide at. 9 a.m- A* the meeting this' morning he intended t“ propose that all the arrangements in connection with the transport of the children from the v. ha t to the cruiser should he left m the hands ’of Captains Carson and citizen^who can possibly do so, to attend this mornings meeting in the Borough Council Chambers at ?0 a m ’’ said Mr Wildish m. .conclusion. The success of the visit of the Repulse depends, on the apontandous offers of ,ass.stance by mHvens -and I feel confident that tmey •will rise to the occasion, he present this morning, and take an active part on the preparations for to-morrow. H. M. S. REPULSE. DIFFERS TITTLE IN APPEARANCE FROM H.M.S. HOOD. 0I? type. Her features may be stated briefly as follows: ‘ Original cost —£2,627,401. Additional cost—£6o,6B4. Loaded tons — 37,000.

Armament—Six 15in guns, seventeen 4in., two Sin., four expounders, four machine guns. Torpedo tubes—Ten:. , ' . Complement —9so. .Speed—;32 knots. Speed' consumption—l4oo tons of oil fuel daily. ■ Length—7soft. ' Beam—9oft. Draught—2s4ft. Engines—ll2,ooo h.p. Between the Hood and the Repulse there is great rivalry. Originally tha latter was a complete sister-ship to the with a tonnage of 26,500. Actually to-day she is nearly ot ,000 tons displacement, by reason of the added weight of improvements. Her sailors point this out caustically and pungently. She is the champion gunnery ship of the Atlantic Fleet. In size, she is about 70ft shorter than the Hood.

The Repulse lias not the displacement or the gun power of the Hood. Neither has she the speed, but she does enjoy aT' tradition which goes back to the time of Queen 1 ' Elizabeth. The Original ship of her name helped to beat the lions at Cadiz, in 1596, and was with Sir Richard Grenville _and his Revenge in the Azores in 1597. Another ancestor was at Martinique in 1762, at the Saints •in 1772, Ferrol in 1805, and in the Great War the present ship served in the North Sea.

The Repulse is probably the keenest ship in the squadron in many ways, and a dozen trophies won in squadron competition prove it. From a layman’s point „of vi&w the Repulso differs little in her features from the Hood, except for the lattet’s spaciousness—same fighting tops towering above grey hull and speckless decks; same complications of bridge and funnel and wireless mast; same guns, only one turret less of fifteen-inch weapons and a lesser complement of smaller guns; same boat-deck, with rows of pinnaces and picket-boats and barges, which in the early days of the Navy might each have been fairly-sized vessels fit for a dare-devil to cross an ccean in; same bewildering engine-rooms and messes and marines sleeping in hammocks. above iron floors, and same churning whirr of never-pausing machinery. THE OFFICERS. The officers of the Repulse are as follow: Captain Henry W. Parker, C.B. Commander Francis H. Sandford, D.S.O. Engineer-Commander George H. Starr. Surgon - Commander W. H. D. Breton. Chaplain, Rev. John W. Evans (C. of E.), Rev. Laurence Mann, 0.5.8. (R.C.) Lieutenant-Commanders Humphrey Bennett, A. K Diblev (Engineers) •Charles Morgan. D.S.O.', W. A. K. Grace, R. H. Lilley, D.S.C., N. A. K. Barlow (Surgeon). Lieutenants (Captain Royal Marinos) O. W. Adair. G. T. Phillip, D. R. T. C. Roe. Ronald Agnew, (Royal Canadian Navy), R. O. Burge, Walter Brown, D. 5.0., J. E. S. Anderson, G. P. Freud, Robert G. H. Linzee, Iv. A. Hutson, Geoffrey Branson, Godfrev Powles (Engineer). D. A. Aitken (R.A.N.), F. R. P. .Williams (Surgeon), Frank Wilkinson (Instructor)), Guv S. Windeyer, C l . E. Ransome (Royal Marines). S. A. Joliffo (Paymaster), Kenneth Francis (Surgeon), Sub-Lieutenant lan Elliott Lieutenant (Royal Marines), Patrick Phibbs.

VESSELS LEAVE WELLINGTON-TO-DAY.

SEARCHLIGHT DISPLAY OFF

CAPE TURNAGAIN

WELLINGTON, May 7

To-day many thousands took advantage of the last opportunity to visit the battle cruisers Hood and Repulse. At one time there was waiting a queue nearly half a mile long. Oil the Hood hundreds of small parties were taken charge of by petty officers and seamen and personally eonducted over the huge fighting, vessel and various sections explained. ' On the Repulse, it was a men’s day and thousands of invitations must have been issued. The vessel was crowded and the men were allswed a full opportunity o entertain the visitors and provide them with enjoyment. The quarter deck was placed at. their disposal and a jazz band played all the .afternoon. For the children various swings, revolving wheels, switchback railways and clmtes were arranged. To the little ones the warship resembled a floating palace of delight. To-night there is the Navy League ball and a search- . light display. The vessels, with H.M.A.S. Ade- ; laide, 'care at eight to-morrow morn- ; ing. Vice-Admiral Field, in command i of the Special Service Squadron, will \ arrange for the squadron to give a ; searchlight display when off Cape i Turangain, which will bo about 10 ; o'clock to-morrow, night. The squadron will ho at Napier from 8 to 10 a.m.. on. Friday, but H'M.&. Repulse will he sent on to Gisborne, where she will remain from 8 a.m. till midnight on Friday. The Repulse is a sister ship to the : Renown, in which 11.R.H. the Prince of _Wales visited New Zealand.—P.A.

H.M.S. HOOD

LARGEST WARSHIP AFLOAT.

Completed in 1920, H.M.S. Hood, is the largest battleship afloat. This formidable vessel, lias been, termtfl the outstanding triumph of naval architecture —a triumph of the conart and of the shipbuilder’s courage and ingenuity. The largest , and most powerful man-of-war afloat i to-day, the Hood carries 75 officers > and 116-5 men. Her construction was j commenced under the war emergency I programme. Originally, there were j four - ships in this class —the Hood \ Anson, Howe and Rodney. They t were begun in the. autumn of 1916 to ; meet the German battle cruisers Graf Spee, Ersatz, Freya snd Ersatz “A” which were laid down in 1916. The enemy, however, having ceased work . on all his large ships in 1917, the Anson, Howe and Rodney were stopped in March of that ' year, dismantled, after £860,000 had been cjpent on them, and redesigned to ! meet the lessons of Jutland. The 1 Hood embodies in a large measure): the lessons of that battle. The out- j standing feature of the Hood is the ■■ huge area covered by heavy armour, \ affording protection alike from air- ■ craft and submarines. The cost of j the Hood indicates something of the j gigantic proportions. She cost nearly £7,000,000, while her annual upkeep 5 is set down 'at £551,550. The cost of the Hood .works out at. about £145 per ton. The total weight of the j machinery alone, with water in theq boilers to working level, is 5350 tons. : The Hood is 810 ft long; she has a. beam of no less than 104 ft., a draught of 28Jft and she has a normal displacement of 41,200 tons. She has eight 15-inch guns, which can fire six projectiles of 19001 b a minute; 12 5.5-ibch, four 4-. inch anti-aircraft, four 3-pounders, five machine-guns, one landing gun. two submerged torpedo tubes, and four above the water in pairs. The Hood is, indeed, a wonder ship.