H.M.S. DIOMEDE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 22 January 1926, Page 7

H.M.S. DIOMEDE.

NEW ZEALAND’S SECOND CRUISER. 11.M.5. Diomede, New Zealand’s second cruiser, which arrived at Auckland yesterday, and H.M.S. Dunedin aie almost identical. They have each a displacement of 4750 tons, a length, ot 4 D feet and beam of 46 feet 6 inches, a draught of .14 feet 3 inches, are oi 40 000 horse-power, have oil-burning engines and a speed of 29 knots. Each has six Gin. guns and twelve torpedo tubes, but tlic secondary armament of the Diomede is slightly heavier than that of the Dunedin, with two 4in. guns instead of two Sin. Some of the smaller guns, it is understood, are anti-aircraft armament. The oil fuel tanks of each have a capacity of 1050 tons. Their official designation is protected light cruiser. Each has 3in. armour and crun shields. The cost of each was Petween £BOO,OOO and £900,000. A total of 460 is the official complement of each ship. H.M.S. Dunedin was completed in 1919 and H.M.S. Diomede in 1922. , . The D class cruisers came into being to meet a need in the Great War. A heavier type than the C class was called for in 1916 to counter the new cruisers Germany was building. Seeing that the battle-cruisers of Germany remained very strictly <£ at home,’’ not attempting to break into the Atlantic to raid the water highways that carried food, munitions and troops, the British battle-cruisers continued to be part of the Grand Fleet to bo in readiness to deal with any movement of the enemy Jiattle-cruisers. It was left to lighter cruisers to maintain the blockade and escort the troopships and merchantmen. However, none of the -D class could he completed in time to perform any war service of importance, but they came from the stocks in time to replace a number of ships that had been practically worn out by the long struggle. Boon after tne trials of H.M.S. Diomede she became a unit of the fifth cruiser squadron in the China Sea, where she made a reputation as a wonderful sea ship. Like other ships of the class, she hns trawler bows and ships little water in heavy weather. In the bows she carried a gun capable of firing at a very high trajectory. She has five sets of wireless, and wireless telephone equipment useful up to a distance of two miles. In July last she was recalled from the China -.station and refitted at Portsmouth, where her building was completed in 1922, and she arrived in perfect condition. She is the first New Zealand warsln, to use the Panama Canal.

A fact of particular interest is that the Diomede is commauded by a New Zealander, Captain James S. M. Ritchie, a member of a well-known Dunedin family. After leaving Wangami College he passed into the Navy in 1890 and has served on the Australian. China and Mediterranean stations, and with the Atlantic Fleet. During the war ho served on the St. Vincent, Iron Duke and Malaya, and for a year was with the plans division of the Admiralty. He attained his captaincy in 192.1.