ROYAL N.Z. NAVY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32312, 13 September 1943, Page 7

ROYAL N.Z. NAVY

SERVING IN SEVEN SEAS PRAISE FROM ADMIRAL PROVED GOOD SEAMEN It is not generally known that over 7200 New Zealanders are serving on ; ships of war on the seven seas. The i total is ten times as great as at the outbreak of war. Of these. 2700 give i service in the Royal Navy. I They are found on all types of ships, i from battleships and aircraft-carriers : to submarines and small patrol craft. ; Some commanded minesweepers in the English Channel during the perilous days after Dunkirk. A New Zealander on a mol or torpedo boat claims the distinction of being the Navy's youngest officer in command of any craft. i Modern Training >) Nearly 3000 recruits await entry 5 into the Navy. H.M.N.Z.S. Tamaki. the modern training establishment set =? up since the war began, turns out GOO naval recruits a year. Plans laid before the outbreak of | war enabled the New Zealand Naval ? Base to berth and repair larger ships, g His Majesty's New Zealand ships inelude Achilles and Leander, powerful 3 light cruisers, and a rapidly-growing $ fleet of little ships, corvettes, mines sweepers and submarine chasers. 5 11.M.5. Neptune is a name in New *5 Zealand naval history. Moro than p, half the complement came from the j Dominion. We mourn the loss of her < gallant crew. $ River Plate Battle ) The Achilles, under the command of ; Captain AV. E. Tarry, R.N., played a ■ glorious part, in the first cruiser en- • gagement of the war, when in Decem- ' her. 1930. she helped to destroy the ) German pocket battleship, Admiral j Graf Spee. ) Admiral Harwood, who commanded ) the British cruiser force, said : "New ; Zealand lias every reason to he proud : of her seamen during their baptism of ; fire." The Leander has seen action in <he ; Indian Ocean, where in 1941. she de- > stroyed an Italian raider and co-oper-ated with IT.M.A.S. Canberra when two German supply ships were sunk. In ; then Mediterranean the Leander assist- | od in the Syrian campaign by shielding I the coastal flank of Empire troops. • After Japan commenced hostilities, i it was agreed with the United States. ' that the combined naval forces of the Australian and New Zealand areas should be placed under United States command and styled “Anzac Force.” Since (hen both Achilles and Leander ! have sewed with distinction in actions in flit' Smith Pacific, which demands not only intrepid courage but superb seamanship on the part, of both officers and men. Off Guadalcanal’ in January, 1943, two ‘530-ton New Zealand corvettes. Kiwi and Moa, fought a gallant and successful action wihi a IGOO-ton Japanese submarine, which returned fire with her 5.5 in. guns. After three ramming by Kiwi the submarine was wrecked. • The Moa has since been lost in action off the Solomon Islands. The Merchant Navy From the first day of the war New Zealand seamen and engineers in the sliijis of the Merchant. Navy have served with fortitude and efficiency. Their service has been given with distinction bpth in little ships . and overseas liners. The Merchant Navy, in which New I .Zealand/seamen have served alongside their British shipmates, has maintained unbroken the vital link between New’ Zealand and Great. Britain in j ; ransjiorting vast supplies of foodstuffs I io (lie United Kingdom and essential ! '.mods and. munitions to the Dominion. i Our sotimon have taken New Zealand roti si;?tl vessels into the Pacific war zoim. end have faced unflinchingly the dangers of enemy mines, submarines and surface and' air raiders. Several New Zealand liners have served abroad is transports, and the Awn I on, formerly the pride of the in-, imvobmial fleet, mot a gallant end I during th(' North African campaign. "She fought like a battleship,” said the admiral in command of the landing operations. Our seamen have shown their superb courage on other occasions when they have fought the enemy. Many of i them have been decorated for their ; I gallantry and devotion to duty, and I many of them have given their lives.