H.M.S. DUNEDIN BATTERED IN STORM

Northern Advocate, 8 February 1936, Page 4

H.M.S. DUNEDIN BATTERED IN STORM

Headed Out To Sea.

“WORST SHIP HAS BEEN THROUGH”

[Special to "Northern Advocate*! AUCKLAND, This Day. The H.M.S. Dunedin, flagship of Commodore the Hon. E. R. Drummond, which returned to Auckland yesterday morning, after carrying out gunnery exercises and high-speed trials in the Hauraki Gulf, did not escape last week’s storm. After completing her torpedo and gunnery exercises in the Hauraki Gulf on January 30 and 31, the Dunedin [ crrried out high-speed trials on the v. ay to Russell las't Saturday morning. These were not a complete success on account of the strong head wind and sea, which continued with increasing intensity until noon, when the storm broke, but the ship reached a speed of 28 knots.

Visibility was so poor and the seas were running so high that it was useless for the Dunedin to attempt to enter Russell, so she was headed out to sea. With huge waves pounding her unmercifully and flooding the decks to a depth of three feet, the ship steamed slowly ahead all .through Saturday night and' Sunday morning. The wind changedlater in the day, but the Dtffledin did not have such a strenuous battle against the storm on her way back to the coast. Members of the ship’s company, who had an uncomfortable time when water penetrated below and flooded part of their quarters ankle-deep in water, stated that the storm was one cf the worst that the Dunedin has ever been through. $

Some idea of the weight of water that was shipped each time as the flagship punched through the heavy seas can be gained by the fact that a 3-inch iron rod supporting one of the gangways was bent into the shape of a U.

The seas also stove in the forward breakwater, a substantial V-shaped piece of steel, which prevents waves from sweeping the length of the deck.

The seas tore ice-chests from their fittings, carried away the housing of the talking-picture equipment, and turned a lifeboat upside down on its davits.