Launches 2nd N.Z.-Built Minesweeper

Northern Advocate, 9 September 1941, Page 8

Launches 2nd N.Z.-Built Minesweeper

[Special to “Northern Advocate”] AUCKLAND, This Day. A fortnight after the launching of the minesweeper Hinau. her sister ship, the Rimu, was sent down the slipway today after being christened with a bottle of New Zealand wine by Mrs. Parry, wife of Commodore Parry, Chief of the Naval Staff. Like that of the Hinau it was a perfect launch, the stout steel and wooden vessel sliding slowly into the Waitemata, where it was picked up by a tug and towed to the fitting-out basin. The vessel carried a sprig of rata at the bow and as the ship gathered speed down the greased ways, the New Zealand Ensign, Union Jack and White Ensign were broken out aboard and there were cheers from the large crowd, while the National Anthem was played. Future Industry Commodore Parry, congratulating all associated with the construction and launching of the ship, referred to the fact that Auckland had a substantial shipbuilding industry in the past. Although steel had superseded wood, he saw no reason why larger ships of war and also commercial vessels when the war was over could not be built in the Dominion. Quoting the case of Japan, he added that the absence of iron should not be a bar as there was plenty available in Australia. He hoped New Zealand firms would take advantage of the opportunity.