SECOND MINESWEEPER LAUNCHED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 9 September 1941, Page 5

SECOND MINESWEEPER LAUNCHED

CEREMONY AT AUCKLAND STOUT STEEL AND WOODEN VESSEL Auckland, This Day. A fortnight after the launching of : the minesweeper Hinau her sister ship ; Rimu was sent down the slipway today after being christened with u bottle of New Zealand wine by Mrs I 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 I was picked up by a tug and towed to | the fitting-out- basin. A sprig of rata I was at the bow. and as the ship gathj ered speed down the greased way the l New Zealand Ensign and the Union ( Jack and the White Ensign were broken out on board and cheers came from a large crowd, while the National Anthem was played. ' Commodore Parry congratulated all associated with the construction and launching of the ship. Referring to the j fact that Auckland had had a substan- | tial shipbuilding industry in the past, ! he said that although steel had super- . seded wood there was no reason why larger ships of war. also commercial I vessels when the war was over could not be built in the Dominion. Quoting the case of Jaoan he added that ; the absence of iron should not be a ba as there was plentv available in Australia, and he hoped that New Zealand firms would take advantage of . the onnortunitv.—P.A.