DOMINION NAVY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22099, 3 May 1935, Page 11

DOMINION NAVY

NEW CONVOY SLOOP ARRIVAL AT SYDNEY REPLACING THE LABURNUM DUE AUCKLAND MAY 20 By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received May 2, 9.45 p.m.) SYDNEY. May 2 The new convoy sloop Wellington, on her maiden voyage to the New Zealand station to replace the Laburnum, arrived at Sydney to-day completely unheralded. She called here to refuel. The officers and ratings were delighted to arrive in a large city where they could obtain news and mails, and visit theatres and stadiums. The sloop left England -on February 5. She made only short stops at Mediterranean and Near East ports. The Wellington, which is expected to arrive at Auckland on May 20 to replace the Laburnum on the New Zealand station, is a smart ship of the Lowestoft type, flying her maiden pennant. The Wellington is a thoroughly up-to-date craft of 1105 tons displacement, measuring 231 ft. 4in. in length, with a beam of 35ft. and a mean draught of Bft. 3in. The propelling engines are of 2000 horse-power, giving a speed of 16i knots. The boilers are oil-fuelled and the oil tanks hold nearly 300 tons of fuel. Replenishing the tanks is a very simple method compared with the coaling of the old war-time sloops like the Laburnum. The Wellington carries two 4.7 in. guns, one 3in. anti-aircraft gun on high angle mountings, and 12 smaller guns. The big guns are behind armoured shields. The 4.7 in. gun is a verv powerful weapon of its calibre and about the best of its typo in any navy as its services in the war proved. It is semiautomatic in action, with the usual breech mechanism, and weighs 3 tons 6cwt.

The projectile weighs 431b. and has an effective range of about 9000 yards. With a smart, well-drilled crew, a dozen rounds a minute can be fired. "Set this gun can be loaded, trained and fired by one gunner, as was shown in the war when all but one man of a gun crew had been killed or The 4.Tin. gun has an elevation of 35 degrees, or twice as much as before the war, in which the fire of the German guns, especially at Jutland, wrought such havoc among British ships, the shells falling almost perpendicularly on the lightly protected decks and exploding in the heart of the ships. The lesson learned at such terrible cost resulted in the elevation of all calibres of guns being increased. The officers of the Wellington are Commander J. B. E. Hall, late of the 33,000-ton battleship Rodney, of which he was executive officer under Captain J. C. Tovev; Lieutenant C. B. Alers Hankey, late of the battleship Revenge and a member of an old service family; Lieutenant M. F-. Butler-Bowden, navigating officer, late of the battleship Valiant; Gunner C. S. Lyons and Warrant-Engineer E. W. Call. The Complement of the ship is 90 all told.