DOMINION'S NAVY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22403, 27 April 1936, Page 8

DOMINION'S NAVY

NEW SHIPS FOR OLD THE CRUISER ACHILLES COMPARISON WITH DIOMEDE [fbom a special correspondent] LONDON, April 4 H.M.S. Achilles was commissioned at Chatham on March 31 for service as flagship of the New Zealand Squadron and on the same day H.M.S. Diomede •was paid off into reserve after over 10 years'' service in the Dominion naval force. This is the first step, foreshadowed three years ago, toward the replacement of the two old "D" class cruisers, the Dunedin' and Diomede — built under the emergency war programme of 1917-1918 —by two new vessels, the Leander and Achilles, completed in 1933 The main features of the two classes are compared in the following table: Diomede Achilles Displacement (tons) 4,850 7.030 Armament — " , „„ . , Main .. .. .. 6 6-inch 8 S-mcK Anti-aircraft .. 3 4-mch 4 4-inch Torpedo tubes .. . • 12 8 Horse-power .. • • 40,000 00 Speed (knots) .. • • 29 3i!.0 Complement .. .. 460 5,0 In addition, the Leander class; arc fitted with a catapult and aircraft—a . new feature in the Dominion Navy. When the second ship, the Leander, arrivtes on the station later in the year, the New Zealand Squadron will have two up-to-date vessels, larger, more heavily armed, and faster than their predecessors, "and equipped with aircraft, a necessity for modern cruiser ■work. A disadvantage is that these larger ships are naturally more expensive to maintain. Their annual cost is likely to be over £600,000 per annum, as compared with £460,000 for the "D" class. But this increase will occasion little, if any, surprise, because as long ago as 1927, when Mr. Coates was Prime Minister, it was proposed that on the withdrawal of the two "D ' class cruisers two later ones should be substituted at an annual cost of £600,000.