NAVAL VISIT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22685, 24 March 1937, Page 14

NAVAL VISIT

AUSTRALIAN SQUADRON

CRUISE TO DOMINION

ARRIVAL NEXT WEEK

STAY AT AUCKLAND LATER

On a training cruise to New Zealand a squadron of the Royal Australian Navy, consisting of three cruisers and four destroyers, will arrive at Wellington on April •'!. The squadron will carry out exercises with ships ol the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy and, in different units, will visit several ports before arriving at Auckland on April 16. The three available sliips of the New Zealand Division, 11.M.5. Achilles, flagship of Rear-Admiral the Hon. E. R. Drummond. and the two Imperial sloops, H.M.S. Leitli and 11.M.5. Wellington, will meet the Australian squadron at Wellington. Exercises will be held, probably in the Eastern lasinan, before the warships enter Wellington Harbour, and further exercises will bo arranged during the visit by RearAdmiral Drummond and Rear-Admiral If. 0. Li me Poole, commanding the Australian Squadron. Ships of the Squadron The ships of the Royal Australian Navy which will arrive next week aro 11.M.A.5. Canberra, flagship of RearAdmiral Lane Poole, H.M.A.S. Australia, H.M.A.S. Sydney and four destroyers, H.M.A. ships Stuart, Vendetta, Waterhen and Swan. The Canberra and Australia have both visited New Zealand previously. They are cruisers of the County class, and on their presseiit visit there will he an opportunity to contrast them with the Achilles, a ship of the Leander class, which is of more recent construction. The County class cruisers are larger, but from a naval point of view they possess certain faults which the Leander class ships were designed to remedy.

The Australian warships will comprise the largest single squadron to visit the Dominion since the cruise of the United States fleet in 1925. Naval Strength With the New Zealand ships also in port, there will be a considerable assembly of naval strength in the Waitemata when the whole Australian Squadron arrives at Auckland on April 16. The stay in port will last until April 21 and during that time the usual round of entertainments will be provided for officers and men of the Australian ships. Some, if not all, of the visiting warships may be open for inspection by the public.