WARSHIP'S VISIT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23177, 25 October 1938, Page 10

WARSHIP'S VISIT

DESTROYER MAURY ARRIVAL ON MONDAY BERTH ON CITY SIDE NAME FROM FAMOUS MAN Ono of the most modern vessels of her type in tho United States fleet and the most recently launched warship to visit New Zoaland, the 1500-ton destroyer Maury is duo to arrive at Auckland from Pago Pago next Monday. Sho will remain in port until November 9, when sho will leave on her return voyage to San Francisco. Tho Maury's visit to Auckland if* part of a long-distance cruising programme which she has been carrying out in association with other vessels of tho United States Navy in the Pacific. It is also the first extended bcean cruise which sho has made since her launching this year. Informal Visit

This will be the third occasion in the last two years that Auckland has received a visit from units of the United States Navy. At the beginning .of last year the destroyers Preston and Smith paid a short call and earlier this year tho heavy cruiser Louisville was in port for some days. The Maury's visit will be purely an informal one and, although it is expected that she will be berthed on tho city side of the harbour, it is not yet known whether members of tho public will bo invited to inspect her. Lieutenant-Commandor E. M. Thompson is in command of the destroyor and he has under him a complement of about 190. Tho ship's armament consists of five sin. guns, eight 21in. torpedo tubes and eight machine-guns. Her speed is about 36i knots. Commander Maury Tho Maury takes her name from a famous figure in United States naval history, Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, who last century did more for American naval meteorology, oceanography and hydrography than any other American. Early in tho century he was a midshipman in the United States warship Vincennes, which made a historic circumnavigation of tho globe. Later ho was partially crippled and was given charge of the work which resulted in the development of the United States naval observatory and hydrographic office. It was also Commander Maury who drew the attention of the world to tho necessity for combined action in ocean meteorolo £ y - , , On the outbreak of the American Civil War Commander Maury throw in his lot with tho South. After the war ho was forced to leave the country and, as imperial immigration commissioner for the French Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, ho attempted to found a Virginian colony in that country. The attempt failed and for a time Commander Maury lived in England until the American authorities were persuaded to allow him to return to the United States, when he obtained a position as a professor of meteorology.