NAVAL TRAINING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23340, 8 May 1939, Page 10

NAVAL TRAINING

The two cruisers of the New Zealand Squadron of the Royal Navy will be together again at the Devonport Naval Base to-day. H.M.S. Leander, flagship of Commodore J. W. Rivett-Carnac, returned to Auckland on Saturday after a five weeks' visit to Australia, where she took part in combined exercises with ships of the Rcyal Australian Navy. 11.M.5. Achilles will reach port to-day after a much lengthier absence, occasioned by her voyage to England to undergo biennial refitting. This long separation is not altogether satisfactory. It seems fairly obvious that, if war were to break out, the two cruisers, possibly assisted by the two Imperial escort vessels attached to the New Zealand Station, would have to form a single unit, co-operating very largelj* with the Royal Australian Navy. Training as a unit is therefore essential, but it is difficult to carry out efficiently when one or other of the cruisers is periodically absent from New Zealand for four or five months. After a refitting trip, a cruiser generally spends a few weeks with either the Home or Mediterranean Fleet, and this gives Dominion ratings valuable experience in the intricacies of fleet work. However, operations on a wider scale than is possible in New Zealand can always be arranged with our nearest Empire neighbour, and in view of possible wartime developments it seems desirablo that activities in this direction should be extended. Such a policy cannot operate fully while it is necessary for the New Zealand ships to undergo refit in England. The refits, of course, are an absolute necessity, and the Government is supposed to be making arrangements to have them carried out locally, as was the case with the smaller cruisers formerly on the station. Plans in this direction should be speeded up so that in future combined exercises with the Australian ships can be undertaken with New Zealand's full naval strength participative.