CRUISER’S LAST DAYS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20643, 15 February 1929, Page 14

CRUISER’S LAST DAYS.

CAREER OF THE SYDNEY.

IN SHIPBREAKER’S HANDS

Shipbreakere are now at work on the cruiser Sydney,! which destroyed the German raider Emden off Cocos Island on November 9, 1914. Knowing the decision of the Australian Government to scrap the cruiser, orders were received at Garden Island to remove her ty-Cockatoo Dockyard.

The scrapping of the Sydney forms part of a programme _of work arranged by'the Navy Department at the instigation of the Federal Government, with a view to maintaining a continuity of operations at Cockatoo.

The whole of the dismantling will be done at Cockatoo, and the scrap metal will be sold locally. The hulk of the vessel, about 3000 tons, also will be cut up and so]d by tender. “ Early in 1927.” said the Prime. Minister of Australia, Mr Bruce, recently, “ the ' Government determined that the Sydney should be retaine I for the present: but in making the announcement I stated that I was not at the time able to indicate the use to which she would be nut. The sentiment that surrounds the vessel because of the distinguished part she played in the Great War, was, of course, the chief factor which animated the decision to retain her temporarily. I. was realised that a ship of the construction of the Sydney cou’d not be permanently preserved. and that she would eventually have to be scrapped. ' ■ . The .cost of keeping the Sydney afloat is £3ooo’ a .year, and this is not justified either by the public interest displayed in the ship since she was put out of commission or by her potential gapaeits for naval .service. In deciding upon the scrapping of the ship, the Government has been influenced not only by these Considerations. ’mt also by the fact that there is a shortage of. work at Cockatoo. In arranging fob the dockyard, to undertake the scrapping of the Sydney, the Government is’assured that the scrapped material will be saleable at a profit, and. that continuity of work at the dockyard will be provided.”