H.M.S. DUNEDIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22356, 1 September 1934, Page 12

H.M.S. DUNEDIN

WARSHIP’S BIENNIAL REFIT PROBABLY AT DEVONPORT BASE (Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, August 31. Judged by the figures contained in this year’s Estimates, H.M.S. Dunedin, the flagship of Rear-admiral BurgesWatson, will undergo her biennial refit at the Devonport r aval base early next year. Until recent' y the cruisers of the New Zealand division returned to England for their periodical refits, but in the case of the Diomede the work was done locally last year. It is expected there will be a repetition of this policy in the Dunedin’s refit, with the result that about 200 or 300 civilian workmen will be in employment for two or three months. It was stated in the Estimates that the Dunedin would undergo her refit during the current financial year, and the sum of £16,802 was set aside for this purpose, to include other repairs during the year as well. A further sum of £5170 was provided for the training of New Zealand ratings at special establishments in the United Kingdom, and as the cost of the steamer passages is specified this is taken as an indication that the Dunedin will remain in New Zealand for her refit. Cruisers of the Royal Navy undergo refit every two years, with an extended refit every seven years. The biennial or short refit is by no means as complete as an extended refit, which, to all intents and purposes, is responsible for the production of a new and up-to-date fighting ship. The Dunedin had her last extended refit at Chatham in 1931, returning to the Dominion early in the following year. The short refit, however, is an exhaustive form of naval spring cleaning, and, although ’ a certain amount of work is done by the naval ratings, shore labour is also required. The refit of the Dunedin will probably start early in the new year. It is not possible to estimate what proportion of the vote of £16,803 is represented by the cost 'of the refit, but it will be a sum well over £IO,OOO, much of it to be spent in wages to civilian workmen. It is hardly likely that either the Dunedin or the Diomede will undergo another extended refit, as both are now entering the veteran class and the Government has already announced its intention of replacing them.