AUSTRALIAN NAVAL YARDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25134, 27 January 1943, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NAVAL YARDS

EXTENSIVE OPERATIONS (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 26. “Australia is making a good war effort. More noise is heard about the few who are not living up to the war effort than of the rest who are doing their bit,” said Sir George Davis today. Sir George is over from Australia on a business trip, and is at present at Christchurch. His main interest is in naval building and repairs as chairman of the Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company. Many recently-built Australian ships have come from the Cockatoo Company. which is concerned in building sloops, corvettes, and destroyers. The sloops are named after Australian rivers, the corvettes after towns, and

the destroyers after native tribes. The recently-lost Armidale was one of his ■ company’s ships, said Sir George, and the Aranta and the V/anamunga, both now doing good work, were others. The company builds ships, turbines, boilers, and engines, and finds all the equipment except the armament. The first Australian cargo ship, the River Clarence, was recently launched by Mrs Curtin, wife of the Prime Minister. One of the corvettes built at Cockatoo took part in a spectacular engagement in the Indian Ocean, Sir George added. It was attacked by two raiders while escorting a tanker, and signalled to the tanker to move off while it opened flre. The corvette succeeded in sinking one of the raiders, and the tanker returned and chased the other one off.