FIRST EXPERIENCE OF WAR

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22791, 15 January 1944, Page 5

FIRST EXPERIENCE OF WAR

New Zealand Naval Cadets

Party In H.M.S. Sheffield

N.Z.P.A.—Special Correspondent

(Rec. 8.5 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 13. To take part in the great naval battle resulting in the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst only two months after arriving in England from New Zealand and during their first seagoing trip in a warship was the luck of 14 cadets who are training to take commissions. Their job in the battle was supplying the guns of H.M.S. Sheffield, which fired several salvos at the Scharnhorst, hitting her, Jt ; is believed, with the second salvo. They were:—Ordinary Seamen W. E. Brown (Auckland), R. W. Jones (Auckland), W. Harvie, E. W. Hindle, E. Brayshaw, W. R. Hocking, D. H. Davies (all of Wellington), P. Bell (Matamata), L. C.. Linehan (Tautanga), B. E. Lamb (Christchurch), H. D. Bell (Lake Wanaka), H. G. Perrin (Palmerston North), F. P. Brady (Napier), and A. H. Donovan (Dunedin) .

“The eantain kept the ship’s company informed of the course of the action b yreporting it over the ship’s loudspeaker system,” Hindle said. “For the most part we were kept too busy to see anything, but once I was detailed to carry bread from the bakery to the gallery for the evening action meal. I could then see on tlie horizon the Duke of York and the Scharnhorst exchanging salvoes. You could tell the Scharnhorst's flashes by the different type of cordite she was using." “Most of us managed to see the final stages of the battle which, in the distance, looked like a fireworks display,” Brown said. “The Scharnhorst was firing in all directions at everything, including star-shells. We did not see the Scharnhorst go down because it was dark and she was too far away, but there was a great cheer when the captain announced that she had been sunk.”

At a Russian port Ordinary Seamen E. H. Hart (Wanganui) and R. Burrell (Palmerston North) transferred to the Sheffield from a destroyer. They are in the same course as the others. AU will eventually undergo further training in H.M.S. King Alfred, where hundreds of New Zealanders have already been commissioned.