MODERN U.S. DESTROYER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 254, 27 October 1938, Page 8

MODERN U.S. DESTROYER

VISIT TO AUCKLAND NEXT WEEK VESSEL NAMED AFTER NAVAL SCIENTIST [ Per Presk Association.] AUCKLAND, Oct. 25. One of the most modern vessels of her type in the United States Fleet and the most recently launched warship to visit New Zealand, the 1500ton destroyer Maury, is due to arrive at Auckland from Pago Pago next Monday. She will remain in port until November 9, when she will leave on her return voyage to San Francisco. The Maury’s visit to Auckland is part of a long-distance cruising programme which she has been carrying out in association with other vessels of the United States Navy in the Pacific. It is also the first extended ocean cruise which she has made since her launching this year. This w ill be Ihe third time in the last two years that Auckland has received a visit from units of the United States Navy. At the beginning of last year the destroyers Preston anu Smith paid a short call, and earlier this year the heavy cruiser Louisville was in port for some days. The Maury's visit will be purely an informal one and, although it is expected that she will be bertned on the city side of the harbour, it is not yet known whether members of the public will be invited to inspect her. Eight Torpedo Tubes. Lieutenant - Commander E. M. Thompson is in command of the destroyer and he has under him a complement of about 190. The ship's armament consists of five sin. guns, eight 21in. torpedo tubes, and eight machine-guns. Her speed is about 36, knots.

The Maury takes her name from a famous figure in United States naval history, Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, who last century diq more for American naval meteorology, oceanography, and hydrography than any other American. Early in the century he was a midshipman in the United States warship Vincennes, which made an historic circumnavigation of the globe. Later he was partially crippled and was given charge of the work which resulted in the development of the United States naval observatory and hydrographic office. It was also Commander Maury who drew the attention of the world to the necessity tor combined action in ocean, meteorology. On the outbreak of the American Civil War Commander Maury threw in his lot with the Southern States. After the war he was forced to leave the country and, as imperial immigration commissioner for the French Emperor Maxmilian of Mexico, he attempted to found a Virginian colony in that country. The attempt failed and for a time Commander Maurylived in England until the American, authorities were persuaded to allow him to return to the United States, when he obtained a position as a professor of meteorology.