SECOND MINESWEEPER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 213, 10 September 1941, Page 7

SECOND MINESWEEPER

LAUNCHED IN AUCKLAND (Press Assn.) Auckland, Sept. 9. A fortnight after the launching of the minesweeper Hinau, her sister ship, the Rimu. was sent, down the slipway to-day after being christened with a bottle of New Zealand wine by Mrs. Parry, wife of Commodore W. E. Parry, Chief of the Naval Staff. Like that of the Hinau, it was a perfect •launch, the stout steel and wooden vessel sliding slowly into the Wailemata, where she was picked u.i by a tug and towed to the fitting-out basin. A sprig of rata was at her bow and as the ship gathered speed down the greased ways the New Zealand Ensign, Union Jack, and White Ensign were broken out on board and there were cheers from the large crowd. Commodore Parry congratulated ail associated with the construction and launching of the ship. Referring to the fact that Auckland had a substantial ship-building industry in the past, he said that although steel had superseded wood there was no reason why larger ships of war and also commercial vessels when Hie war was over could not be built in the Dominion. Quoting the case of Japan he added that the absence of iron should not be a bar, as there was plenty available in Australia. He hoped New Zealand firms would take advantage of the opportunity.