H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16429, 24 January 1919, Page 8

H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND.

FOUR YEARS OF WAR. CHANCJEc? IN PERSONNEL. (from oca owx correspondent ) LONDON, November 20. It was rav good fortune to step aboard the New Zealand in the Forth on November 19th, the day on which khe celebrated the sixth anniversary -.f lier first commissioning at Go vail <n 1912. It is a groat day in her annals, and for dinner in the wardroom that evening there were present as many uj -possible of the earlier officers who waro serving in ships now assembled for tho great day cf the Navy. Admiral Halsey was unfortunately unable to be present owing to the onerous preparations for the morrow, but Command?!' "Dudley North was there from the A.utraiia. and a scoro or so of others. An the valuable plate of the vessel was tor the occasion, and a very pleasant, hour or two were spent in remin.ficences cf the lirst days of the Dominion's ship. During the last year or two there has been a considerable change in the p' sonnel of the wardroom, and to-day number of officers who were in the "csscl when she visited New Zealand is not verv large. The -New Zealand is uri•doubtedly one ot tho best ships in rho Navy, and she has also one of the besti war'records. There are, I think, only two others, the Lion and the Princess Royal, that have been in all the fleet actions of the war in tho North Sea, and there is no-other that has had so much good luck under heavy fire. In the battle of Jutland the New Zealand fired more shots from her turrets than any other shin and in tho whole war,

as "we all know, she has only oncc received a heavy shell in her fitructure. '' This seems to lvave come from one of i.he s 12-ineh guns of tho Von der Tann, out tho New Zealand's good fortune stuck " to her. The shell plumped into the base of the after turret, punching out a clean plug of which is still preserver] on hoard.' Fortunately the shsll ' iiself exploded outside the turret, <snd ; after wiping. the runners, the crew 3 found the turret still revolving and j- able to continue in action. . Many shells have, exploded over Mio l- vessel, as 'the battlo-w-orn colours -vill show to demonstration. The silk Hag " nresented by the women of I.ew Zealand in 1913 has besr> through all lier I battles, and to-drv is reduced to n!- [ most half its proper size. It "flew again , s proudly when the German fl"t v t was . taken for internment, amt it will pro?>- * ably soon go to tho Dominion for . preservation. Tiie other flags of bunting have also' suffered a good deal, and ; one nf the flagstaffs was shot bo pieces. The New Zenlfind has a few other marks ; of .war. Her woodwork, though well painted and looked after, shows signs of the wear and tear of four years of wav, and there is some slight denting on her side, due to the , unfortunate bump which put the Australia out of her placo * for the battle of Jutland. But she is nevertheless tho good ship that she svas when she was launched. Her performances and her record do honour alike her builders and to tlie_ Dominion whi ;h. gave her, not. to mention the fine jineers and companies she has carried from tho -very first.

THE FIRST COMMISSION. It is not usual for ships to' be so Ion,; as six years in commission, but in the case of the New Zealand and other'capital ships, it ay as obviously unwise t<> pay off during ;ho war. No wit is mucj. to be hoped that tho Dominion will invite tlie New Zealand to return for a second visit with all bor record fresh upon her, and so enable her' company to give an account of'their stewardship in person. ; ' One of the handful of Officers who "commissioned the ship" in 1912 was the signal boatswain, Mr A. Lewis, who gar© an amusing account at th© anniversary dinner of his experienco on going down to the dockyard on tho Clydo on that cold November morning and asking whero the ship was lying. Nobody seemed to know much about her. but'eventually he found his way there, and aftor changing into uniform in one of the dock, sheds, ho got on board and managed to find a pennant just in time to haul it up a t 9 a.m. It is interesting to note that the New Zealand is, I_ think, tho only ship in the Navy which has her white onsign painted on tho foretop Jest by any chance' it should bo shot away in its less permanent form.

A STEPPING STONE TO FLAG RANK. Few ships have the rccord of the New Zealand for the promotion of their captains. Captain Halsey is now RearAuiniral Sir Juionel ilalsey and is commanding the Second battle Cruiser Squadron, of which the New Zealand is a unit. Captain J. F. E. Green, ■who succeeded to the command whon Captain Halsey went to the staff of the Grand Fleet, fought the ship in the Battlo of Jutland, received the C.B. and the Legion of Htonour, and was promoted rear-admiral in October, 1917. He -was succeeded in turn by Captain Richard Webb, C.B V who had had a good deal to do with mine-swoeping and with th p trade division of the AdmiraltyN war staff; aras also promoted in September^this year, and is now assistant British High Commissioner in Constantinople. , It is an interesting fact that in two of her actions the New Zealand, although not a flagship, has carried an admir.ol's flag. In the Dogger Bank sho had the flag of Realr-Admiral Moore. In Jutland, owing to the Australia having to dock for injuries received when she bumped the New Zealand in a fog, Admiral Sir W. S. Pakonham, now commanding the battle cruiser fleet, hoisted his flag in the New Zealand as commander of the 2nd Battle' Cruiser Squadron. The censor would not permit mo to say at the time how sincerely everybodv in the New Zealand—and I believe :n New Zealand if they had known—sympathised with everyone in the Australia and with Australia herself in this pio;e of bad luck. The Australia by her long cruises in th e Pacific had done valuable and undistinguished service for tho Navy while her • more fortunate fellows were on the spot to avail themselves of the few opportunities which might occur of coming to terms with capital ships of the Hun. When she came to the North Sea and flew the admiral's flat;, as she well deserved *o do. everybody hoped she would cret hep chanco of measuring her weight with tho Hun battle cruisers. It was the worst luck in tho world that when the great chance cam e she was in dock. I THE NEW CAPTAIN.

Captain Webb is succeeded in the New Zealand by Captain L. A. B. Donaldson, C.M.G. tie was a lieutenant m the Doris during the South African war, for which iie got tii© medal and clasp. Specialising in torpedoes, he was for some time in command or ' the Vesuvius and the Speedy, and then had the -Monmouth on the vJhina station from 1910 to 1912. On returning hom e he was appointed assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes. A good deal of his work in the war has oeen as superintendent of submarines from the Tees, and for this he has received the C.MrG. Captain Donaldson takes the same keen interest that was evinced by his predecessors in tlie close association of tho shi£- with th Q Dominion. . Another very strong supporter of this sentiment is Major H. Blount. D.5.0., of the lloyal ilarine Artillery. He also commissioned the ship and has been in her throughout. It is curious that at tho present moment he ranks as being lent by H.M.A.S. Australia. He is the Senior Officer of Marines in rue '

i : Squadron, but the Australian Naw does not carry marines. THE LIST OF 1914. It is rather interesting to find from tho Navy List of 1914 what has become of the oilicers then serving in the New Zealand. Commander LL E. Grace is now captain of H.M.S. Vindictive; the Navigating Lieutenant E. R. Jones is captain and acting as senior naval officer at Imbros; Lieutenant D. 13. N. North is commander of the Australia-, Lieutenant 11. T. Dov.-n is commander of the destroyer Foresterj Lieutenant A.. A; LovettCameron" is a commander and is serving at the Admiralty ; Lieutenant G. W. Walker-Jones is lieutenant-com-mander in the destroyer Simoon; Lieutenant 11. C. Garsia is in H.M.A.S. Sydney, and Lieutenant J. S. Boviil has also joined the Australian Naw and is serving in the Encounter; Lieutenant Cyril Gore is a commander and is engaged in mine-sweeping operations; Lieutenant James Irvine, R.N.R., was killed while in the niinesu eeping service; Engineer-Licut-„u-ant-Comrmander T. H. Turner is now Superintendent of Engineering for the Lincoln, Hull, and Grimsby area; En-gmenr-Lieu'tenanb J. D. Grieve is promoted engineer-lieutenant-commandtr and distinguished himself in H.M.S,. Pyramus in East Africa. He is now in the destroyer Amethyst. Mr E. M. Phillips is engineer-lieutenant-com-inandcr in the Patrician, and Mr H. G. Marshal! holds the same rank in the Vancouver, both destroyers; the ! Rev. W. G. Litchfield, who was chaplain and naval instructor,' is at the T7VH i. *•_. m i

Felixstowe Air Station; Fleet-Surgeon C. H. Hock is, under the new nomenclature, "surgeon commander,". and Js in the War,spite; Staff-Surgeon ,J.. p. A. Clark-Hall is surgeon commander in the Cumberland; Fleet Paymaster F. P. EoHanh£m is paymaster commander in the Lord Nelson; Sub-Lieu-tenant P. L. Barcroft is navigating lieutenant in the Velox; Prince George of Bactenburg, jiow tlio Earl' of Medina, K.C.V.0., is doing a gunnery course at Whale Island; Lieutenant A. G. Curiard is in submarines, and Lord Burghersh is flag-lieutenant to the Commander-in-Chief at the CaDe; As-sistant-Paymaster A.. C. A. "Janion, who was at the Anniversary dinner, is paymaster eommimder a,nd secretary to Rear-Admiral Halsey; 'Assistant-Pay-mlvster JD. R. Thuistan joined the Jt.lv'.A.S. and served with armoured cars in Russia and. elscwherp; Chief Gunner J. 11. Mack is now in Monitor No. 23 on the Murroan coast • the chief carpenter, Mr Robert Isitt, died while on leave; .Gunner J. P. Willis t is now lieutenant in 'another, ship, and Gunner V. S. Robinson is still in the New Zealand. Of the boatswains 8. 1 C. Legg" is at Rosythe, W. J. Reynolds in H.M.S. Ambrose, and W. R. 1 Head in submarines. The senior boatswain, Mr A. Lewis, who commis- 1 sioned the ship/is still in her. The 1 R.M. gunner, Mr A. E. Elliott, has f had rapid promotion in the -war, and ' is now a captain doing barrack duty. '

Of the artificer engineers, J. Lamond 1 is in the Cynthia ; It. K. Weir is in ] the Actaeon. and P. It. Brooker in the ' destroyer, depot ship. £ _ Midshipmen who were in the ship in 1 New Zealand are now placed as fol- T lows: Lieutenant C. B Graham Wat- « son, flag-lieutenant to Rear-Admiral i Cowan of the First Light Cruiser * Squadron; Lieutenant P.- B. Y. Heard * is in thg Ajax; Sub-Lieutenant A. H. * C. Barlow was killed in the Black I Prince; Lieutenant H. B. Anderson is * navigating officer in the destroyer a Lupin; Lieutenant C. G. Vyner is in a the destroyer Walpole; the Earl of a Carlisle is first lieutenant in the Ves- J 1 per; Lieutenant/ G. T. A. Scott is in t submarines; Sub-Lieutenant T. A. W. a Robertson was drowned in H.M.S. a Qiieeji Mary Lieutenant J. C. An- s nesley won • the D.S.O. in coastal £ motor-boats, and. Lieutenants A. L. ■*- Poinnd and C. F. B. Bowlby the F D.S.C. in the same service. Lieu- ? tenant Brvwlbv has lately been rather Wndly injured, Lientenant O. J. L. 0 Symon is in tlip Dartmouth; Lieu- p tenant C. S. Miller in the Australia, ri and Lieutenant E. G. B. Coore in tne ! torpedo ship Vernon. ®j