DUNEDIN TO REFIT

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 89, 9 January 1935, Page 11

DUNEDIN TO REFIT

Work to be Carried Out at Devonport Base PREPARATIONS IN TRAIN Dominion Special Service. Auckland, January 8. The biennial refit of H.M.S. Dunedin will be started at the Devonport Naval Base next week. The work, on which about 200 or 300 civilians will be engaged from time to time, will probably take about three.months to complete. This is only the second occasion 011 which a cruiser has undergone a refit locally, as previously the work was always carried out in an English naval dockyard. The success of the relit of H M.S. Diomede in 1933, together with the saving of expense entailed in sending a cruiser to England and back, were responsible for the decision to carry out the work on the Dunedin at Devonport. For the duration of the relit the Dunedin will be on reduced complement. A draft of about 150 Imperial ratings, accompanied by officers, will leave for England by the Rangltata on January 18. Preparations for the refit were already in train to-day, when stocks of ammunition were taken out of the cruiser’s magazines and stored safely on shore. The programme for the Dunedin at the conclusion of the refit has not yet been announced, but it is thought it will include the usual winter cruise to the Pacific islands.