FINE RECORD OF SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 198, 19 May 1944, Page 5

FINE RECORD OF SERVICE

Small Ships Of Royal N.Z. Navy FLOTILLA IN PACIFIC (Uflielal War Correspondent, X.Z.L.Ii.) SOLOMON ISLANDS, May 12, Carrying out very line service which includes a remarkable variety of tasks a Royal New Zealand Navy flotilla of sunlit ships under the command of Commander A. D. Holden, 11.N.Z.N.1t., in the Pacific is earning great credit for itself and for New Zealand. This is the flotilla which, since late in 1942, has bagged two submarines, lost one of its siiips through bombing, and this .week was accorded the highest, praise for its 38 months of work here by Captain O. O. Kessing. L'.S.N., Commanding < driver of Advanced Naval Base. “Their work has been absolutely splendid," Captain Kessing told the writer. “For the work they have been doing Holden has developed a line team, air] the main feature of their work is teamwork. They all know what to do and how to do it.” ' . 1 His praise covers a period of service which has earned a proud place in naval history for His Majesty’s New Zealand ships, Matai, Mou. Tui. Kiwi, Gale, and Breeze. Graduating through months of fighting service, they have added lately to their record by months of arduous, monotonous. protective work in operational areas, and I be flotilla has never ouee failed to carry out a task. While fighting

was going on in Guadalcanal the little ships performed with the most admirable aggression. They were never used rash ly, but they dealt the Japanese vicious punches far harder than could be expected from anything of their size and hitting power. . , They steamed boldly about the then dangerous Guadalcanal coast, at a time when Japanese planes were striking hard and oft.cn, and they carried out daring bombardments of enemy shore positions They had one job which would have delighted Drake’s daredevils of the seventeenth century. At that time Japanese destroyers, desperately trying to aid hardpressed land forces, would approach Guadalcanal and toss overboard stores and munitions for the tide to float ashore. The destroyers would retire and before the big drums of floating materials could reach the beach the little New Zealand ships would nip out and sink them or take them aboard. Now, when Allied seapower in the Pacific has grown tremendously and danger is not so frequent, the New Zealapders are paid the compliment of being given as much work as they can perform in what is practically non-stop steaming. In the past three months Matai has steamed 10,006 miles, Tui 9875 miles, and these figures can be taken as a fair indication of the distances covered by the flotilla One recent task was to proceed to a point on a hostile coast and pay some attention to Japanese troops who were crossing exposed country. The signal to the ships employed concluded with the order: “Give Them Hell.” They carried out the order very thoroughly. Ships of the flotilla gave cover to a force which landed in Japanese-defended territory for the purpose of rescuing a large group of airmen who had been collected together in the interior after forced landings. Excellent results were obtained from fire on enemy positions* firing with'full effect being reported by plane spotters only two minutes atter fire had been opened on one target.