NAVY RESCUE TUG

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 229, 24 June 1944, Page 8

NAVY RESCUE TUG

Launching By Mrs. Frasei

(Official News Service.) LONDON, June 22. At the Scottish shipyards which built the New Zealand minesweepers Kiwi, Moa and Tui, of Solomon Islands fame, and other vessels well known in Dominion waters both before and during the war, Mrs. Fraser, wife of the New Zealand Prime Minister, today launched the newest addition to the British Navy’s gallant fleet of “little ships.” It was a rescue tug built for the Royal Navy—a type that is recognized as the most powerful in the world.

The Prime Minister and Mrs. Fraser were told how tugs of this class had performed extraordinary feats in rescuing abandoned freighters and towing them to safety across hundreds of miles of ocean in all kinds of weather. One tug even salvaged a Hudson bomber lashed to a raft which had drifted off the deck of a freighter sunk in the Atlantic. It took three days to bring it to port, but only a few days later the bomber was engaged in operations against the enemy.

After Mrs. Fraser had sent the ship sliding down the ways in the traditional fashion, the Prime Minister told the shipyard workers of exploits in the Pacific of the vessels they built for the New Zealand Navy, and thanked them for the skill and care they put into the work. Mr. Henry Robb, head of the firm, expressed pride at their close association with New Zealand and paid a tribute to the accomplishments of the Dominion’s fighting forces. The New Zealand High Commissioner, Mr. Jordan, and a number of Admiralty officials were also present