AUXILIARY CRUISER

Evening Star, Issue 23696, 2 October 1940, Page 3

AUXILIARY CRUISER

DOMINION'S FIRST DOES HER TRIALS FROM RED DUSTER TO WHITE ENSIGN (■Per United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, October 1. Now Zealand’s first auxiliary cruiser did a full-power trial in Hauraki Gult on Monday. She is fit to take her place with those of many other freshly converted merchantmen which, since the first watches of die war, have been playing an invaluable and heroic part in cementing Britain’s blockade of the Axis Powers and in bolding .the seas against furtive enemy raiders. The task of the new armed merchant cruiser is not that of a raider. She is openly and proudly a warship. the White Ensign flics where tho “ red duster ” used to stream before the wind, guns point where the passengers used to walk, and the uniformed officers and men plainly indicate her purpose. She is of that intermediate class of merchantman- —neither too large nor too small—which, for various reasons, among which are her speed, her seakeeping qualities, and her ability to stay on patrol for long periods without refuelling, refitting, or roprovisioning, makes her suitable for working in a combination of natural circumstances whore it would not always bo desirable to use batleships or cruisers. Another value which she possesses is that she can be used for releasing these types of ships from patrol work for other duties. She is not intended to stand in battle against anything upward of a light cruiser, although there is no doubt that, like tho Rawalpindi, she would do so, but New Zealand may be confident that she is equipped to deal with any raider that began life as a merchantman. Details may not be criveu of her speed and armament, but the care which has been lavished on each has not had the purpose of enabling her to do her fighting running away. Like all ships of tho Royal Navy, and unlike vessels of the Nazi navy, she has no big guns specially mounted to fight aft. Although it may be thought in some quarters that this ship has been a long time in the making, she is to all appearances a heartening job of work. Those who planned and supervised her reconstruction may justly be proud of the result, and it is a ipity that war time makes it impossible for tho country which is giving her to the Navy to see how fit she is to stand alongside any auxiliary cruisers that have been converted in' other parts of the world. Such conversion cannot be the quick job that many might expect. I'or instance, in tho usual Naval manner, she has been completely fitted with traps, combings, and doors dividing her into a largo number of watertight compartments, Again, tbo extra space in her doable bottoms formerly used for cargo stowage, has been fitted with thousands of empty oil drums shored up and sealed so that even more watertight divisions have been created. The completion of this'system alone has been a long job, entailing among other tasks the removal of the bulkheads in much of the accommodation that is usual to a merchant ship. ' Indeed, apart from the innumerable installations that have been necessary to convert a one-time peaceful Pacific and Tasman trader into a fighting _machiue, the ship has been so changed inside that her former passengers would find difficulty in recognising her. In most places she has been stripped right down, her former comforts and luxuries giving way to stark naval utility. The only public room which seems to retain its identity is the music room, -now the ward room, and even that has lost its ceiling. The cruiser did a two hours’ fullpower trial on Monday, with water screaming fast along her flanks. The captain, first lieutenant, and some of the key men of both the quarter deck and the lower deck are long-service Royal Navy men. Many of the others are from the merchant navy, and others from the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The others are ex-naval men from the, Royal Fleet Reserve, and with those of them who have not served beiore in a warship it is surmising how the New Zealanders, suddenly taken from civilian life, can quickly adant themselves to the demands of the Nav.v. For most of the day the ship and her men tried themselves out. Like all new ships, she must have her “teething troubles.” but, like all naval shins, she will quickly get over them. She is a shin upon which a thorough job of work has been done, and her officers and men all show that thev have the will a' I ' l the way to make the most of her. When it is time for them to hand her hack to *ho work from which she came they will l>e sorrv to see her go.