AUSTRALIA’S NAVY

Hokitika Guardian, 28 February 1928, Page 3

AUSTRALIA’S NAVY

Kl.l'.K I CHA NO IvS. SYDNKY, Pel,. 1(1. Willi very liltii' or no fuss, tin. 1 Koynl Australian Navy is undergoing very big changes. rI.Ai.A.S. Melbourne, lor example, lohowmg ilie reurement of H.AI.A.S. - viiney, lias slipped quietly out ol Sydney Harbour on lier last voyage to Kngland, where she will be greeted liv tbe ship breakers. I iie Sydney, as has already been recalled lias escaped this late and will be preserved as a memorial ship thanks to her destitution ol the gulden. Before very long now the new l(l,ilb(l-ton cruisers which are to replace the Melbourne and the Sydney will make their impressive entry. ilie original Australian fleet is now almost obsolete. Ilie Brisbane, whuli will lie the last survivor of Australia’s pre-war navy, is due lor replacement during the next three or lour years. The end of the year is likely to see the Meet in being very largely renewed. The new submarines are very likely to arrive off the Northern Anstiaiian coast about the end ol April. Sydney, which sees more ol Australia's little fleet than any of the other capital cities, takes little more notice of the coming and going ol the ships which, if small in sire and in number, are nice to have about the place. The fact, however, that the public is somewhat apathetic is due largly to the navy itself. It has failed to realise the value of healthy publicity, and the fact that the navy, like everything else nowadays, lias to be kept before the public eye if it is to be popularised, and if there is to be inculcated in the youth of the country what is academically termed a sea sense.