H.M.A.S. AUSTRALIA

Hokitika Guardian, 13 October 1928, Page 6

H.M.A.S. AUSTRALIA

CRUISER. AT WELLINGTON. WELLINGTON, October 10. The first of the nmcli-talked-ol 10,000 ton cruisers to ho seen in the Southern Hemisphere, H.M.A.S. Australia, the new flagship of the navy across the Tasman, arrived at Wellington last night. Over six hundred feet long, slim and stream-lined, and with sharp hows, the Australia, is capable of driving through tho seas at a speed reckoned in land terms of 37 miles an hour.

Fighting at sea, like everything else, has speeded up since the war, and the cruiser’s 8-inch guns, which are arranged in four super-imposed turrets as in a battleship can pour a stream of shells into an enemy ship at the rate of 11.2 a rnimvtef

The value of superior speed and gunpower was well illustrat ed, in 1914 when the presence in the-Western Pacific of tlie first Australia (a battle-cruiser of 19,000 tons, with 12-inch guns) preventing von Spco’s cruisers from bombarding New Zealand, and Austin linn coastal cities' just as Scarborough and Lowestoft were shelled by enemy ships from across the North Sea. The new cruiser, however, lias none of the squat, grim lines of her predecessor (a sister-sliip ot the New Zen land), which now lies weed-grown and forgotten on the sen-bottom off Sydney Heads. Being 40 feet longer but of little more than half the displacement, and only 68J feet wide compared with 90-odd, every lino of her slenderlyproportioned hull suggests speed. SYDNEY TO WELLINGTON IN 40

HOURS. Built, like her namesake, by John Brown and Co., on the Clyde, the new flagship of the Royal Australian Naw was launched and named by Lady Cook, wife of tlie Australian High Commissioner, on'March 17 of last year. Less than a year later the Australia showed what her 80,000 horse-power engines could do by averaging 31 knots for 28 hours at three-quarter power. This in actual service means that the ship could steam from Sydney to Wellington in the unprecedented time of 40 hours, am! then have speed to spare. A few davs later, after certain meclianical adjustments, she covered the measured mile “all out ” at 32.5 knots, equal to 37 land miles an hour. Hoi speed trials also revealed the fact that she is the -most economical of her class in the consumption of oil-fuel, of win cl. the ship parries 3400 tons, only tons less than the bunker capacity of tlie Nelsoh and tlie . Rodney, A slir ‘ prising fact, too, is that her engines are 35,000' h.p., more powerful than those of these great battleships, the biggest and most powerful in the worldFrom these figures, the Australia’s ti ememlous cruising radius and extreme mobility can lie- judged. Of the rruisorScgun-1 ria I s;.wl;t r h we’ecarried out before;;: she .sailed from Portsmouth d'ouMromo, little has been made public,,bi§|a few facts about her armament arc kijown. -A setup t cev i<-< the first to be in any Britiswarship, is fitted in each of the lour turrets, giving the guns an exti erne elevation, it is said of 52deg., which mennstall immensely increased range. An improved system . <>f feeding shells and charges from the magazines to ti e turrets'* "eiiaffles a firing rate <4 14 rounds a minute to ho maintained by each of her eight big guns.

For the first time in any warship in the world, quadruple -torpedo-tubes hn-e been fitted in the Australia. Eight ot these tubes firing -21-inch torpedoes, make a formidable addition to her armament. For her own protection against submarines, and the torpedoes of other surface craft, the cruiser is fitted with ‘‘‘bulges” along the hull below the. water-lme. Against shellfire, she is protected by 4-inch steel plating—not very much perhaps, but, as lord Fishqr used to sav, “ Speed '« the best -protection.” To beat off attacks ifrom the air she carries four' I-inch anti-aircraft guns. Fqur J-pon riders, the same numbei ot 2-pnunder “ poms-poius ” for salutin’ purposes, and 12 machine and Lewis gttiis complete her equipment. ' 7 In place of the time-honoured voicepipes'for the transmission of •orders throng bout the ship, loudspeakers- are installed at-•different points above and below decks, so that an order given on Iho bridge is hoard instantaneously on the quarter-deck aft, in the engineroom, or in the farthest, corner of the mess-decks.

GOVERNMENT LUNCH EON. WELLINGTON, October 10. Admiral G. F. Hyde ami his sla'F. of H..Y1..4.5. Australia,."were entertained by the Government to-day at a luncheon. Ten members of Parliament, wope present. The Prime Minister, M 1 Coates, said : “ We in New Zealand are inseparably wrapped up with the fortunes ol Australians. We are trying to make exactly the same provision, in principle, for Hie efficient protection ot trade routes by joining with Australia and other parts olf the Empire in the methods that will affect that object. ’ He congratulated the Prime Ministe* and people of Australia on taking the course they had to ensure that their trade routes would lie protected. Trade relations between New Zealand and Australia had always been pleasant,, lie said, and the good feeling between the sister countries was growing more and more, along the lines of the general desire ot mostpeople in the Empire to get together to a greater extent than hitherto. The Prime Minister voiced a wish that units of the New Zealand and Australian navies might meet for the purposes ol training and fraternising.