READY FOR SERVICE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 September 1940, Page 5

READY FOR SERVICE

FIRST U.S.A. DESTROYERS REACH BRITAIN USEFUL SHIPS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. TRIBUTES TO AMERICANS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 29. The first flotilla of the destroyers acquired from the United States arrived in a British port to the accompaniment of tremendous enthusiasm. A flying-boat spotted the destroyers in the Atlantic and dived in salute before returning to its base. The ships tied up without ceremony. The flotilla leader will shortly be renamed H.M.S. Churchill. “All are 1200 tons with a flush deck and in class they are contemporaries of the British V. and W. Classes. They mount almost the same armament and have a speed of 35 knots. Most of them are four funnelled and all are equipped with 4-inch guns, 21-inch torpedotubes and three-inch anti-aircraft guns. All will be renamed after towns beginning with the letter C. A large flotilla of this class served in European waters from 1919 to 1924. They have a high standard of comfort aboard. The naval ratings, who were lining the decks as they came in, highly praised the American crews from whom they took over. The British crews proceeded to Canada aboai’d a liner which a German plane unsuccessfully attacked before its departure. The commander of one destroyer said: "The Americans were extraordinarily’ charming, and they handed over the ships in spick-and-span condition. Our men quickly settled down to handling the vessels. “The American skeleton crews who accompanied us on our trial runs wanted to go to England, and they nearly wept when we sailed.” The British crews agreed that the ships are better than the British destroyers of the same age. The Atlantic was crossed in six days, and all the ships have plenty of fuel left. Everyone paid a tribute to the ships’ machinery and other equipment. They require only the very slightest touching up for active service.