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HMNZS Kiama (J353/M353)

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HMAS Kiama, named for the coastal town of Kiama, New South Wales, was one of 60 Bathurst-class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially manned and commissioned solely by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).[1]

After World War II, the corvette was one of four sold to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). She served as HMNZS Kiama from 1952 until 1976, when the corvette was paid off and marked for disposal.

Design and construction[edit]

Main article: Bathurst-class corvette

In 1938, the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board (ACNB) identified the need for a general purpose ‘local defence vessel’ capable of both anti-submarine and mine-warfare duties, while easy to construct and operate.[2][3] The vessel was initially envisaged as having a displacement of approximately 500 tons, a speed of at least 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), and a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi)[4] The opportunity to build a prototype in the place of a cancelled Bar-class boom defence vessel saw the proposed design increased to a 680-ton vessel, with a 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) top speed, and a range of 2,850 nautical miles (5,280 km; 3,280 mi), armed with a 4-inch gun, equipped with asdic, and able to fitted with either depth charges or minesweeping equipment depending on the planned operations: although closer in size to a sloop than a local defence vessel, the resulting increased capabilities were accepted due to advantages over British-designed mine warfare and anti-submarine vessels.[2][5] Construction of the prototype HMAS Kangaroo did not go ahead, but the plans were retained.[6] The need for locally built ‘all-rounder’ vessels at the start of World War II saw the “Australian Minesweepers” (designated as such to hide their anti-submarine capability, but popularly referred to as “corvettes”) approved in September 1939, with 60 constructed during the course of the war: 36 (including Kiama) ordered by the RAN, 20 ordered by the British Admiralty but manned and commissioned as RAN vessels, and 4 for the Royal Indian Navy.[2][7][8][9][1]

Kiama was constructed by Evans Deakin & Co, at Brisbane, Queensland.[1] She was laid down on 2 November 1942, and launched on 3 July 1943 by Mrs. G. Lawson, wife of the Minister for Transport.[1] Kiama was commissioned into the RAN on 26 January 1944.[1] The coastal community of Kiama, after which the vessel was named, donated recreational materiel for her crew including a radio set, books, and a 16 mm movie projector.[10][11]

Operational history[edit]

World War II[edit]

Kiama‘s first deployment was in March 1944 to Milne Bay in New Guinea.[1] From her arrival until September 1944, the corvette’s main duty was to escort convoys along the New Guinea coastline, although a reassignment for the duration of June saw Kiama perform anti-submarine patrols in the Solomon Sea.[1] In September, Kiama was used to transport soldiers between New Guinea and New Britain.[1] On conclusion, she resumed her convoy escort role until the end of 1944, when she departed for Sydney.[1] During her eight months in New Guinea waters, Kiama travelled over 30,000 nautical miles (56,000 km), was at sea for more than 3,000 hours.[1]

Commandos from In September 1944 ‘C’ Troop and a small detachment from ‘B’ Troop, from the 2/8th Commando Squadron were landed from HMAS Kiama on a reconnaissance operation at Jacquinot Bay on the island of New Britain, to collect intelligence in preparation for an assault by the 5th Division.[12]

The corvette arrived in Sydney on 21 December 1944.[1] On 25 December, the crew was recalled from leave to go to the assistance of the liberty ship SS Robert J. Walker, which had been torpedoed by German submarine U-862.[1] Kiama, along with Quickmatch, Yandra, and USS PC597 were dispatched to the last known location of the ship and began to search the area for the liberty ship’s crew and the attacking submarine; finding the 67 survivors of the attack at 05:45 on 26 December but failing to locate U-862.[13] Kiama was assigned to anti-submarine patrols near Sydney for the final days of the year, before sailing to Adelaide for a month-long refit on 3 January 1945.[1]

Post-refit, Kiama was assigned to Fremantle for two months of anti-submarine warfare exercises with the United States Navy, before returning to New Guinea on 7 May 1945.[1] In May and June, the corvette performed several coastal bombardments in the Bougainville area.[1] In July, Kiama transported Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester from New Guinea to the Solomon Islands, then spent the rest of the month moving troops and military cargo between these two locations.[1] From 5 to 24 August, the corvette was based in Brisbane, before returning to New Guinea waters.[1] Kiama spent the rest of 1945 as a troop and supply transport, minesweeper, and general duties vessel.[1] When the war ended, Kiama took part in the Japanese surrender at Rabaul.[14] In November, Kiama was assigned to escort demilitarized Japanese cruiser Kashima as the cruiser embarked Japanese soldiers in New Guinea for repatriation.[15]

Kiama returned to Sydney on 29 January 1946.[1] In February she paid a six-day farewell visit to the town of Kiama, ahead of her decommission into the Reserve on 3 April.[1][16] During her wartime service, the ship had been at sea for 6,369 hours, and had sailed a distance of 60,822 nautical miles (112,642 km).[1] She earned two battle honours: “Pacific 1944–45” and “New Guinea 1944”.[17][18]

Transfer to RNZN[edit]

On 5 March 1952, Kiama and three other Bathurst-class corvettes (Echuca, Inverell, and Stawell) were transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy.[19] Kiama was commissioned into the RNZN,[when?] receiving the prefix HMNZS. Upon acquisition by New Zealand, the corvette was converted into a training ship.[20] Kiama‘s 4-inch gun and aft minesweeping equipment were removed, and replaced with two 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns.[20] This is contradicted by a 1996 newspaper article which said it had been mothballed by the New Zealand Navy and converted to a training ship and for use on fisheries patrols in 1966.[21]

In 1966, Kiama was re-commissioned under command of Lieutenant-Commander E Burrows in the 27th Fisheries Protection Squadron to join her sister ship HMNZS Inverell.[22][23] Other duties included search-and-rescue operations and transportation of scientific teams to small island along New Zealand’s coastline.[24][25]

In May 1966 the Kiama was involved in the search for the Kaitawa which was lost with all hands near 90 mile beach.[26] Apart from the initial search, the Kiama formed part of Operation Seabed, along with the Inverell and the frigate Taranaki.[27]

The corvette revisited her namesake town in Australia in late 1966.[28]

RNZN Commanders[edit]

  • 1966 Lt Commander E Burrows
  • 1967 Lt-commander M C Verran
  • 1968 Lt-Commander L J Tempero[29]
  • 1970 Lt-Commander F D Arnott[30]
  • 1971 Lt-Commander D L Douglas[31]
  • 1973 Lt Commander N Cameron[32]

Fate[edit]

On 27 May 1968 the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral J O Ross, described the Kiama and Inverell as obsolete and no longer fit for purpose.[33] The Kiama remained in service until 1975 when it was placed in reserve. The ship was paid off for disposal on 19 August 1976 and broken up in 1979.

HMS/HMNZS Royalist (C89)

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HMNZS Royalist flying her payingoff pennant – Nov 8th 1965

HMS Royalist was a Bellona-class (improved Dido-class) light cruiser of the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) during the Second World War and early Cold War.

After her commissioning in 1943, Royalist was modified with extra facilities and crew for operating as a flagship in aircraft carrier operations. Initially, she operated in the North Sea before transferring to the Mediterranean for the invasion of southern France. Royalist remained in the Aegean Sea until the end of 1944 before sailing to the Far East in 1945 where the ship served until the end of the war.

Royalist was then put into reserve until 1953, when the Navy decided to proceed with plans to refit the ship. The high cost of reconstruction and new governmental policy forced the RN to transfer the vessel to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) in 1956. In return, New Zealand covered the reconstruction costs of Royalist. After ten years of service with the RNZN, which included involvement in the Suez Crisis and the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation from, she was scrapped in 1967.

Development[edit]

Design[edit]

In 1943, the Royal Navy (RN) intended to use the Bellona-class as flagships in escort carrier/cruiser groups during the Invasions of France as well as during joint Royal Navy-US Navy operations in the Pacific. Within months of her commissioning, Royalist‘s design diverged from the rest of her class. She was fitted with two extra rooms that further enabled her to communicate with aircraft carriers and Fleet Air Arm aircraft. In addition, she was modified with the incorporation of one of the first implementations of an “Action Information Office” (AIO). The AIO was a early operations room, in which computers and manual plotting allowed a force to be managed efficiently. The AIO allowed her to operate as a command ship in the northern Atlantic, primarily in hunting German warships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst. The specialized equipment pushed crew members to their limits, as only minimal space remained for sleeping and comfort.[1] Compared to her base design requiring a crew of 484, Royalist’s compliment was 600, adding to the aforementioned problems of cramped conditions. All together, Royalist was designated as a ‘Carrier Flagship’ when she was mounted with radar.[2]

Construction[edit]

Royalist was built by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Greenock who laid her keel on 21 March 1940. She was launched on 30 May 1942, and commissioned on 10 September 1943. She returned to the dockyard for alterations in November which were not complete until February 1944. Her French motto, Surtout Loyal, translates to “Loyal above all”.[2]

Royal Navy career[edit]

North Atlantic service[edit]

Following her commissioning, Royalist spent several months working up, in which she underwent repairs for trial defects and for further alterations and additions. These included aforementioned modifications for service as a carrier flagship.[2] In March 1944, Royalist joined the Home Fleet and served for a short period in the Arctic theater. In this capacity, she was flagship of Operation Tungsten, the carrier raid in April 1944 against the German battleship Tirpitz at anchor in a fjord in Norway.

After Tungsten, Royalist escorted carriers for attacks on shipping off Norway before entering dock for a refit.[3] After completion of the work in June, Royalist was ordered to the Mediterranean to support the Operation Dragoon landings in the south of France in August 1944. Royalist was the flagship (Rear Admiral Thomas Hope Troubridge) of the RN/USN Task Force 88 that was tasked with maintaining air superiority over the beaches and support of landing operations.

Mediterranean service[edit]

Following the Dragoon landings, Royalist joined the Aegean Force, tasked with preventing enemy evacuation from the islands in the Aegean Sea. On 15 September, Royalist and destroyer HMS Teazer sank transports KT4 and KT26 off Cape Spatha. She was stationed in the Aegean until late 1944 before a refit in early 1945 at Alexandria. After her stint in the Mediterranean, she was transferred to the East Indies and joined the East Indies Fleet.

Royalist and a Supermarine Seafire off Alexandria, 1945

By April 1945, she was flagship of the 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron, supporting the Rangoon landings of Operation Dracula.[citation needed]

From 10 May, Royalist joined a group of carriers during Operation Mitre, which searched for Japanese warships evacuating Nicobar and the Andaman Islands.[a] For the remainder of the war, she supported carrier raids against targets in the East Indies and Sumatra.[citation needed]

Scottish author Alistair MacLean served on Royalist during the war, and used his experiences as background for his acclaimed first novel HMS Ulysses (1955) as well as for some of his subsequent works.[citation needed]

Post war reconstruction[edit]

Royalist was withdrawn from the East Indies after the end of the war and returned home to be mothballed and dehumidified in 1946.

Concerned about the growth and threat of the Soviet Navy, the Admiralty board ordered a modernization of four Dido-class cruisers in 1950.[b][4][5] Royalist was planned to be the first of four to six Dido/Bellona-class cruisers to be modernized under the program, with work planned to start in January 1953.[6] The ships were chosen as they were modern, economical, and could be easily modified with new radars and fire control systems.[7][8][failed verification] The importance of the refits increased when other attempts to do the same to Colony-class and Swiftsure-class cruisers were canceled.[9]

The modernization required the construction of a new superstructure and the addition of a fire control system, with the work planned to only extend the cruiser’s lifespan by 6 years. In March 1953, reconstruction of Royalist began.[5]

Following the Conservative victory in the general election of 1951, attitude towards the RN changed. Newly re-elected Prime Minister Winston Churchill supported the Royal Airforce at the cost of the navy, and its budget was cut in 1952.[10] The shift in policy undermined naval expansions by the outgoing Attlee government, and the Navy was forced to cancel upgrades of many ships.[11][12] Under these financial cuts, plans to refurbish Royalist and her sister ships were postponed by three years. In 1954, a review of the Royal Navy found that the cruiser conversions lacked “dual war and peace, [and] cold war capabilities required” for the Navy, and the program was further deprioritized.[13][14]

Transfer to Royal New Zealand Navy[edit]

In 1955, the RN was looking to offload the half-renovated and obsolete Royalist. The offer was accepted by New Zealand Prime Minister Sid Holland, who offered that his nation would pay for the rest of her reconstruction.[15]

Royalist‘s transfer occurred when the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) was at a crossroads about its future. Internal factions within the RNZN and New Zealand government disagreed regarding the roles and doctrine of its Navy, with many unsure how a nuclear-era force should function and the importance of anti-submarine frigates.[16][17] Royalist‘s refurbishment cost of £4.5 million indicated the position of the Navy, as the RNZN chose to refurbish the cruiser rather than build two frigates with the same funds.[18][19]

Those in favor of a new cruiser believed a ship like Royalist would be able to serve an anti-aircraft role in supporting allied operations in the Pacific, alongside the RN and Royal Australian Navy.[20][21] Royalist was faster, more armed, and had better range then the Whitby-class frigates proposed to be bought instead. Furthermore, concern about Soviet cruisers raiding shipping in the South Pacific gave her the edge over the primarily ASW ships.[22]

New Zealand only covered her reconstruction costs, and did not out-right buy the ship. This was due to the RN only ‘loaning’ the vessel, as the RNZN was not seen as being an independent force within the British Empire. When her modifications were complete, New Zealand refused to accept the vessel, stating that the poor World War II-era sleeping arrangements and lack of ABC equipment were unsatisfactory. This soured relations between the two navies, as the RN did not appreciate perceived refusal from a subordinate.[20][21]

The ship was handed over to the Royal New Zealand Navy on 9 July 1956 following the completion of the work. Controversy over her purchase (and governmental stance) persisted, with the ship being viewed as either a white elephant or the most modern and capable vessel of the RNZN.[23]

As part of the Kiwi half of her refurbishment, Royalist was fitted with a new radar, fire control system, and three ‘STAAG 2’ 40 millimeter anti-air guns.[24]

Royal New Zealand Navy career[edit]

HMNZS Royalist during the Suez Crisis

Suez Crisis[edit]

Main article: Suez Crisis

After working up in British waters, Royalist was assigned to the British fleet in the Mediterranean. In August 1956, New Zealand Prime Minister Sidney Holland was persuaded by British Prime Minister Anthony Eden to keep her in the Mediterranean as a deterrent to Egyptian or Israeli aggression.[25][26][27] Despite not operating her, the RN wanted to keep the cruiser on station due to her anti-air capabilities and the threat of hostile aircraft. Following diplomatic negotiations between the two respective governments, the New Zealand Cabinet agreed not to recall the cruiser under the condition that she did not participate in combat.[citation needed]

Following British attacks on Egypt as part of Operation Musketeer (1956), Commonwealth support for the operations faltered. New Zealand soon became concerned about harming its relations with the UK by not supporting the plan and harming its relations with other global powers if it did. [28][29] Following several days of posturing in Auckland, Holland decided to order Royalist to withdraw from operations.[30][31]

As New Zealand figured out the nation’s stance on the crisis, the cruiser operated with the RN fleet as an air defense radar picket, rescue ship for downed pilots, and as a method to coordinate British aircraft on bombing runs.[32][29] Later on during the crisis, the New Zealand Cabinet met again to discuss Royalist. Due to the cruiser forming an important part of the RN’s anti-air defense in the area, and not wanting to harm relations further, the cabinet “decided not to decide” on her presence within the RN fleet. As such, she remained with the Royal Navy fleet yet did not participate further in Operation Musketeer.[29]

Pacific service[edit]

HMNZS Royalist at Devonport Naval Base, 1956

Royalist continued to operate with allied navies in the 1950s, and her anti-air capabilities were proven when she outperformed RN cruisers during exercises.[33][34] As part of New Zealand involvement in the Malayan Emergency, she was used to repeatedly shell the MNLA in Johore.[35]

By 1960, the cruiser was expected to serve another 2 and a half years, and the Navy began searching for a replacement. At the time, the RN was short of loanable cruisers, so the destroyer HMS Duchess (D154) was transferred to cover the decommissioning of both Royalist and the recently sunk HMAS Voyager.[36][37]

In 1962, while sailing in rough weather in the Tasman Sea, the cruiser’s keel twisted out of alignment. It was found that her captain ran the ship at excess speed into a head sea in an attempt to make it back to land to watch a Rugby match between the Wallabies and All Blacks.[38]

Between 1963 and 1965, she operated with the British Far East Fleet during the Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation. She joined British vessels in making provocative passages between Indonesian Islands in an attempt to deter Indonesian attacks on Malaysia. During these deployments, her age began to show, as captains described unserviceable equipment, structural degradation, and below-deck overheating; by now, the ship was already beyond her lifespan and overdue for retirement. [39]

Many in the RNZN doubted that the ageing ship could deploy again. Despite these concerns, she spent two months being refitted to allow her to rejoin the overstretched Far East Fleet in 1965. Following this work, it was estimated that the ship’s steam turbines could be kept operational for 15 more months.[40][41] For her last ever deployment, she was ordered to Peral Harbor for further maintenance before being sent to Hong Kong and Singapore to relieve the British fleet.[42] Once in Singapore, she conducted anti-infiltration patrols, boarded boats, deployed shore patrols, served as a simulated “enemy Sverdlov cruiser“[42] in exercises, and provided air defense for HMS Bulwark off Borneo.[43]

While returning to New Zealand, a boiler and turbine broke down, canceling her Waitangi Day tour of the country and ending her career five months early.[citation needed]

Decommissioning and fate[edit]

Royalist was paid off on 4 June 1966 and, after eleven years in the RNZN, reverted to Royal Navy control in 1967. She was sold for scrap to the Nissho Company of Japan in November 1967. She was towed from Auckland to Osaka on 31 December 1967 and scrapped upon arrival.

HMNZS Leander was a light cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy during World War II. She was the lead ship of a class of light ships, the Leander-class light cruiser and was initially named HMS Leander.

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HMNZS Leander was a light cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy during World War II. She was the lead ship of a class of light ships, the Leander-class light cruiser and was initially named HMS Leander.

History[edit]

Leander was launched at Devonport on 24 September 1931. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Leander on 24 March 1933. Along with Achilles she served in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy.

In August 1937 HMS Leander, on a journey from Europe to New Zealand, carried out an aerial survey of Henderson, Oeno and Ducie, and on each island a British flag was planted and an inscription was nailed up proclaiming: “This island belongs to H.B.M. King George VI.”[1]

In 1941 the New Zealand Division became the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and she was commissioned as HMNZS Leander in September 1941.

Italian ship Ramb I sinking after the engagement with Leander

In World War II, Leander served initially in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Commander Stephen Roskill, in later years the Royal Navy’s Official Historian, was posted as the ship’s executive officer in 1941. In action on 27 February 1941, she sank the Italian armed merchantman Ramb I near the Maldives, rescuing 113 of her crew and taking slight damage. On 23 March 1941, Leander intercepted and captured the Vichy French merchant Charles L.D. in the Indian Ocean between Mauritius and Madagascar. On 14 April, Leander deployed for support of military operations in Persian Gulf and, on 18 April, joined the aircraft carrier Hermes and the light cruiser Emerald. On 22 April, Leander was released from support duties in the Persian Gulf and took part in search for German raider Pinguin south of the Maldives.

In June 1941, Leander was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet and was active against the Vichy French during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign. After serving in the Mediterranean, Leander returned to the Pacific Ocean in September 1941.

On 13 July 1943, Leander was with Rear Admiral Walden Lee Ainsworth‘s Task Group 36.1 of three light cruisers: Leander and the US ships Honolulu and St. Louis. The task group also included ten destroyers. At 01:00 the Allied ships established radar contact with the Japanese cruiser Jintsu, which was accompanied by five destroyers near Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands. In the ensuing Battle of Kolombangara, Jintsu was sunk and all three Allied cruisers were hit by torpedoes and disabled. Leander was hit by a single torpedo just abaft ‘A’ boiler room. 26 crew from the boiler room and the No.1 4-inch gun mount immediately above were killed or posted missing.[2] The ship was so badly damaged that she took no further part in the war. She was first repaired in Auckland, then proceeded to a full refit in Boston.[3]

She returned to the Royal Navy on 27 August 1945. In 1946 she was involved in the Corfu Channel Incident. She was scrapped in 1950.

The superyacht Leander G, owned by Sir Donald Gosling, is named after HMS Leander, the first naval vessel on which he served.[4]

In 2020 Fiji commissioned the RFNS Savenaca, a patrol vessel named after Savenaca Naulumatua, a sailor from Fiji who lost his life while serving on the Leander during the Battle of Kolombangara

HMNZS Achilles was a Leander-class light cruiser, the second of five in the class. She served in the Royal New Zealand Navy in the Second World War.

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Allan C. Green – State Library of Victoria – Allan C. Green collection of glass negatives.



lHMS Achilles and HMS Leander 1938 HMS Philomel alongside training jetty

Achilles crew members returning aboard at Rio de Janeiro

HMS Achilles, USS Louisville, Melb Feb. 1930’s

The 7000 ton light cruiser HMNZS Achilles at Malta. The Achilles belongs to the Leander class, the first modern light cruiser class of the Royal Navy. She was fitted with New Zealand-made radars, her crew comprised of mostly New Zealanders.

On this day, March 17 in 1946, HMNZS Achilles arrived in Auckland ending her service with the British Pacific Fleet. Read about HMNZS Achilles on our website: https://navymuseum.co.nz/…/by-collections/ships/achilles/
Image: AAF 0197 HMNZS Achilles 1946

Supermarine Walrus on board HMNZS Achilles

She was launched in 1931 for the Royal Navy, loaned to New Zealand in 1936 and transferred to the new Royal New Zealand Navy in 1941. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, alongside HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter and notable for being the first Royal Navy cruiser to have fire control radar, with the installation of the New Zealand-made SS1 fire-control radar in June 1940.[2]

After Second World War service in the Atlantic and Pacific, she was returned to the Royal Navy. She was sold to the Indian Navy in 1948 and recommissioned as INS Delhi. She was scrapped in 1978.

Design[edit]

She was the second of five ships of the Leander-class light cruisers, designed as effective follow-ons to the York class. Upgraded to Improved Leander-class, she could carry an aircraft and was the first ship to carry a Supermarine Walrus, although both Walruses were lost before the Second World War began. At one time she carried the unusual DH.82 Queen Bee which was a radio-controlled unmanned aircraft, normally used as a drone.

Service[edit]

Achilles was originally built for the Royal Navy, and was commissioned as HMS Achilles on 10 October 1933. She would serve with the Royal Navy’s New Zealand Division from 31 March 1936 up to the creation of the Royal New Zealand Navy, into which she was transferred in September 1941 and recommissioned HMNZS Achilles. About 60 per cent of her crew was from New Zealand.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Achilles began patrolling the west coast of South America looking for German merchant ships, but by 22 October 1939 she had arrived at the Falkland Islands, where she was assigned to the South American Division under Commodore Henry Harwood and allocated to Force G (with Exeter and Cumberland).

Battle of the River Plate[edit]

Main article: Battle of the River Plate

Achilles as seen from Ajax at the Battle of the River Plate
HMS “Achilles” in Battle of the River Plate , a painting by Frank Norton, is part of the National Collection of War Art held by Archives New Zealand

In the early morning of 13 December 1939, a force consisting of Achilles, Ajax and Exeter detected smoke on the horizon, which was confirmed at 06:16 to be a pocket battleship, thought to be the German battleship Admiral Scheer but which turned out to be Admiral Graf Spee. A fierce battle ensued, at a range of about 11 nautical miles (20 km). Achilles suffered some damage. In the exchange of fire, four crew were killed, her captain, WE Parry, was wounded; 36 of Graf Spee‘s crew were killed.

The range reduced to about 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) at around 07:15 and Graf Spee broke off the engagement around 07:45 to head for the neutral harbour of Montevideo which she entered at 22:00 that night, having been pursued by Achilles and Ajax all day. Graf Spee was forced by international law to leave within 72 hours. Faced with what he believed to be overwhelming odds, the captain of Graf Spee, Hans Langsdorff, scuttled his ship rather than risk the lives of his crew. An ensign flag flown by HMS Achilles in the Battle of the River Plate was donated to Christ Church Cathedral in the Falkland Islands and is still on display hanging on the south wall of the Cathedral at Port Stanley.[3]

Pacific theatre[edit]

Following the Atlantic battle, Achilles returned to Auckland, New Zealand, on 23 February 1940, where she underwent a refit until June. After German raider activity in the South Pacific in 1940 Achilles escorted the first Trans-Tasman commercial convoy, VK.1, composed of Empire Star, Port Chalmers, Empress of Russia, and Maunganui leaving Sydney 30 December 1940 for Auckland.[4] After Japan entered the war, she escorted troop convoys, then joined the ANZAC Squadron in the south-west Pacific.

Achilles met HMAS Canberra, flagship of Rear-Admiral John G. Crace, and HMAS Perth in December 1941 to form an escort for the Pensacola Convoy.[5]

While operating off Guadalcanal Island with US Navy Task Force 67 on 5 January 1943, she was attacked by four Japanese aircraft. A bomb blew the top off X turret, killing 13 sailors. Between April 1943 and May 1944 Achilles was docked in Portsmouth, England for repairs and modernisation. Her single 4-inch AA guns were replaced by the dual-purpose QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun in four twin mountings, modern radar was fitted, and the damaged X turret was replaced by four QF 2 pom poms in a quadruple-mount. The work was delayed by a dockyard explosion that killed 14 men. Stoker William Dale was awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving for his actions in saving the lives of several dockyard workers.[6]

Sent back to the New Zealand Fleet, Achilles next joined the British Pacific Fleet in May 1945 for final operations in the Pacific War.

Indian Navy[edit]

Main article: INS Delhi (1948)

After the war, Achilles was returned to the Royal Navy at Sheerness in Kent, England on 17 September 1946. She was then sold to the Indian Navy and recommissioned on 5 July 1948 as INS Delhi. She remained in service until decommissioned for scrap in Bombay on 30 June 1978. In 1968 she was present at the granting of independence to Mauritius representing the Indian Government together with the Royal Navy frigate Tartar under Captain Cameron Rusby.[7] As part of the scrapping her Y turret was removed and presented as a gift to the New Zealand government. It is now on display at the entrance of Devonport Naval Base in Auckland.[8] On 22 January 1979, Admiral Jal Cursetji, the Indian Navy Chief of the Naval Staff, presented Achilles’s builder’s plaque, steering wheel and engine room telegraph to Admiral Terence Lewin, the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff of the Royal Navy.[9]

Achilles played herself in the film The Battle of the River Plate in 1956.