Cruiser – Bellona

6481. Another view of the Commonwealth Jubilee Exercises off the coast of Tasmania in Feb.-March 1951. Here we see a flight of 10 aircraft – seven Hawker Sea Furies and three Fairey Fireflies from HMAS SYDN EY over the 5,950-7,200 ton New Zealand Modified Dido Class cruiser HMNZS BELLONA.

In a way this is a physical manifestation of postwar New Zealand naval policy, in that the RNZN Dido Class anti-aircraft cruisers were obtained by loan and acquisition after WWII specifically to operate with Australian aircraft carriers, making a strong combined regional force.

Again, these were the exercises during which, on Feb. 26, 1951, a practice rocket [or rockets, we’re not sure] fired by a Sea Fury from SYDNEY struck the quarterdeck of HMNZS BELLONA, fortunately without major damage or casualties.

BELLONA was towing a target astern, but as we have previously reported, a little facetiously, the Sea Fury pilot, Lt Peter Seed – a New Zealander, like many in the RAN’s FAA squadrons then – had insisted before an enquiry that he had not pressed the rocket firing button, and the plane’s rockets had streaked off independently, and inadvertently.

Noone quite accepted that at the time, although it was clearly as accident. It was only later, during SYDNEY’S tour of duty in Korea that it was discovered that powerful low frequency radio transmissions from the carrier had the capacity to spontaneously ignite the under-wing rockets on her aircraft aloft. Indeed it was found to be a problem on other carriers also, and arming procedures for the ordnance had to be changed.

Subsequently, in somewhat different circumstances, it was a spontaneous under-wing rocket firing from an an electrical surge that caused the huge deck fire on the U.S. super carrier USS FORRESTAL in the Gulf of Tonkin on July 27, 1967. The consequences in that case were truly tragic, with 134 men killed and 161 injured, as explosions and fire spread among fuel and bomb-laden aircraft on the giant carrier’s crowded flight deck. Details of that incident are here.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire

By the way, we had a wonderful Allan C. Green portrait of HMNZS BELLONA at Entry NO. 5317, here:

www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/6524159025/

This photo: ADF Serials website, RAN aircraft section, with permission. With a magnificent collection of photographs and aircraft log and tracing information, you can find the ADF Serials website here:

www.adf-serials.com/