HMNZS Achilles (70)
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.jpg/300px-HMNZS_Achilles_(AWM_P03626-012).jpg) |
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| Career (UK) |  Royal Navy |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Leander-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Achilles |
| Builder: | Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, England |
| Laid down: | 11 June 1931 |
| Launched: | 1 September 1932 |
| Commissioned: | 10 October 1933 |
| Out of service: | loaned to Royal New Zealand Navy 1 October 1936 |
| Fate: | Sold to Indian Navy 5 July 1948 |
| Career (New Zealand) |  Royal New Zealand Navy |
| Name: | HMNZS Achilles |
| Commissioned: | 1 October 1941 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 September 1946 |
| Fate: | Returned to Royal Navy 17 September 1946 |
| Career (India) |  |
| Name: | INS Delhi |
| Acquired: | 5 July 1948 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 June 1978 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 7,270 tons standard 9,740 tons full load |
| Length: | 554.9 ft (169.1 m) |
| Beam: | 56 ft (17 m) |
| Draught: | 19.1 ft (5.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Four Parsons geared steam turbines Six boilers Four shafts 72,000 shp |
| Speed: | 32.5 knots (60 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,730 nm at 13 knots |
| Complement: | peacetime 550 wartime 680 |
| Armament: |
Original configuration: 8 × 6 in guns |
| Armour: |
3 in magazine box 1 inch deck 1 inch turrets |
| Aircraft carried: | One catapult-launched aircraft Original type was a Fairey Seafox catpult and aircraft later replaced with Supermarine Walrus |
| Notes: | Pennant number 70 |
For post 1948 service in the Indian Navy, see INS Delhi (1948)
HMNZS Achilles was a Leander class cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy in World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, alongside HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter.
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 was capable of carrying an aircraft, becoming the first ship to carry a Supermarine Walrus although this was removed before the war.
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[edit] Service
Achilles was originally built for the Royal Navy, and was commissioned as HMS Achilles on October 10, 1933. She served with the Royal Navy's New Zealand Division from March 31, 1937 up to the creation of the Royal New Zealand Navy, into which she was transferred in September 1941, renamed as HMNZS Achilles. Her crew was approximately 60% from New Zealand.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Achilles started 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 (HMS Exeter and Cumberland).
[edit] Battle of the River Plate
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In the early morning of 1939-12-13 a force consisting of Achilles, HMS Ajax and Exeter detected smoke on the horizon, which was confirmed at 06:16 to be a pocket battleship, thought to be Admiral Scheer but which turned out to be the Admiral Graf Spee. A fierce battle ensued, at a range of approximately 20 km (22,000 yards). Achilles took some damage: four crew were killed, and her captain, W. E. Parry was injured. In the exchange of fire 36 of Graf Spee's crew were killed. The range reduced to about four miles (7 km) at around 07:15 and Admiral 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. She was forced by international law to leave with 72 hours. Faced with what he believed to be overwhelming odds, the captain of the Admiral Graf Spee, Hans Langsdorff, scuttled his ship rather than risk the lives of his crew.
[edit] Pacific theatre
Following the battle, Achilles returned to Auckland, New Zealand on 23 February 1940, where she was refitted until June. After Japan entered the war, she escorted troop convoys, then joined the ANZAC squadron in the south west Pacific. While operating off New Georgia with U.S. forces, she was hit by a bomb on X turret on 5 January 1943. She was repaired at Portsmouth from April 1943 to May 1944, during which X turret was replaced by four two-pounders. Sent to the Eastern Fleet, Achilles then joined the British Pacific Fleet (Task Force 57) in May 1945 for final operations in the Pacific.
[edit] Indian Navy
After the war, Achilles was returned to the Royal Navy at Sheerness, 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 at Bombay on 30 June 1978. As part of the scrapping her Y turret was removed and given as a gift to the New Zealand government, it is now on display at the entrance of Devonport RNZN Base in Auckland.
In 1956, she played herself in the film The Battle of the River Plate (U.S. title: Pursuit of the Graf Spee).
[edit] References
- Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- HMNZS Achilles at Uboat.net
[edit] See also
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