Mike Moore's, MOTAT's attempt to save the HMNZS Achilles

[Dave Homewood]

I was not aware of this till now, but Mike Moore, later NZ PM, tried to preserve the whole ship. From The Press, 5 April 1978

Moves to save Achilles

Christchurch and Auckland may be vying for the former New Zealand warship Achilles (7000 tons). His suggestion that the former New Zealand warship Achilles should be preserved had received widespread support from the community, said the vice-president of the Labour Party Mr M. K. Moore), now living in Christchurch and the Labour candidate for Papanui in this year’s General Election. Mr Moore emphasised that the plan was a personal rather than a political issue. People had telephoned and stopped him in the street to talk about it, he said. He has also spoken to Christchurch community leaders, who will discuss establishing a non-political group that would make representations to the Government.

The Achilles, one of three ships involved in the Battle of the River Plate, is bound for the scrap yard unless something is done to preserve her. If it was not possible to preserve the Achilles as a travelling museum, he hoped she could be used as a static display at Lyttelton, said Mr Moore. Mr Moore said his generation had been fortunate to escape the miseries of war, and he hoped that they would repay their gratitude to those who had sacrificed their lives, by contributing financially to the plan to save the Achilles.

The Museum of Transport and Technology has put forward a proposal to save the Achilles and to keep her at Auckland - as a permanent exhibit. The proposal, which has been submitted to the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) for his support involves dredging the Motions Creek inlet to about 18ft to position the Second World War warship at a permanent berth adjacent to the Sir Keith Park Aircraft Park. The museum’s executive director (Mr R. J. Richardson) believes that this task could be accomplished for an estimated $450,000, including the cost of a concrete cradle to support the ship.

The aim is to create a maritime museum with the Achilles, an old scow and the old steam tug William C. Daldy as permanent exhibits in the same area. Mr Richardson has suggested that the Indian Government may be prepared to make a gift of the ship, which is now named the Delhi, because of its historic New Zealand connections and also in return for some of the Colombo Aid help New Zealand has given India over the years. He believes it may be possible to sail the Delhi to New Zealand with a skeleton Royal New Zealand Navy crew.

[Dave Homewood]

Help for Achilles

PA Auckland

Offers of assistance to bring to New Zealand and maintain the old warship Achilles have come forward at an encouraging rate, according to the Achilles Association, which has decided to support Government efforts to bring the ship back to New Zealand. The Government is making a feasibility study of the project based on a proposal by the Museum of Transport and Technology to establish the Achilles near its Sir Keith Park Aircraft Park. A spokesman for the Achilles Association. Mr J. S. Harker, said that a paint manufacturer had offered to supply free paint and a rope company had offered free cordage.


PRESS, 19 APRIL 1978

[Dave Homewood]

Achilles to he broken up

NZPA staff correspondent London

Work on breaking up the former New Zealand cruiser Achilles will start in about six weeks, according to a report from New Delhi. The report, from Simon Winchester, New Delhi correspondent of the “Guardian,” said the Achilles, the last surviving vessel of the Battle of the River Plate, would go to her end in a Bombay' breaker’s yard early in July. He said the process of scrapping the 45-year-old 7142 tonne vessel — now the Indian Navy’s Delhi — had begun already. The twin bow anchors — worth about $NZ90 a tonne as scrap — were cut out soon after the Achilles steamed into Bombay Harbour a month ago to tie up for the last time.

“I felt that the eyes of the ship, which has been so human in almost every respect, were being taken away,” Commander Rajnish of the Indian Navy told Winchester.

Attempts had been made by New Zealanders to preserve the cruiser, which in her epic World War II encounter with the German pocket battleship Graf Spee wrote one of the most momentous chapters of New Zealand’s Naval history, but these were apparently too late, he said. The sale of the scrap from the vessel is expected to make the Indian Navy about $626,500, considerably less than the estimated $895,000 Winchester said the Indian Government would sell the ship for, and less than a third of the S3M which the Royal New Zealand Navy has said would be needed to prepare and tow the Achilles to New Zealand.

PRESS, 18 MAY 1978

[Dave Homewood]

Gun turret, perhaps from Achilles

Canterbury veterans of the former New Zealand warship Achilles have been told that all attempts to buy the vessel have failed, and she has gone to the breakers yard. The Government had looked at proposals to buy Achilles from her present owner, the Indian Government. But the cost of making her seaworthy would have been prohibitive, and possibly a gun turret will be bought instead. The turret will probably go to the Museum of Transport and Technology, in Auckland.

PRESS, 29 JULY 1978

[Dave Homewood]

Achilles items

PA Wellington

A further sum of $lO,OOO had been approved by the Lottery Board to bring parts of the warship Achilles back to New Zealand, said the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Highet), yesterday. The total amount allocated by the board to enable the director, control tower and a gun turret from the Achilles to be brought from India, where the ship is being scrapped, is $60,000. The Achilles was the New Zealand vessel which took part in the Battle of the River Plate in December, 1939, when the German ship Graf Spee was sunk. In the battle four New Zealand naval ratings died in the control tower. The gun turret and control tower will be on display at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland.

PRESS, 24 AUGUST 1978

[Dave Homewood]

N.Z. might get Achilles turret

NZPA Sydney

The Minister of Broadcasting (Mr Templeton) is confident that New Zealand will be given a memorial part from the former frigate H.M.N.Z.S. Achilles. The Achilles — a hero of the Battle of the River Plate in World War II — has recently been decommissioned from the Indian Navy, and will be broken up for scrap. Mr Templeton, who is also Associate Minister of Finance, has just spent a week in India attending a meeting of trade ministers of E.S.C.A.P. (the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) in New Delhi. While there he held discussions with Indian Ministers, including the Minister of Defence (Mr Jagjivan Ram). Mr Templeton said in Sydney yesterday that he had requested a turret with a range-finder from the Achilles as a memorial for New Zealand.

“The Achilles has great sentimental value to the Indians and to the British, as well as to New Zealanders,” Mr Templeton said. “It was the first flagship in the navy of the independent Indian nation.”

PRESS, 31 AUGUST 1978

[Dave Homewood]

Achilles’ honour hoard for N.Z.

PA Auckland

Efforts by Royal New Zealand Navy veterans to save the battle honours board of the former New Zealand warship H.M.S. Achilles have been rewarded by the Indian Navy. In a letter to the secretary of the Achilles Association (Mr B. Berridge), India’s Deputy Chief of Naval Staff has confirmed that the association will receive the board in about two months.

The board, which hung in the ship’s engine room, commemorates every battle fought by any ship named Achilles, and includes the famous Battle of the River Plate.

Mr Berridge said New Zealand enthusiasts “had their name on it” for 20 years, and were very pleased to be finally getting it.

The board will probably hang in the Navy museum or chapel, where several others are displayed. Mr Berridge said the association had also received confirmation that a gun turret and direction tower from the Achilles would also be sent, although details of transport and arrival dates had not been discussed. Scrapping of the 45year old, 7142 tonne ship began in May.

PRESS, 20 SEPTEMBER 1978

[Dave Homewood]

Such a shame that the group and the government were not given enough time to raise the money and carry out the negotiations to get Achilles back to New Zealand. It could have made an amazing attraction at the MOTAT museum along the lines of HMS Belfast in London.

[emron]

I remember the grand plans at the time. Even if the entire ship could have been saved, the proposal to carve a 3 metre deep, 20 metre wide channel through the mudflats 2 kilometres from deep water was totally impractical and they would have been forced to find another home for the Achilles.

Anyway this caught the attention of the public who became aware of the need for a dedicated maritime museum. Along with concerns about the demise of the remnants of Auckland steam ferry fleet, public meetings were soon convened which ultimately led to the Auckland Maritime Museum being established (and located at the more appropriate Hobson Wharf) in 1980.

Although MOTAT was considered the best place to display the Achilles’ turret and gunnery director at the start, they struggled to prevent vandalism and deterioration over the years. Over time they also became less aligned with MOTAT’s focus on things transport land and air.

These exhibits were eventually transferred to the more fitting location and care of the Navy Museum.

[Dave Homewood]

Back in June when I was in Auckland with my good mate Bevan Dewes we were on a mission, in a truck that we'd borrowed to shift something that had been purchased for his company. Bevan was driving and I was in the passenger seat. As we went though an intersection I noted a big gun turret from what was clearly a naval vessel. It was in an industrial-looking yard on a corner, and from the height of this truck cab we got a good view of it. The problem is neither of us recall exactly where it was. We were in rush hour traffic and both concentrating on the traffic, and so did not take note of the streets where that was. All I can say is it was somewhere between Panmure where we picked up the truck and Papakura.... Probably more southerly in that stretch, and I have no idea what road we were one, not the motorway, just wherever the GPS was taking us. Does anyone know about that turret? Was it from a Leander frigate? Or is it one of the Achilles turrets?

[ErrolC]

The Leander turret that used to be at a scrap place on Neilson St Onehunga? I think it moved.

[emron]

Likely to be the 4.5 inch turret out of Rothesay-class frigate HMNZS Taranaki that used to be in Onehunga. Maybe now on show in one of several Phoenix Metal Recycler (Metalman) yards along your possible route.

[Dave Homewood]

Nope I don't think we were anywhere near Onehunga, I think it was more down near Flat Bush area but that is a guess. We came from Pakuranga through Botany and down from there towards the motorway.

[emron]

I read that the turret moved from Onehunga back in 2014 but I didn’t know where to. Armed with your fresh clues I’ve found it.

Your route must have been via Ti Rakau Drive and Harris Rd and it was on the left as you drove South. The twin 4.5 inch turret ex HMNZS Taranaki is now in the front yard of Phoenix Recyclers, corner Harris Rd and Nandina Ave, East Tamaki. Streetview has images.

[Dave Homewood]

Bingo! That's it! Well done Ron!!

The yard looks tidier in the Streetview than I recall seeing it.

[Antonio]

Here ya go

[ErrolC]

Aug 7, 2022 1:00:48 GMT 12 Antonio said:

Here ya go

That's much better placement than half behind a fence in Onehunga.

[Dave Homewood]

Back to Achilles... I think rather than the MOTAT option, a far better home for it would have been at Devonport, where the Navy could have looked after it and they cold have made it into a fantastic museum ship. Of course the RNZN did not even have a museum at that stage I don't think. But it would be a major asset these days if they'd had the forethought to save it.

[emron]

In 1978 the Navy Museum was in it’s infancy and only comprised a single room within HMNZS Philomel, not quite enough space for a 7000 ton cruiser. I’m sure the Base was thought of as the first option at the time but locating it there permanently would have caused major disruption to Navy operations.

You were also looking for an “Achilles” turret that was once in another scrap yard. That must have been the two QF 4 inch Mk XVI guns in a twin turret, the model as fitted to the Leander class cruisers during refit later in the war. That turret is now at the Packard Motor Museum, Maungatapere. I understand it too was supplied to NZ later in the war but was never installed aboard ship, instead put into commission for coastal defence purposes on Motuihe Island. It is not one that was salvaged from INS Delhi as some suggest.

Separate from the Achilles collection, MOTAT had also earlier acquired a QF 4 inch gun in a single turret which stood guard at the Gt North Rd entrance for many years. This gun was from the Loch class frigate Kaniere and prior to it being donated had been used at Whangaparaoa for coastal defence training. It too has been returned to the Navy Museum.

[Dave Homewood]

They could have moored Achilles at Torpedo Bay, which was Naval property, and has a jetty, and is now the site of the Navy Museum these days. Oh well...