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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 26, 2009 15:35:42 GMT 12
Yesterday whilst away I recorded The Battle of the River Plate film which aired on Maori Television. I've just watched it and I must say how impressed I was with this old movie. I had no idea it was going to be in glorious colour, I'd assumed it was black and white because the last time I saw it, as a kid, we had a b&w television - so it's been a long time.
It is really neat to see an important war film where New Zealanders feature among the action. And it was especially neat to see former HMNZS Achilles playing herself, as HMS Achilles.
I was quite stunned to also see the scene where you see Archie Shaw get killed on the Achilles - he was from Cambridge and one of six Cambridge boys aboard the ship during that battle. So a rather interesting moment to see for me.
I'm always amazed by the fact that the Achilles, which was renamed the Delhi in the Indian Navy, survived right through till 1978 and then was broken up and scrapped. How on earth did this happen? Why did New Zealanders not try to get the entire historic and important ship back here to keep as a musuem piece, rather than the few turrests and bits that came to MOTAT (which are no longer at MOTAT and I believe have been repositioned to Devonport). Surely by 1978 the preservation and museum movement was big enough to try to save this vessel. What a waste. Imagine how much of a tourist attraction it would be now for Auckland or whichever port it could have been kept in. By then, of the Leander Class Cruisers she was the only one left - HMNZS Leander and HMS Orion were both scrapped in 1949, HMS Ajax was scrapped in 1948, and HMS Neptune was sunk off Tripoli in 1941.
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Post by FlyNavy on Apr 26, 2009 16:52:36 GMT 12
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Post by tbf25o4 on Apr 27, 2009 13:21:37 GMT 12
Dave, if memory serves me correctly, the navy were asked by the Indian Navy if they wanted anything from Achillies/Delhi before it was scrapped. They recovered a turret and some barrels from the main armament
cheers
Paul
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Post by shamus on Apr 27, 2009 13:34:31 GMT 12
Not sure which ship but I always thought the gun turret displayed at the steel scrap-yard in Neilsen St, Te Papapa, Auckland, was off the Achilles. Does anyone know the origin of this turret.
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Post by FlyNavy on Apr 27, 2009 13:56:41 GMT 12
www.localhistoryonline.org.nz/cgi-bin/PUI?e=-----------1-0-0&a=d&c=supercol&cl=CL2.A.Achilles (Cruiser)&d=nsnw-NNI-AAB-0194 Title: Achilles turret stands guard. Source of Article: North Shore Times Advertiser, 11 February 1994; p. 4 Description: A piece of New Zealand's naval history has come home to the Devonport navy base - but only on the third attempt. A gun turret from one of the country's most famous warships, HMNZS Achilles, was transported from the Museum of Transport and Technology to Devonport where it will stand guard at the Queen's Parade entrance to the naval base." _______________________________________ www.nzherald.co.nz/jim-eagles/news/article.cfm?a_id=25&objectid=10540859Devonport: Big guns and battleships Wednesday Nov 12, 2008 By Jim Eagles "The mighty 152mm guns of the light cruiser HMNZS Achilles these days guard the main entrance to the Devonport Naval Base and the adjacent Navy Museum. Needless to say they can no longer fire but they are an appropriate choice for offering symbolic protection to the home of our Navy...." & "So I've always thought it was delightful that some of Achilles' guns have returned home - as a gift from the Indian Government - and today sit defiantly on the Devonport seafront just inside the naval base. Just outside the base's fence is a much smaller gun from the frigate, HMNZS Tutira, which would have been fired in the Korean War."
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Post by skyhawkdon on Apr 27, 2009 15:09:41 GMT 12
Not sure which ship but I always thought the gun turret displayed at the steel scrap-yard in Neilsen St, Te Papapa, Auckland, was off the Achilles. Does anyone know the origin of this turret. I'm not sure which ship it came off but it is of the type fitted to the Leander and other similar 1960s era British ships.
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Post by ErrolC on Apr 27, 2009 15:29:35 GMT 12
Not sure which ship but I always thought the gun turret displayed at the steel scrap-yard in Neilsen St, Te Papapa, Auckland, was off the Achilles. Does anyone know the origin of this turret. That's a Leander-type turret, presumably from one of the RNZN frigates. Many years ago (1995 or so), I looked out my (then)office window over-looking the Gt Sth Rd/Ellersile interchange roundabout. A low-loader went past, with a large grey approximate cube on it. 'That looks kind-of familiar.' I thought. Some minutes later I realised that it was a turret with the barrels removed (there were two barrel stubs still on the turret). A couple of years ago I figured out the frigate it was likely off - from memory it was one of the frigate models before the Leanders, which took a long time to get scrapped. Note that the more recent disposals have been en-reefed with their turrets (if they had one).
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Post by Bruce on Apr 27, 2009 15:43:35 GMT 12
HMNZS Taranaki or Otago I think....
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Post by philip on Apr 27, 2009 15:47:02 GMT 12
You can see it clearly on Google StreetView
298 Neilson St, Onehunga, Auckland 1061
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Post by ErrolC on Apr 27, 2009 16:19:28 GMT 12
You can see it clearly on Google StreetView 298 Neilson St, Onehunga, Auckland 1061 It's a few hundred metres from where I work... I have been tempted to wander up and see if it has a nameplate or anything on it. You can spot the Achillies turret as well (OK, last I looked). EDIT: This is in overhead view, Streetview wasn't around then
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Post by flyjoe180 on Apr 27, 2009 18:40:29 GMT 12
The movie played today again on History Channel so I was able to see it also. As you may remember, I have a personal connection to the Battle of River Plate through my Great Uncle who served aboard HMS Ajax at the Battle.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 27, 2009 19:11:37 GMT 12
It's a good film, eh Joe? Very realistic, and it was so neat to see the real Achilles in glorious clear coloured film like that.
Interestingly, after seeing the dramatisation of the death of Cambridge sailor Archie Shaw in the film, today whilst watching the TV3 coverage from ANZAC Day I noted the last Amiens prison raid pilot mention (and show a photo of) how he visited the grave of navigator Dick "Sammy" Sampson, killed in the raid, who was also from Cambridge.
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Post by ErrolC on Apr 27, 2009 19:29:18 GMT 12
You can see it clearly on Google StreetView 298 Neilson St, Onehunga, Auckland 1061 It's a few hundred metres from where I work... I have been tempted to wander up and see if it has a nameplate or anything on it. You can spot the Achillies turret as well (OK, last I looked). EDIT: This is in overhead view, Streetview wasn't around then Achillies turret at Queens Parade / Spring St, Devonport, Auckland
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