HMNZS Achilles

She was the second of five ships of the Leander-class light cruisers, designed as effective follow-ons to the {{sclass|York|cruiser|4}}. 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.

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. On 2 October 1939, Achilles, then operating with the liner Orduna north of Callao off the west coast of South America, was instructed that after fuelling from the fleet tanker {{ship|RFA|Orangeleaf|1917|6}}, she was to proceed south about to the South Atlantic. "The Achilles was to show herself at Chilean ports as considered desirable and refuel at the Falkland Islands. The passage was to be made with moderate despatch and on arrival the cruiser was to come under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, Africa."The Royal New Zealand Navy, Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War, [http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Navy-c2.html Chapter 2: Outbreak of War: Cruise of HMS Achilles], Historical Publications Branch, Wellington, 1956. Thus Achilles arrived in the South Atlantic and joined the South American Division under Commodore Henry Harwood, later to take part in the Battle of the River Plate against the Graf Spee.{{cite web|url=https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-themes/world-war-two-by-themes/the-battle-of-the-river-plate/|title=Battle of the River Plate|publisher=Torpedo Bay Navy Museum|access-date=24 December 2020}}

By 22 October 1939 she had arrived at the Falkland Islands, where she was reassigned to Harwood, and allocated to Force G with Exeter and {{HMS|Cumberland|57|2}}.

{{Main|Battle of the River Plate}}

Image:HMS Achilles (70).jpg

File:HMS_Achilles_(HMNZS_from_1941)_(15333552416).jpg]]

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 {{ship|German battleship|Admiral Scheer||6}} but which turned out to be {{ship|German battleship|Admiral Graf Spee||2}}. A fierce battle ensued, at a range of about {{convert|20|km|nmi|disp=flip}}. 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 {{convert|4|nmi|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 HMNZS 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.{{Cite web |url= https://falklands-museum.com/ |title=Falkland Islands Museum & National Trust |website=FIMNT}}

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 {{MV|Empire Star|1935|2}}, {{MV|Port Chalmers|1933|2}}, {{ship|RMS|Empress of Russia||2}}, and {{ship|TSS|Maunganui||2}} leaving Sydney 30 December 1940 for Auckland.{{sfn|Gill|1957|p=284}} After Japan entered the war, she escorted troop convoys, then joined the ANZAC Squadron in the south-west Pacific.

Achilles met {{HMAS|Canberra|D33|6}}, flagship of Rear-Admiral John G. Crace, and {{HMAS|Perth|D29|6}} in December 1941 to form an escort for the Pensacola Convoy.{{sfn|Gill|1957|p=510}}

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.{{cite web |url= https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-collections/ships/achilles/ |title=Achilles |date=November 2015 |publisher=Torpedo Bay Navy Museum |access-date=4 January 2021}}

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

{{Main|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|1948|6}}. 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 {{HMS|Tartar|F133|2}} under Captain Cameron Rusby.Glynn Burhouse, sparker on HMS Tartar 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.{{cite web|url=https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-themes/technology-and-weapons/hmnzs-achilles-twin-6-inch-turret/|title=HMNZS Achilles Twin 6-inch Turret|publisher=Torpedo Bay Navy Museum|access-date=28 January 2024}} 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.{{cite web|title=First Sea Lord Calls on the President|url=http://pibarchive.nic.in/archive/ArchiveSecondPhase/DEFENCE/1979-JAN-MAY-MIN-OF-DEFENCE-PART-I/PDF/DEF-1979-01-22_045.pdf|website=Press Information Bureau of India - Archive|date=22 January 1979|access-date=22 February 2020}}

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

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite Colledge2006}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After|year=2010|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-59114-078-8 |author-link=Norman Friedman}}
• {{cite book |last=Gill |first=G Hermon |year=1957 |title=Royal Australian Navy 1939–1942 |series=Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy |volume=1 |publisher=Australian War Memorial |place=Canberra |chapter=14 |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/volume.asp?levelID=67910 |access-date=19 May 2013 |archive-date=25 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525001721/http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/volume.asp?levelID=67910 |url-status=dead }}
• {{Cite book |last=Harker |first=Jack S |year=1980 |title=HMNZS Achilles |place=London |publisher=William Collins, Sons |isbn=978-0002169615}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Lenton |first1=HT |last2=Colledge |first2=JJ |year=1968 |title=British and Dominion Warships of World War Two |place=New York |publisher=Doubleday & Co}}
• {{cite book|last1=Raven|first1=Alan|last2=Roberts|first2=John|title=British Cruisers of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1980|isbn=0-87021-922-7|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised|isbn=1-59114-119-2|author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}
• {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia|publisher=Cassell |location=London|year=1995|isbn=1-86019-874-0|author-link=Michael J. Whitley}}
• {{Cite book |last=Woollard |first=Mike |year=2002 |title=The Beekeepers' Honey |place=Stamford |publisher=Aeroplane}}

{{Commons category|HMS Achilles (ship, 1932)}}

• {{cite web |url= http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4001.html |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |title=HMNZS Achilles (70) |work=uboat.net}}
• [http://www.navy.mil.nz/ops/ship.cfm?ship_ID=24 Royal New Zealand Navy article] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050102175200/http://www.navy.mil.nz/ops/ship.cfm?ship_ID=24 |date=2 January 2005 }}

{{Leander class cruiser 1931}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Achilles (70)}}

Category:1932 ships

Category:Leander-class cruisers (1931) of the Royal Navy

Category:Ships built on the River Mersey

Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom

Category:World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom

Category:Battle of the River Plate

Category:Steamships of New Zealand

Category:Leander-class cruisers (1931) of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Category:World War II cruisers of New Zealand