HMNZS
Achilles (pennant numberIn the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
70) was a Leander
class cruiserThe Leander class was a class of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s that saw service in World War II. They were named after mythological figures, and all ships were commissioned between 1933 and 1936...
which served with the Royal New Zealand NavyThe Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
in World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River PlateThe Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval battle in World War II. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September...
, alongside HMS Ajax
HMS Ajax was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom during World War II. She was made famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the Battle of Tobruk.- Before the War :Built...
and HMS Exeter
HMS Exeter was a York class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon. She was launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931...
.
She was the second of five ships of the Leander
class light cruisers, designed as effective follow-ons to the York
classThe York class was the second and last class of gunned cruisers built for the Royal Navy under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. They were essentially a reduced version of the preceding County class, scaled down in an effort to extract more, smaller ships from the treaty limits...
. Upgraded to Improved Leander
class, she was capable of carrying an aircraft, becoming the first ship to carry a Supermarine WalrusThe Supermarine Walrus was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and operated by the Fleet Air Arm. It also served with the Royal Air Force, RAAF, RNZN, RCAF, and RNZAF...
although this was removed before the war.
Achilles
was originally built for the Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
, and was commissioned as HMS Achilles on 10 October 1933.
HMNZS
Achilles (pennant numberIn the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
70) was a Leander
class cruiserThe Leander class was a class of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s that saw service in World War II. They were named after mythological figures, and all ships were commissioned between 1933 and 1936...
which served with the Royal New Zealand NavyThe Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
in World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River PlateThe Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval battle in World War II. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September...
, alongside HMS Ajax
HMS Ajax was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom during World War II. She was made famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the Battle of Tobruk.- Before the War :Built...
and HMS Exeter
HMS Exeter was a York class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon. She was launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931...
.
She was the second of five ships of the Leander
class light cruisers, designed as effective follow-ons to the York
classThe York class was the second and last class of gunned cruisers built for the Royal Navy under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. They were essentially a reduced version of the preceding County class, scaled down in an effort to extract more, smaller ships from the treaty limits...
. Upgraded to Improved Leander
class, she was capable of carrying an aircraft, becoming the first ship to carry a Supermarine WalrusThe Supermarine Walrus was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and operated by the Fleet Air Arm. It also served with the Royal Air Force, RAAF, RNZN, RCAF, and RNZAF...
although this was removed before the war.
Service
Achilles
was originally built for the Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
, and was commissioned as HMS Achilles on 10 October 1933. She served with the Royal Navy's New Zealand Division from 31 March 1937 up to the creation of the
Royal New Zealand NavyThe Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
, 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 IslandsThe Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located approximately from the coast of mainland South America, from mainland Antarctica, and from Africa. There are two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, as well as 776 smaller islands...
, where she was assigned to the South American Division under Commodore
Henry HarwoodSir Henry Harwood Harwood, KCB, OBE , was a British naval officer who won fame in the Battle of the River Plate.-Family:...
and allocated to
Force G (
HMS ExeterHMS Exeter was a York class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon. She was launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931...
and
CumberlandHMS Cumberland was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw action during the Second World War.-Career:Cumberland served on the China Station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1928 until 1938, returning to the UK in March 1935 for a refit...
).
Battle of the River Plate
In the early morning of 13 December 1939, a force consisting of
Achilles,
HMS AjaxHMS Ajax was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom during World War II. She was made famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the Battle of Tobruk.- Before the War :Built...
and
ExeterHMS Exeter was a York class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon. She was launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931...
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 .
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 at around 07:15 and
Graf Spee broke off the engagement around 07:45 to head for the neutral harbour of
MontevideoMontevideo is the largest city, the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Montevideo is the only city in the country with a population over 1,000,000...
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 the
Graf Spee,
Hans LangsdorffKapitän zur See Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff was a German naval officer, most famous for his command of the Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee during the Battle of the River Plate.- Career :...
, scuttled his ship rather than risk the lives of his crew.
Pacific theatre
Following the Atlantic battle, HMS
Achilles returned to Auckland, New Zealand on 23 February 1940, where she was underwent refits until June. After Japan entered the war, she escorted troop convoys, then joined the
ANZAC SquadronThe ANZAC Squadron, also called the Allied Naval Squadron, was an Allied naval warship task force which was tasked with defending northeast Australia and surrounding area in early 1942 during the Pacific Campaign of World War II...
in the south-west Pacific. While operating off
New GeorgiaNew Georgia is the largest island of the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It is in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most of the other larger islands in the province...
Island with U.S. Navy forces, a bomb damaged her X turret on 5 January 1943. Between April 1943 and May 1944,
Achilles was docked in
PortsmouthPortsmouth is a city located in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the United Kingdom's only island city and is located on Portsea Island. The City of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club are both nicknamed Pompey...
, England for repairs. Her damaged X turret was replaced by four
QF 2 pounder naval gunThe 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models were reported to make when firing...
s. Sent to back to the New Zealand Fleet, the
Achilles next joined the
British Pacific FleetThe British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...
in May 1945 for final operations in the
Pacific WarThe Pacific War was the part of World War II—and preceding conflicts—that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia. The war began as a conflict with the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China on July 7, 1937, but by December 1941, became part of the greater World War II,...
.
Indian Navy
After the war,
Achilles was returned to the Royal Navy at
SheernessSheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
, Kent, England on 17 September 1946. She was then sold to the Indian Navy and recommissioned on 5 July 1948 as
INS DelhiThe INS Delhi was a Leander class cruiser built for the Royal Navy in 1933 as HMS Achilles, and commissioned into the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy in 1937 as HMNZS Achilles. She was returned to the Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War and was sold to the Indian Navy in 1948 and...
. 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 presented as a gift to the New Zealand government. It is now on display at the entrance of
Devonport Naval BaseDevonport Naval Base is the home of the Royal New Zealand Navy, located at Devonport, New Zealand on Auckland's North Shore. It is currently the only base of the navy that operates ships, and was a navy base from as far back as 1841...
in
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population approaching 1.4 million residents, percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest...
.
In 1956,
Achilles played herself in the film
The Battle of the River PlateThe Battle of the River Plate is a war film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring John Gregson, Anthony Quayle and Peter Finch...
.
External links