British Newsreel. March 21, 1940.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.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).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.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.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.
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contd.
and had no chance of ever reaching her home base. Certainly British heavy units would have picked her off in her crippled state, if technical issues or the weather had not.
Langsdorf had to scuttle her - she had been already damaged beyond any hope of a successful return to base.
Merlin2Stage2Speed 1 month ago
That damage to the hull forward, especially one very large hole very near to the bow, would have rendered the Spee unsuitable for navigating the North Atlantic during the current winter season.
There was also an issue with her diesel engines - already causing problems and in need of an overhaul - there is the possibility that the resultant action, where the engines were operated at full throttle, may have caused some further problems.
I believe the Graf Spee was indeed defeated during the battle
Merlin2Stage2Speed 1 month ago
Great video!
In the opinion of many, that the damage inflicted by the Exter, Ajax and Achilles on the Graf Spee during the Battle of the River Plate did indeed cause enough damage to warrant Captain Langsdorf's decision to scuttle her.
Although all Allied 8 and 6 inch salvos failed to penetrate the Spee's armoured box, nonetheless there was significant damage caused to the Spee's main engine lubeoil separators, food stores and galleys - plus significant hull damage forward (contd)..
Merlin2Stage2Speed 1 month ago
@MrPIT1956 what were their names mate?i had 3 family member serve on that ship?
luther303 7 months ago
FANTASTIC VIDEO, MY FATHERS UNCLE SERVED ON THE ACHILLES DOWN AT THE RIVER PLATE, ALSO HE SERVED ON THE EXETER AS WELL
MrPIT1956 1 year ago
New Zealand, a once great little nation
linbowe 1 year ago
I came to this video to watch it as my grandfather served on the Achillis, he is NZ and I am English. The video was great but what a shame that this has been ruined by some of the comments on here. My grandfather would turn in his grave.
faffy1962 1 year ago
EasyCompanyAirborne is full of bullshit!
Seriously folks this 'individual' is mentally ill and should be ignored at all costs.
If you've experienced any of the man's vile racism or xenophobia, please msg me directly as i am compiling an ever growing list of the man's 'opinions' to pass onto the correct authorities to deal with.
Thanks people, together we'll get rid of this jackass once and for all.
Pheonixfromtheshale 1 year ago
pramboy. True. Unfortunately the subject matter did get diverted. I was responding to a personal attack. You are correct to bring back people to the discussion. I agree with the rest of what you said also. :)
EasyCompanyAirborne 2 years ago
@EasyCompanyAirborne I don't know how you got onto this considering what the film is about, but what i will say is this. I'm sure there were attrocities done not only by the british but also the americans, war does some pretty horrible things to the human mind.
pramboy09 2 years ago