CLYDE Shipping Gazette FROM OUR ARCHIVES...HMS ACHILLES

■ Royal Navy won first major battle of the war

THE first major battle of the Second World War took place off the east coast of South America when three Royal Navy cruisers tracked down and engaged the German pocket battleship Admiral Graff Spee.

Despite being heavily out gunned,HMS ships Ajax, Achilles and Exeter harried the enemy ship and damaged her enough that she sought refuge in Montevideo before being scuttled to avoid the gathering might of the RN.

HMS Achilles, pictured, was completed by Cammell, Laird & Co during 1933 and was one of five Leander class cruisers all carrying eight 6” guns, eight 4” guns, torpedo tubes and a seaplane.

The plane can be seen just aft of the funnel.

At the time of this action Achilles was manned by officers and men of the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Transferred to the Royal Indian Navy in 1948, she was renamed Delhi and gave many years service as such.

By Capt Murray Paterson.