1916: HMS New Zealand vs HMAS Australia
January 31, 2022
By AHNZ
The HMS New Zealand was a huge election bribe and when it finally came to fruition the Government that set it in motion was gone and their opposition was now in power and reaped the propaganda rewards. That happens sometimes in New Zealand politics.
Australians were propagandised the same way, yielding the HMAS Australia not long after HMS New Zealand. Funny thing happened on 22 April, 1916. New Zealand and Australia were zig-zagging around each other in maneuvers designed to confound the enemy when they crashed into each other twice in a matter of 3 minutes.
“Procedural errors were found to be the cause of the collisions” – Wiki
“One huge example was his unilateral election gimmick of commissioning a battleship called the HMS New Zealand and gifting it to Britain- all paid for by putting taxpayers into more debt (£2,000,000) for a bit of political glory.” – 1930: Death of Joseph Ward, AHNZ
Yes, certainly that. Australia was busted up and took weeks of panel beating before it was able to fight again.
The two ships exchanged insurance details and both drivers resolved to indicate in future when overtaking another battleship.
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Image ref. The Press (1913), Alexander Turnbull Library, AHNZ colorised (2021)
2 thoughts on "1916: HMS New Zealand vs HMAS Australia"
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And despite rumours to the contrary the maneuvering tactics employed by the Captain of HMAS Australia did not go on to be Standard Operating Procedures for Captains of RAN ships all the way to HMAS Melbourne.
Sounds like Aussie spin!