battle-of-the-river-plate-commemorative-booklet

BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE ◊ 21There were, of course, a number of notableelements of the Battle of the River Plate.One of these is that among the RoyalNavy participants were two officers, bothonboard HMS ACHILLE S, who weredestined to lead the Royal New ZealandNavy as its Chief of Naval Staff. The first ofthe officers was the Commanding Officer ofthe ACHILLE S– Captain W.E (Edward) Parry.and submarine aspects of naval warfare when there was an‘elemental’ change in 1932 as he was posted to the aircraftcarrier HMs eAGLe as the executive Officer – as a fairlysenior commander.parry must have performed pretty well because he left eAGLehaving been promoted to captain at the age of 41. In early 1936he assumed command of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarineschool at HMs OspReY and after 15 months at OspReY, captainparry spent most of 1938 undergoing higher Defence training atthe Imperial Defence college.A WELL RouNDED oFFICERFormer Chief of Navy David Ledson, writeshere about Parry’s outstanding career.captain parry was no stranger to war. He had joined theRoyal Navy in 1905 at the tender age of 12 and served at seathroughout World War I. After the war, between 1917 and 1929,he specialised as a ‘Torpedo Officer’ in various posts includingHMs VeRNON, the Torpedo school at portsmouth; the Atlanticfleet and HMs DOLpHIN, the submarine Depot ship. He hadspent around 30 years of his career focused on the torpedoconsequently, he was what could be considered a ‘well-rounded’officer when he took command of HMs AcHILLes in January1939 before the outbreak of war some nine months later inseptember. He brought with him his four years of World War Iservice and a good mix of operational experience in a varietyof maritime dimensions, two of which were directly related todecisive areas in the coming war – the U-Boat threat and thethreat and exploitation of air power. It can be assumed, too, thathis ‘torpedo’ specialty and his most recent postings had givenhim some familiarity with the importance of technology to thedevelopment and evolution of military capabilities.Captain Parry with Deputy PM FraserCaptain and Mrs ParryWhen captain parry assumed command of AcHILLes theship had just completed an extensive refit. so, two monthslater when the ship left the United Kingdom to sail back toNew Zealand it was, presumably, in a good material condition– and morale would have been high as the large number ofNew Zealand sailors among the crew were on their way home.However, war with Germany was inexorably drawing closer andon 29 August 1939 captain parry was ordered to sail AcHILLesto her assigned war station with Royal Navy forces on the WestIndies station.five hours after the sailing Orders were received, AcHILLesslipped away from Devonport, Auckland, and sailed towardsthe ship’s and crew’s moment of drama and victory at sea –a moment of which Captain Parry later said, ’New Zealand hasevery reason to be proud of her seamen during their baptism offire.’ The Battle of the River plate probably presented captainParry with his greatest challenge – and greatest success – atthe ‘tactical’ level. He was made a companion of the Bath (cB)for his performance.the GRAf spee. parry commented later on the GRAf spee’smanoeuverability, “ she appeared to turn as quickly as a shipone-half her size and she made the fullest use of her mobility...On several occasions, when her situation was becomingunhealthy, she turned 180 degrees away, using smoke to coverher turn.”Parry was proud of his seamen and Rear-Admiral Harwood,concurring, wrote to the New Zealand Naval Board, “TheAcHILLes was handled perfectly by her captain and foughtmagnificently by her captain, officers and ship’s company.”By all accounts the AcHILLes was a happy ship, captain parrylater wrote.He was obviously enjoying his time in AcHILLes. However, lessthan three months after the ship returned to New Zealand hewas to be required to ‘step up’ and perform at the operationaland strategic levels.A WIDE PoRTFoLIoBATTLE oF THE RIvER PLATEDuring the battle an 11 inch shell from the GRAf spee hit thewater near AcHILLes’ bridge. The resulting shrapnel seriouslywounded two ratings and killed four others. captain parry washit in the legs and knocked out. Regaining consciousness herealised the guns were not being fired at the GRAff spee andusing the voicepipe he called the gunnery officer, LieutenantWashbourn, to rectify this. Washbourn had been hit in the headand was just coming to but quickly took action and soon theDirector Tower was back in action with their guns focused onOn 1 May 1940 captain parry was made a commodore 2ndClass and posted as the First Naval Member of the NewZealand Naval Board, chief of Naval staff, commodorecommanding New Zealand squadron and commanding OfficerHMs AcHILLes. This range of tasks would have been a heavyload in peace time – it is hard to imagine their weight duringwar. parry, however, was clearly determined to make thingswork and was clear that it was the strategic role that was themost important; although there are indications that he wouldhave preferred to remain at sea.Left: Captain Parry was wounded in the leg