HMS Ajax & River Plate Veterans Association

Fifth in the Royal Navy to bear that name, HMS Achilles was a Leander class light cruiser and sister ship of HMS Ajax; 7,500 tons, built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. Achilles was launched in 1932 and commissioned October 1933. Initially out of service, she was loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1936. She served with the Royal Navy's New Zealand Division from 1937 up to the creation of the Royal New Zealand Navy, into which she was transferred in September 1941 and recommissioned HMNZS Achilles. Her crew was approximately 60 per cent from New Zealand. Although she was fitted to carry a Walrus seaplane, she was carrying no aircraft at the start of the war. 

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Achilles began patrolling the Pacific west coast of South America looking for German merchant ships, but by October 1939 she was assigned to the South American Division under Commodore Harwood and allocated to Force G (with Exeter, Cumberland and Ajax). 

During the Battle of the River Plate on 13th December 1939, Achilles fought alongside Ajax under a combined gunnery control. A near miss from an exploding 11” shell threw up shell fragments that not only killed four crewmen on deck and in the Director Control Tower above, but also injured Captain Parry on the bridge. After the blockade of Montevideo had ended with the Admiral Graf Spee being scuttled on 17th December, Achilles spent Christmas in the Falkland Islands before returning to Buenos Aires in Argentina where there were stories of crew members meeting and drinking with German sailors from Admiral Graf Spee. After HMS Ajax departed for Britain, Rear Admiral Harwood transferred his flag to Achilles until February 1940 when she left for New Zealand and Harwood remained in South America in HMS Hawkins.  

During the refit in Auckland, Achilles became notable for being the first Royal Navy cruiser to have fire (gunnery) control radar, with the installation of the New Zealand-made SS1 fire-control radar. From June 1940 until she was re-commissioned in 1941 as HMNZS Achilles, the ship saw service escorting convoys before joining US Navy Task Force 67. 

While operating off Guadalcanal Island in January 1943, Achilles was attacked by four Japanese aircraft. A bomb blew the top off X turret, killing 13 sailors. This resulted in her being sent back to Britain for repairs and a refit, following which she returned to the Pacific war, stationed off Okinawa at the end of the war with Japan.

After the war, Achilles was returned to the Royal Navy in September 1946. She was then sold to the Indian Navy and recommissioned on 5 July 1948 initially as RINS Delhi, later (after independence) INS Delhi. She remained in service with the Indian Navy until decommissioned for scrap in 1978. In Madras on 4 September 1975 she met up with the frigate HMS Ajax who was on her world cruise. 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 Base in Auckland.

HMS Achilles played herself in the film ‘The Battle of the River Plate’ in 1956.

William Edward Parry joined the Royal Navy 1905 and served in the First World War. During the Battle of the River Plate he was captain of HMS Achilles and was wounded in both legs when shrapnel hit the bridge. In 1943 he assumed command of HMS Renown, a battlecruiser. He took part in the Normandy Landings and served on the staff of Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force in 1944. After the war he became Deputy Head of the Naval Division in Germany followed by Director of Naval Intelligence. In 1948 he became Chief of Naval Staff (Commander-in-Chief) of the Royal Indian Navy. He was advanced from Companion to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath before retiring in 1951. He died in 1973, aged 79.