Hi all, It was good to get the names of Officers and Crew of the Achilles. My uncle Walter Kivell was an able seaman aboard the Achilles’ The following might be of interest to some: Walter Henry Kivell born at Petone 1914. Walter joined the Navy in his teens and was on board the Achilles in December of 1939 when the German Battleship Graf Spee was scuttled in the River Plate. GRAF SPEE SCUTTLED FALSE RADIO MESSAGE TRIED TO FOOL ACHILLES SEAMAN INTERVIEWED How through a cunning ruse, the Admiral Graf Spee tried to divert H.M.S. Achilles from the running fight as she fled into the River Plate to find refuge for her battle scarred hull at Montevideo, was revealed by Able Seaman W. Kivell, at present on leave from the Achilles, in the course of an interview with a Daily News reporter at Hawera. Another little known feature of the engagement revealed by Able Seaman Kivell was that for several hours many aboard the Achilles were under the impression that they were fighting the Admiral Scheer, the Admiral Graf Spee’s sister ship. Able Seaman Kivell is a son of Mrs H.M. Wills Hawera. Called from his bed in the forecastle to his station in the B gun turret, that is the second turret forward, shortly after 6 am on the day of the fight, Able Seaman Kivell said that he and his mates were told that the fight was with the Admiral Scheer, a sister ship of the Admiral Graf Spee and almost identical in appearance. Like the majority of a warship’s complement during an engagement, Able Seaman Kivell and his companions did not sight the enemy. Shut away in the armour- plated gun turret they went about their deadly work, taking orders from the control tower, and firing as ordered. Throughout the day, and well into the night the men remained at their stations in the turret, each busy with his appointed task - all the while thinking that their efforts were intended for the Admiral Scheer. Then, late at night, as the Admiral Graf Spee was relentlessly pursued into the entrance to the River Plate, she wirelessed the Achilles, saying that she had sunk a British merchant ship, which had been in the vicinity some time in the forenoon - would the Achilles pick up the survivors? The message was cited as coming from the Admiral Graf Spee, and it was then that the men knew that they had been fighting the Admiral Graf Spee. But the Achilles did not turn back, the Ajax ensuring the message was false. Describing the impressions of the fight, Able Seaman Kivell said that when the engagement opened the Achilles was firing at the enemy at a range of about seven miles, but later this was reduced to about five - a more effective range for the guns of the lighter British ships. Speaking of the inglorious end of the German pocket battleship, Able Seaman Kivell said that the Achilles and other British vessels, in the belief that the Admiral Graf Spee would fight, were waiting outside the River Plate in battle formation. When the news was received that the Admiral Graf Spee had sealed her own doom, the Achilles and other vessels went closer towards the scene to see the ship burning fiercely after being blown up. Able Seaman Kivell, who has 14 days leave from his ship is a married man with one child, and had been in the navy for a number of years prior to joining the Achilles. When H.M. S. Diomede left the New Zealand station in 1935 in the course of an errand during the Abyssinian trouble, Able Seaman Kivell was aboard , finally leaving the ship in England, where he joined the new Achilles. He has been on the Achilles ever since. Able Seaman Kivell had some of his schooling at Hawera. Although he subsequently worked at Stratford and Eltham, he entered the naval service from Hawera. An article from the TARANAKI DAILY NEWS Flora Chisnall