Within the next few days, H.M.S. Kent will leave England for Hongkong to resume service as flagship of the British China Fleet and, incidentally, restore the Fleet to its normal strength of six cruisers, one of which is a smal! type suitable for service in the Yangtze. Kent has been a familiar figure in Far Eastern harbours for some years but was withdrawn in 1936 for a large refit and reconstruction, and when she returns she will assume her dignified role in a slightly altered guise. The pride which the British people are showing in the vessels possessing local affiliations through their names was demonstrated on July 6 when the Duke of Kent visited Chatham Dockyard where he was met by Sir Edward Evans, Commander-in-Chief of the Note, and proceeded by the admiral's barge to Sheerness where he boarded the cruiser and inspected the vessel which was recommissioned only a few days earlier. The Commanding Officer is Captain L. H. Ashmore, formerly Assistant to the Admiral Commanding Reserves, who joined Kent in April. Her executive officer is Commander C. E. F. Hall, who attended the Staff College last year and was formerly head of the experimental department-in the Excellent gunn school. Commaríder (E) W. E.C. Davy, who was engineer officer of the ship while undergoing repairs, is reappointed on recommissioning. Like other cruisers of the County class, accommodation for aircraft has been enlarged but, according to "The Times," it is believed that only one machine will be embarked for the present for which Lieutenants T. C. C. Holford and P. J. Milner-Barry have been appointed as pilot and observer. In the meantime. H. M. S. Cumberland, at present in Weihaiwei, is the flagship.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.