The Leander class was a class of eight
light cruiserA light cruiser is a warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armoured cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armour in the same way as an armoured cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
s built for the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
in the early 1930s that saw service in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. They were named after
mythologicalGreek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
figures, and all ships were commissioned between 1933 and 1936. The three ships of the second group were later transferred to the
Royal Australian NavyThe Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following federation of the Australian Colonies in 1901, the former colonial navies merged to become the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
(RAN) and renamed after
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n cities.
The Leander
class was influenced by the York
class heavy cruiserThe York class was the second and last class of gunned cruisers built for the Royal Navy under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. They were essentially a reduced version of the preceding County class, scaled down in an effort to extract more, smaller ships from the treaty limits...
, and was an attempt to better provide for the role of commerce protection.
The Leander class was a class of eight
light cruiserA light cruiser is a warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armoured cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armour in the same way as an armoured cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
s built for the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
in the early 1930s that saw service in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. They were named after
mythologicalGreek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
figures, and all ships were commissioned between 1933 and 1936. The three ships of the second group were later transferred to the
Royal Australian NavyThe Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following federation of the Australian Colonies in 1901, the former colonial navies merged to become the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
(RAN) and renamed after
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n cities.
Design
The Leander
class was influenced by the York
class heavy cruiserThe York class was the second and last class of gunned cruisers built for the Royal Navy under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. They were essentially a reduced version of the preceding County class, scaled down in an effort to extract more, smaller ships from the treaty limits...
, and was an attempt to better provide for the role of commerce protection. The 7,000-7,200 ton Leanders were armed with eight guns in twin turrets, two forward and two aft. Their secondary armament consisted of four guns, which were later replaced by twin mountings for eight guns. Their anti-aircraft weaponry consisted of twelve
Vickers machine gunThe Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 inch machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six- to eight-man team to operate: one to fire, one to feed the ammunition, and the...
s in three quadruple mounts. They also shipped a bank of four torpedo tubes on each beam and provision was made in the design for carriage of two catapult-launched
Fairey SeafoxThe Fairey Seafox was a 1930s British reconnaissance floatplane designed and built by Fairey for the Fleet Air Arm. It was designed to be catapulted from the deck of a light cruiser and served in the Second World War. Of the total built two were finished as landplanes.-Design and development:Fairey...
aircraft.
Speed was , and 845 tons of armor was provided, making the design susceptible to damage, but still superior to many other vessels of similar displacement. This was added to by the fact that the first five vessels did not contain dispersed machinery; the boiler rooms were arranged together and exhausted into a single funnel, a unique feature amongst British cruisers. This meant that damage amidships was liable to disable all the boiler rooms.
One of the major differences between the first five and the last three ships (which were referred to as the "Modified Leander
", "Amphion
", or "Perth
" class) had machinery and propulsion equipment organised in two self-contained units (separated fore and aft), allowing the ship to continue operating if one set was damaged. The two exhaust funnels, one for each machinery space, gave the modified ships a different profile from the early Leanders, which had a single funnel. To cover the separate machinery spaces, the side armour was extended from , negating the weight reduction created by the separation. During design, it was planned to modify the forward-most and aft-most 6-inch turrets to be fitted with three guns instead of two, but the plan was cancelled when it was determined that the required alterations would cause several negative side effects, including reducing the ship's top speed and causing problems with effective fire control.
Wartime modifications
During the war, significant modifications were made to the vessels. Various additional anti-aircraft armaments were added, and the two New Zealand vessels landed a turret to carry heavier 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. Changes to the aircraft launching capability were reported, although use is unclear. Both
Fairey SwordfishThe Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War...
and
Supermarine WalrusThe Supermarine Walrus was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and operated by the Fleet Air Arm. It also served with the Royal Air Force, RAAF, RNZN, RCAF, and RNZAF...
aircraft are reported to have been used by the class.
Leander group
- HMS/HMNZS Leander
HMNZS Leander was a light cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy during World War II. She was the lead ship of a class of eight ships, the Leander class light cruiser and was initially named HMS Leander.- History :...
Named after the
character from Greek mythologyHero and Leander is a Greek myth, relating the story of Hērō , a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos, at the edge of the Hellespont, and Leander , a young man from Abydos on the other side of the strait...
. Loaned to New Zealand, commissioned as HMNZS Leander
in September 1941. At the Battle of Kolombagara, Leander
was heavily damaged by a Long Lance torpedo, causing many casualties, and sending the ship to repairs for two years.
Achilles
HMNZS Achilles was a Leander class cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy in World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, alongside HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter....
, later HMIS/INS Delhi
The INS Delhi was a Leander class cruiser built for the Royal Navy in 1933 as HMS Achilles, and commissioned into the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy in 1937 as HMNZS Achilles. She was returned to the Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War and was sold to the Indian Navy in 1948 and...
.
The Achilles
was the second vessel loaned to New Zealand, commissioned as HMNZS Achilles
in September 1941. She had earlier participated in the Battle of the River PlateThe Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval battle in World War II. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September...
. Achilles
was sold to IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
in 1948, and was known as HMIS Delhi
for a few years, then served as INS Delhi
, until 1978.
Ajax
HMS Ajax was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom during World War II. She was made famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the Battle of Tobruk.- Before the War :Built...
The Ajax
participated in the Battle of the River PlateThe Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval battle in World War II. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September...
. The town of Ajax, OntarioAjax is a town located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario, Canada.The town is named for the HMS Ajax a Royal Navy cruiser that served in the second World War. This ship was captained by John Mooseford the 2nd. Ajax is a part of the Greater Toronto Area and the Regional Municipality of...
was named after the ship, with street names in the town named after members of the crew. Ajax
also participated in the Battle of Cape MatapanThe Battle of Cape Matapan was a World War II naval battle fought from March 27 to March 29, 1941. The cape is on the southwest coast of Greece's Peloponnesian peninsula...
. Ajax also took part in shelling the mainland of Normandy during the beach landings.
Neptune
HMS Neptune was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom during World War II.The Neptune was the fourth ship of its class and was the ninth Royal Navy vessel to carry the name Neptune...
Manned by New Zealand crew, although not part of the Royal New Zealand NavyThe Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
. Neptune
was sunk by an Italian mine off the coast of TripoliTripoli is the largest and capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million...
.
Orion
HMS Orion was a Leander class light cruiser which served with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War II.She received 13 battle honours, a record only exceeded by one other ship, and matched by two others.- History :...
Orion
participated in the evacuation of CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
in 1941 and was heavily damaged.
Modified
Leander
group
The three ships acquired by the RAN were known to it as the Modified Leander
class. They are often referred to informally as the Amphion
or Perth
class. All of them played a prominent role during World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
HMAS Perth
(ex-HMS Amphion
)
- Completed 1936 and transferred to the RAN in 1939. She operated with British ships in the Battle of the Mediterranean
The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II.For the most part, the campaign was fought between the forces of the Italian Royal Navy , supported by other Axis naval forces, and the forces of the British Royal Navy,...
, participating in the Battle of Cape MatapanThe Battle of Cape Matapan was a World War II naval battle fought from March 27 to March 29, 1941. The cape is on the southwest coast of Greece's Peloponnesian peninsula...
in March 1941. Lost in the Battle of Sunda StraitThe Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II. On the night of February 28 – March 1, 1942, the United States cruiser USS Houston and the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth faced a major Imperial Japanese Navy task force. After a fierce battle of several hours...
in early 1942.
HMAS Hobart
HMAS Hobart was a Modified Leander class light cruiser which served in the Royal Australian Navy during World War II.Originally constructed for and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Apollo, the ship was obtained by Australia in 1938.-Design and construction:The cruiser was laid down at HM...
(ex-HMS Apollo)
- Completed 1936 and transferred to the RAN in 1938, she took part in the East African Campaign
The East African Campaign refers to the battles fought in East Africa during World War II. The battles of this campaign were fought between the forces of the British Empire, the British Commonwealth of Nations, and several allies on one side, and the forces of the Italian Empire on the other...
, the Battle of the Coral SeaThe Battle of the Coral Sea, fought during May 4–8, 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers...
and provided fire support at Guadalcanal. After being badly damaged by a torpedo strike in 1943, she returned to action in the Philippines landingsThe Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the invasion and conquest of Leyte in the Philippines by American and Filipino guerrilla forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by General Tomoyuki...
(1944), followed by the BorneoThe Borneo Campaign of 1945 was the last major Allied campaign in the South West Pacific Area, during World War II. In a series of amphibious assaults between 1 May and 21 July, the Australian I Corps, under General Leslie Morshead, attacked Japanese forces occupying the island. Allied naval and...
and Aitape-Wewak campaignThe Aitape-Wewak campaign was one of the final campaigns of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The Australian 6th Division, with air and naval support, fought the Imperial Japanese 18th Army in northern New Guinea between November 1944 until the end of the war in August 1945. A challenging jungle...
s. She was put into reserve after the war and was not decommissioned until 1962.
HMAS SydneyHMAS Sydney was a light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy between 1934 and 1941. Sydney had great success in the first years of World War II, but controversy and mystery surrounded the loss of the battle-hardened ship and her crew in November 1941...
(ex-HMS Phaeton
)
- Also involved in the Mediterranean campaign.
Sydney
sank the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni
Bartolomeo Colleoni was an Italian Condottieri class light cruiser, that served in the Regia Marina during World War II. It was named after Bartolomeo Colleoni, an Italian military leader of the 15th century....
at the Battle of Cape SpadaThe Battle of Cape Spada was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in World War II. It took place on 19 July 1940 in the Mediterranean Sea off Cape Spada, the north-western extremity of Crete.-Preliminary moves:...
in 1940. Later that year, Sydney
took part in the Battle of Cape MatapanThe Battle of Cape Matapan was a World War II naval battle fought from March 27 to March 29, 1941. The cape is on the southwest coast of Greece's Peloponnesian peninsula...
and Battle of CalabriaThe Battle of Calabria, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in World War II. It was fought between vessels of Italian Royal Navy on one side and vessels of the British Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy on the other...
, sinking two Italian destroyers, the Espero
and Zeffiro
. In 1941, off Western Australia, Sydney
encounteredThe Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran fought each other in the Indian Ocean, off Western Australia on 19 November 1941. The two ships severely damaged one another, and Sydney was lost with all of her 645 crew members, the largest ship from any Allied...
the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran
The German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran was a Kriegsmarine merchant raider of World War II. Known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 41, to the Allied navies she was Raider G...
; the two ships destroyed each other and Sydney was lost with all hands;
the wrecks of both ships were locatedA search for the wrecks of the Australian warship HMAS Sydney and the German merchant raider Kormoran, that sank each other during World War II, ended successfully in March 2008. On 19 November 1941, the two ships fought a battle in the Indian Ocean, off Western Australia...
in 2008.