HMNZS Leander
{{Short description|Leander-class cruiser}}
{{other ships|HMS Leander}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=British light cruiser HMS Leander (75) underway at sea in 1945.jpg |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Leander |Ship ordered=18 February 1930 |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=HMNB Devonport |Ship laid down=8 September 1930 |Ship launched=24 September 1931 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=24 March 1933 |Ship recommissioned=27 August 1945 |Ship decommissioned= February 1948 |Ship in service= |Ship out of service=loaned to Royal New Zealand Navy 30 April 1937 |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship captured= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship identification=Pennant number: 75 |Ship fate=*Sold for scrapping 15 December 1949
|Ship homeport= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=New Zealand |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|New Zealand|naval-1941}} |Ship name=HMNZS Leander |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=30 April 1937 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service=Repair and refit at Boston 8 May 1944 |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship captured= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship identification=Pennant number: 75 |Ship fate=Returned to Royal Navy 27 August 1945 |Ship homeport= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Leander|cruiser|0 | 1931}} light cruiser
|Ship displacement=*7,270 tons standard
|Ship length={{convert|554.9|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|56|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|19.1|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship power={{convert|72000|shp|kW}} |Ship propulsion=*Four Parsons geared steam turbines
|Ship speed={{convert|32.5|kn|km/h|0}} |Ship range={{convert|5730|nmi|km mi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|13|kn}} |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=570 officers and enlisted |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=* 4 × twin BL 6 in (152 mm L/50) Mk.XXIII turrets
|Ship armour= |Ship aircraft=*1 × catapult-launched aircraft
|Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship notes= }} |
HMNZS Leander was a light cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy during World War II. She was the lead ship of the {{sclass|Leander|cruiser|4||1931}}. The ship initially served as HMS Leander in the Royal Navy before her transfer to New Zealand in 1937. In 1945, the ship was returned to the Royal Navy as HMS Leander and was involved in the Corfu Channel incident. The ship was scrapped in 1950.
History
Leander was launched at Devonport on 24 September 1931. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Leander on 24 March 1933. Along with {{HMNZS|Achilles|70|2}} she served in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. In August 1937 Leander, on a journey from Europe to New Zealand, carried out an aerial survey of Henderson, Oeno and Ducie, and on each island a British flag was planted and an inscription was nailed up proclaiming: "This island belongs to H.B.M. King George VI."{{cite journal |author1=Rehder HA |author2=Randall JE |date=15 January 1975 |title=Ducie Atoll: Its history, physiography and biota |journal=Atoll Research Bulletin |pages=1–55 |volume=183 |url=http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/atollresearchbulletin/issues/00183.pdf |doi=10.5479/si.00775630.183.1}}
File:Supermarine Walrus SLV AllanGreen.jpg from Leander, ca. 1938, used as a fleet spotter]]
In World War II, Leander served initially in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Commander Stephen Roskill, in later years the Royal Navy's Official Historian, was posted as the ship's executive officer in 1941. In the action on 27 February 1941, she sank the Italian armed merchantman {{ship|Italian ship|Ramb I||2}} near the Maldives, rescuing 113 of her crew and taking slight damage. On 23 March 1941, Leander intercepted and captured the Vichy French merchant Charles L.D. in the Indian Ocean between Mauritius and Madagascar. On 14 April, Leander deployed for support of military operations in Persian Gulf and, on 18 April, joined the aircraft carrier {{HMS|Hermes|95|2}} and the light cruiser {{HMS|Emerald|D66|2}}. On 22 April, Leander was released from support duties in the Persian Gulf and took part in search for the German raider {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Pinguin||2}} south of the Maldives.
In June 1941, Leander was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet and was active against the Vichy French during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign. After serving in the Mediterranean, Leander returned to the Pacific Ocean in September 1941. In 1941 the New Zealand Division became the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and she was commissioned as HMNZS Leander in September 1941.
On 13 July 1943, Leander was with Rear Admiral Walden Lee Ainsworth's Task Group 36.1 of three light cruisers: Leander and the US ships {{USS|Honolulu|CL-48|2}} and {{USS|St. Louis|CL-49|2}}. The task group also included ten destroyers. At 01:00 the Allied ships established radar contact with the {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Jintsu}}, which was accompanied by five destroyers near Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands. In the ensuing Battle of Kolombangara, Jintsu was sunk and all three Allied cruisers were hit by torpedoes and disabled. Leander was hit by a single torpedo just abaft 'A' boiler room. 26 crew from the boiler room and the No.1 4-inch gun mount immediately above were killed or posted missing.{{Cite web|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/hmnzs-leander/recovery-and-repair|title=Recovery and repair - HMNZS Leander | NZHistory, New Zealand history online|website=nzhistory.govt.nz}} The ship was so badly damaged that she took no further part in the war. She was first repaired in Auckland, then proceeded to a full refit in Boston.{{sfn|Morison|1975|p=190}}
She returned to the Royal Navy on 27 August 1945. In 1946 she was involved in the Corfu Channel Incident. She was scrapped in 1950.
Legacy
The superyacht {{ship||Leander G}}, owned by Sir Donald Gosling, is named after HMS Leander, the first naval vessel on which he served.{{cite web|last1=Gosling|first1=Donald|title=Sir Donald Gosling's superyacht memories|url=http://www.boatinternational.com/luxury-yacht-life/owners-experiences/sir-donald-gosling-s-superyacht-memories--1659|publisher=Boat International|access-date=12 March 2016}}
In 2020, Fiji commissioned {{ship|RFNS|Savenaca}}, a patrol vessel named after Savenaca Naulumatua, a sailor from Fiji who died while serving aboard Leander during the Battle of Kolombangara.{{cite news
|url=https://fijisun.com.fj/2019/07/06/rfns-volasiga-to-arrives-in-october-and-rfns-savenaca-in-april-2020-women-to-make-up-16-of-fiji-navy-personnel/ |title=RFNS Volasiga To Arrive In October And RFNS Savenaca In April 2020, Women To Make Up 16% Of Fiji Navy Personnel |work= Fiji Sun |first= Maika |last=Bolatiki |date=2019-07-06 |access-date=2019-10-26}}{{cite news |url=https://www.bairdmaritime.com/work-boat-world/maritime-security-world/naval/ships-naval/fijis-future-guardian-class-patrol-boat-to-honour-fallen-sailor/ |title=Fiji's future Guardian-class patrol boat to honour fallen sailor |work= Baird Maritime |date=2019-10-25 |access-date=2019-10-26}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
=Sources=
- {{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |author-link=Samuel Eliot Morison |orig-year=1958 |year=1975 |title = Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier |volume=6 |series=History of United States Naval Operations in World War II |publisher= Castle Books |isbn=0-7858-1307-1}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Friedman |year=2010 |title=British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=978-1-59114-078-8 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Lenton |first1=H. T. |last2=Colledge |first2=J. J. |year=1968 |orig-year=1964 |title=British and Dominion Warships of World War Two |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, New York |edition=orig. pub. Warships of World War II |oclc=440734}}
- {{cite book|last=Rohwer |first=Jürgen |author-link=Jürgen Rohwer |year=2005 |title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |edition=Third Revised |isbn=1-59114-119-2}}
- {{cite book |last=Whitley |first=M. J. |author-link=Michael J. Whitley |year=1995 |title=Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia |publisher=Cassell |location=London |isbn=1-86019-874-0}}
- {{cite book |last=Waters |first=S. D. |series=The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 |title=Episodes & Studies |volume=2 |chapter=Ch 4. Leander |pages=1–33 |year=2016 |orig-year=1950 |publisher=War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs |location=Wellington, NZ |via=New Zealand Electronic Text Collection |edition=online scan |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/collections.html |access-date=22 February 2025 |oclc=270692074}}
External links
- [http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4003.html HMNZS Leander at Uboat.net]
{{Leander class cruiser 1931}}
{{1946 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leander}}
Category:Leander-class cruisers (1931) of the Royal Navy
Category:Ships built in Plymouth, Devon
Category:Leander-class cruisers (1931) of the Royal New Zealand Navy
Category:World War II cruisers of New Zealand