Leander-class cruiser (1931)

For other uses, seeLeander class.

HMSApolloin 1938 atMiami,Florida prior to transfer to Royal Australian Navy
Class overview
Name	Leanderclass
Operators	Royal Navy Royal Australian Navy Royal New Zealand Navy Indian Navy
Preceded by	Emeraldclass
Succeeded by	Arethusaclass
Subclasses	Leander Amphion/Perth
Completed	8
Lost	3
General characteristics (as-built)
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	7,270long tons(7,390t) (standard) 9,740 long tons (9,900 t) (full load) (9,000 long tons (9,100 t) inAmphions)
Length	554.9 ft (169.1 m)
Beam	56 ft (17.1 m)
Draught	19.1 ft (5.8 m)
Installed power	6 × (Leander)or4 × (Amphion)Admiralty 3-drum boilers 72,000shp(54,000kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 gearedsteam turbines
Speed	32.5knots(60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range	5,730nmi(10,610 km; 6,590 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	570
Armament	4 × twinBL 6 in (152 mm) guns 4 × singleQF 4 in (102 mm) guns 3 × quadruple0.5 in (12.7 mm)AA machineguns 2 × quadruple21 in (533 mm)torpedo tubes
Armour	Magazine:3 in (76 mm) box Deck:1 in (25 mm) Gun turrets:1 in (25 mm)
Aircraft carried	1 ×seaplane
Aviation facilities	1 ×catapult&crane

TheLeanderclasswas a class of eightlight cruisersbuilt for theRoyal Navyin the early 1930s that saw service inWorld War II.They were named aftermythologicalfigures, and all ships were commissioned between 1933 and 1936. The three ships of the second group were sold to theRoyal Australian Navy(RAN) before World War II and renamed afterAustraliancities.

Design

TheLeanderclass was influenced by theYork-class heavy cruiserand was an attempt to better provide for the role of commerce protection. The 7,000-7,200 tonLeanders were armed with eightBL 6 inch Mk XXIII naval gunsin twinturrets,two forward and two aft. Their secondary armament consisted of four high-angleQF 4 inch Mk V naval guns,which were later replaced by twin mountings for eight guns (the later high angleQF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun). Their close-range anti-aircraft weaponry consisted of twelve 0.5-inch (13 mm)Vickers machine gunsin three quadruple mounts. They also shipped a bank of four 21-inch (530 mm)torpedo tubeson each beam and provision was made in the design for the carriage of twocatapult-launchedFairey Seafoxaircraft.

Speed was 32 knots (59.3 km/h; 36.8 mph), and 845 tons of armour was provided. During trials in December 1932Leandermade 32.45 knots (60.1 km/h; 37.3 mph) with 72,430shaft horsepower(54,010kW) at 7265tonsdisplacement and 31.4 knots (58.2 km/h; 36.1 mph) with 73,140 shp (54,540 kW) at 9010tonsdeep displacement.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 more liable to disable all the boiler rooms. In service their machinery proved to be highly reliable and exceeded trials output by a wide margin as evidenced byAchilleson 13 December 1939 duringThe Battle of the River Plate:

The main engines of the Achilles, it was recorded, ‘were manoeuvred with far greater rapidity than would have been attempted under any conditions but those of emergency. All demands on the machinery were met more than adequately, all material standing up to the strain in such a manner that nothing but confidence was felt during the action.… The behaviour of both men and machinery left nothing to be desired. When all the machinery of the Achilles had worked up to full power, readings gave a total of almost exactly 82,000 horse-power, with the four propellers turning at an average of 283 revolutions a minute.’ This tribute to the soundness of design and the excellence of British shipyard workmanship is underlined by the statement of Captain Woodhouse of the Ajax that steam had been shut off the main engines of his ship for only five days since 26 August 1939.

Wartime modifications

During the war, significant modifications were made to the vessels. Various additional anti-aircraft armament was added, and the two New Zealand vessels removed a turret to carry heavier 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns in its place. Changes to the aircraft launching capability were reported, although use is unclear.

Ships in class

Construction data forLeandergroup

Name	Pennant	Namesake	Builder	Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Leander	75	Leander of Abydos	HM Dockyard, Devonport	18 February 1930	8 September 1930	24 September 1931	24 March 1933	Transferred toRoyal New Zealand Navyas HMNZSLeander,1941–1945; Broken up atBlyth,1950
Orion	85	Orion the Hunter		24 March 1931	26 September 1931	24 November 1932	18 January 1934	Broken up atDalmuir,1949
Neptune	20	Neptune, God of the Sea	HM Dockyard, Portsmouth	2 March 1931	24 September 1931	31 January 1933	23 February 1934	Sunk inminefieldoffTripoli,19 December 1941
Ajax	22	Ajax the Great	Vickers Armstrong,Barrow-in-Furness	1 October 1932	7 February 1933	1 March 1934	12 April 1935	Broken up atNewport,1949
Achilles	70	Achilles	Cammell Laird,Birkenhead	16 February 1931	11 June 1931	1 September 1932	10 October 1933	Transferred to Royal New Zealand Navy as HMNZSAchilles,1941-1946; Sold toIndian NavyasHIMSDelhi,1948

Construction data forAmphiongroup

Name	Pennant	Namesake	Builder	Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Perth (ex-Amphion)	29	Amphion of Thebes	HM Dockyard, Portsmouth	1 December 1932	22 June 1933	27 July 1934	15 June 1936	Sold toRoyal Australian Navyas HMASPerth,1939; Sunk intorpedo attack,1 March 1942
Hobart (ex-Apollo)	63	Apollo, God of Light	HM Dockyard, Devonport	1 March 1933	15 August 1933	9 October 1934	13 January 1936	Sold to Royal Australian Navy as HMASHobart,1938; Broken up atOsaka,1962
Sydney (ex-Phaeton)	48	City of Sydney Phaeton, son of Helios	Swan Hunter,Wallsend	10 February 1933	8 July 1933	22 September 1934	24 September 1935	Sunk insurface action,19 November 1941

Leandergroup

• Leander

Loaned to New Zealand, commissioned as HMNZSLeanderin September 1941. At theBattle of Kolombangara,Leanderwas heavily damaged by aLong Lancetorpedo, causing many casualties, and sending the ship to repairs for two years.

• Achilles,laterHMIS/INSDelhi.

Achilleswas the second vessel loaned to New Zealand, commissioned as HMNZSAchillesin September 1941. She had earlier participated in theBattle of the River Plate.Achilleswas sold toIndiain 1948, and was known as HMISDelhifor a few years, then served as INSDelhi,until 1978.

• Ajax

Ajaxparticipated in theBattle of the River Plate.The town ofAjax, Ontariowas named after the ship, with street names in the town named after members of the crew.Ajaxalso participated in theBattle of Cape Matapanand took part in shelling the mainland of Normandy during thebeach landings.Chile wanted to buy HMSAjaxin 1948-9, but the opposition leader in the UK, Winston Churchill thought the ship should be retained for the RN and it became a political issue.The Leander class cruisers were very well built in the early 1930s and in the case ofAchillesproved capable of more than 40 years service. After the rest of the class, including HMSAjax,were scrapped, there was regret in the RN, because in many ways with their long 12,000-mile range and generous hull they were ideal for use as ocean radar pickets.

• Neptune

Manned by New Zealand crew, although not part of theRoyal New Zealand Navy.Neptunewas sunk by an Italian mine off the coast ofTripoli.

• Orion

Orionspent much of the early war in the Mediterranean providing escort to convoys and was also at the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. She participated in the evacuation ofCretein 1941 and was heavily damaged. Orion's repairs were completed in March 1942, after which she was widely employed, in home waters and on convoy escort duties to Africa and the Indian Ocean. Orion returned to the Mediterranean in October 1942 and was involved in convoy escort duties and supported the army in the invasion of Sicily. She also took part in the Normandy Landings in June 1944, where she fired the first shell. Orion received 13 battle honours, a record only exceeded byHMSWarspiteand matched by two others.

ModifiedLeandergroup

The last three ships of the class, referred to as the "ModifiedLeander","Amphion",or"Perth"class, had their 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 earlyLeanders, which had a single funnel.To cover the separate machinery spaces, the side armour was extended from 84 to 141 feet (26 to 43 m), negating the weight reduction created by the separation.During design, it was planned to modify the forward-most and aft-most 6-inchturretsto 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.All three ships were sold to the RAN,Sydneywhile under construction andPerthandHobartafter a few years of British service.

• Perth(ex-Amphion)

Completed 1936 as HMSAmphionand transferred to the RAN as HMASPerthin 1939. She operated with British ships in theBattle of the Mediterranean,participating in theBattle of Cape Matapanin March 1941. Lost in theBattle of Sunda Straitin early 1942.

• Hobart(ex-Apollo)

Completed 1936 as HMSApolloand transferred to the RAN in 1938 as HMASHobart,she took part in theEast African Campaign,theBattle of the Coral Seaand provided fire support atGuadalcanal.After being badly damaged by a torpedo strike in 1943, she returned to action in thePhilippines landings(1944), followed by theBorneoandAitape-Wewak campaigns.She was put into reserve after the war and was not decommissioned until 1962.

• Sydney(ex-Phaeton)

Laid down as HMSPhaeton,the ship was acquired by the RAN, launched as HMASSydneyand was commissioned in 1935. Also involved in the Mediterranean campaign.Sydneysank theItalian cruiserBartolomeo Colleoniat theBattle of Cape Spadain 1940. Later that year,Sydneytook part in theBattle of Cape MatapanandBattle of Calabria,sinking two Italian destroyers, theEsperoandZeffiro.In 1941, off Western Australia,Sydneyencounteredthe German auxiliary cruiserKormoran;the two ships destroyed each other andSydneywas lost with all hands; the wrecks of both ships werelocatedin 2008.

In fiction

Warren Tute's novelThe CruiserfeaturesHMSAntigone,aLeander-class cruiser with a striking similarity toAjax.

Douglas Reeman's novelA Ship Must Dieis set aboard the titular fictionalLeander-class cruiserAndromedapitted against a Germansurface raideroperating in theIndian Ocean.

References

• Colledge, J. J.;Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969].Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy(Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing.ISBN978-1-86176-281-8.
• Campbell, John (1985).Naval Weapons of World War Two.Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN0-87021-459-4.
• Frame, Tom (1993).HMAS Sydney: Loss and Controversy.Rydalmere, NSW: Hodder & Stoughton.ISBN0-340-58468-8.OCLC32234178.
• Friedman, Norman(2010).British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After.Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN978-1-59114-078-8.
• Lenton, H. T.(1998).British & Empire Warships of the Second World War.Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN1-55750-048-7.
• Raven, Alan & Roberts, John (1980).British Cruisers of World War Two.Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN0-87021-922-7.
• Rohwer, Jürgen(2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two(Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN1-59114-119-2.
• Waters, S. D. (1956).The Royal New Zealand Navy.Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45. Wellington, New Zealand: War History Branch.OCLC800613100.
• Whitley, M. J.(1995).Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia.London: Cassell.ISBN1-86019-874-0.

External links

• The Royal New Zealand Navy