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 Leander class. 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 Achilles 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.”[1]
1944: HMNZS LEANDER leaves Calliope Dock, Auckland, after battle damage repairs – HMNZS LEANDER had been hit by a 24-inch Japanese ‘long lance’ torpedo during the night Battle of Kula Gulf in the southwest Pacific on July 13, 1943. She lost 28 men.
After receiving temporary repairs at Tulagi, she returned to Auckland for further work, but her final repairs and re-fitting were to be made in Boston.
The 7,270 ton LEANDER reverted to the Royal Navy in May 1944, and was replaced by the 8,000 ton Mauritius or Colony Class cruiser HMNZS GAMBIA, the largest combat ship to be operated by the RNZN until HMNZS Aotearoa came along.
The Calliope Dock at Devonport Naval Base, one of the largest repair facilities in the South Pacific, was in constant demand by US forces during the first years of the Pacific War.
Photo: RNZN, it appeared in Ross Gillett’s book ‘Australian and New Zealand Warships 1914-1945’ [Doubleday, Sydney 1983] p290.
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| HMS Achillies, Leander and Philomel (Training Jetty) – 1938 |
