Leander HMS (1933)

[john sefton]

HMS Leander (Light Cruiser, 1933-1949)
HMS Leander, the 7289-ton (standard displacement) lead ship of a class of five light cruisers, was built at Devonport, England. Ships of this design included Leander, Neptune, Orion, Achilles and Ajax. The British Leander-class armament comprised eight 6” guns, and she could do 32.5 knots; as such, she was a representative pre-war cruiser. Completed in March 1933, HMS Leander served with the Royal Navy until April 1937, when she was transferred to New Zealand and became HMNZS Leander. The cruiser mainly served in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas until 1940, then operated in the Mediterranean and Red Sea. On 29 October 1940 her embarked aircraft attacked a fish cannery at Mogadishu, Somalia, and on 27 February 1941 she encountered and sank the Italian auxiliary cruiser RAMB 1 near the Maldive Islands.
HMNZS Leander served in the East Indies and South Pacific in 1941-1943. While operating with a U.S. Navy task force she was torpedoed by Japanese ships during the 13 July 1943 Battle of Kolombangara. Though badly damaged, with 28 of her crew dead, she was able to leave the battle area under her own power. Temporary repairs in New Zealand during the remainder of 1943 were followed by a transit to the U.S. East Coast, where she received permanent repairs at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts. This work continued from early 1944 until August 1945, by which time the Second World War was effectively at an end. Now back in the Royal Navy, HMS Leander steamed back to the United Kingdom in the fall of 1945. She was sold for scrapping in December 1949.
In 1939, the British began the Dido-class, and her fitout showed a distinct awareness of changing requirements: her armament was 10 5.25” dual-purpose (anti-surface and antiaircraft) guns.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... eander.htm

[aukepalmhof]

HMS Leander – this light cruiser was launched in 1931 and acquired by New Zealand on loan. En-route to NZ she visited all four islands of the Pitcairn group and her visits were highlighted by the use of her amphibious Walrus aircraft. The plane took aerial photographs to investigate possible flying boat and landplane bases for a projected trans-Pacific extension of Imperial Airways Far East route. The LEANDER landed a shore party on each of the uninhabited islands and mounted a Union Jack and noticeboard proclaiming British sovereignty.

Source: Pitcairn Islands Stamp Bulletin 114.