HMNZS Leander

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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.

[edit] Description

Displacement: 7,270 tons
Dimensions: Length: 554 ft (169 m); Beam: 55 ft (17 m)
Armament: 8 × 6 in (152 mm), 8 × 4 in (102 mm), 8 × 4 lb (1.8 kg), 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes.
Propulsion: 72,000 bhp (54 MW)
Speed: 32 knots (59 km/h)
Aircraft: 1 catapult-launched aircraft. Original type was a Fairey Seafox, catpult and aircraft later replaced with Supermarine Walrus.

[edit] History

Leander was launched at Devonport on 24 September 1931, and commissioned on 24 March 1933 into the Royal Navy as the HMS Leander.

In World War II she served initially in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. On 27 February 1941 she sank the Italian "auxilary curiser" Ramb I near the Maldives. After serving in the Mediterranean she returned to the Pacific in 1943.

On 13 July 1943 she was with Rear Admiral Walden Lee Ainsworth's Task Group 36.1 of three light cruisers (USS Honolulu and St. Louis were the other two) and ten destroyers. At 01:00 the Allied ships established radar contact with Japanese cruiser Jintsu and five destroyers near Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands. In the ensuing battle of Kolombangara Jintsu was sunk but all three Allied cruisers were hit by torpedoes and severely damaged. Leander was so badly damaged that she took no further part in the war.