Greek destroyer Leon
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 Destroyer Leon |
|
| Career (Greece) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Leon (ΒΠ Λέων) |
| Namesake: | lion |
| Ordered: | 1912 |
| Builder: | Cammel Laird |
| Laid down: | 1911 |
| Launched: | July 1, 1911 |
| Commissioned: | 1912 |
| Decommissioned: | May 15, 1941 |
| Fate: | sunk at Souda Bay, Crete |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 880 tons standard |
| Length: | 89.4 m (293 ft) |
| Beam: | 8.3 m (27 ft) |
| Draft: | 3 m (9.8 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 5 × Foster Wheeler boilers (4 coal-fired and 1 oil-fired), replaced by Yarrow oil-fired boilers in 1925 5 funnels combined Parsons and Curtis steam turbines |
| Speed: | 31 knots (57 km/h) maximum (32 knots (59 km/h) after 1925) |
| Complement: | 58 |
| Armament: | As completed: 4 × Bethlehem 4-inch (102 mm) guns 1 × 75 mm anti-aircraft gun 6 × 21-inch (533 mm)torpedo tubes 3 × electric search lights 1925: 75 mm gun removed 37 mm anti-aircraft gun added four-barrel 40 mm gun added 2 mortars added Modified for laying 40 mines 1942: 3rd and 4th stern torpedo launchers removed 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft gun added 1 × 20 mm Oerlikon gun added A/S type 123A detection device added |
Leon (Greek: ΒΠ Λέων, "Lion") served in the Hellenic Royal Navy from 1912–1941.
The ship, along with her three sister ships of Wild Beast class destroyers Aetos, Ierax and Panthir was ordered from England. They were purchased ready for delivery, each for the sum of £148,000, from the English shipyards Camell Laird in Liverpool, when the Balkan Wars seemed likely. These ships had originally been ordered by Argentina; Panthir was originally named Tucuman.
During the Balkan Wars, the Royal Hellenic Navy purchased only the minimum amount of ammunitions, 3,000 rounds of torpedoes. Torpedoes were not available for this class of ship, and for this reason these ships were initially named 'scouts' rather than 'destroyers'. Leon was in action during the Balkan Wars under Lieutenant Commander J. Razikotsikas, RHN, also on board was Squadron Commander Lieutenant Commander D. Papachristos, RHN.
During World War I, Greece belatedly entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente and, due to Greece's neutrality the four Beast Class ships were seized by the Allies in October, 1916, taken over by the French in November, and served in the French Navy from 1917-18. By 1918, they were back on escort duty under Greek colors, and was in action blockading the coasts of the Black Sea from Bosphorus up to Trebizond.
On December 22, 1921, while moored with Ierax in Piraeus harbour they were both severely damaged by the explosion of a depth charge bomb which the crew of Leon was transporting. Two officers, one petty officer and two sailors were killed on Leon and two sailors on Ierax. Leon completely lost her aft section up to her stern gun. [1]
After the war, Leon was refurbished from 1925–1927. She also participated in the Second World War, On April 18, 1941, during a convoy escort, she collided with passenger ship Ardena followed by the explosion of two depth charges. As a result, her stern section was cut off and two officers were killed. She was finally sunk by German bombers on May 15, 1941, in Souda Bay (Crete) where she had been towed from Salamis Naval Base.
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