Leander class (1929)
.jpg) HMS Orion
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The Leander- class was a class of eight light cruisers in the Royal Navy . The units entered service between 1933 and 1936 and were used during World War II . The class is divided into two groups, as the last three cruisers built, beginning with the HMS Amphion , received a different engine layout. These three ships of the Amphion Group were later transferred to the Royal Australian Navy and renamed after Australian cities.
draft
The Leander- class was influenced by the York- class heavy cruisers . It was designed to protect merchant shipping. The class had a displacement of 7,000–7,200 ts and was armed with eight BL 6 "MK XXIII caliber 152 mm cannons in twin towers, two of which were attached at the front and rear. The secondary armament consisted of four 10.2 cm caliber cannons in single towers, which were later replaced by eight cannons in twin towers.The air defense consisted of twelve 12.7 mm Vickers machine guns in a quadruple arrangement.
There were eight 533 mm torpedo tubes arranged in two groups of four on each side of the fuselage.
Two catapults were designed for use by Fairey Seafox aircraft. The armor was stronger than on many ships with the same displacement. To compensate for the additional weight, the machines were not arranged in a distributed manner.Instead, both machine rooms were located one behind the other, as were the two boiler rooms with a common chimney. This arrangement was unique on British cruisers, because you always had to expect that a hit would hit exactly at the height of a partition and the departments in front of and behind the partition would be flooded. If this were to happen at the bulkhead between the boiler rooms or the engine rooms, the cruiser would lose its entire propulsion system if all boiler rooms or engine rooms failed. The same was true of a hit in the single chimney.
The three ships of the second group, which were later handed over to the Royal Australian Navy, were again constructed in the usual construction for warships. The boiler and engine rooms alternated, a boiler room and an engine room formed an independent unit. Each boiler room had its own chimney, which made the ships of the Amphion group look different from the other ships of the class.
Conversions
Far-reaching changes were made to the ships during the war. Various additional anti-aircraft guns were added, and the two New Zealand ships received 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns.
There are reports that Fairey Swordfish and Supermarine Walrus planes were used on ships of this class. It is likely that the walrus were only used on the ships of the Royal Navy.
units
Leander group
- The HMS Leander / HMNZS Leander was loaned to New Zealand and commissioned as HMNZS Leander in September 1941. In the Battle of Kolombangara , the Leander was hit by a Type 93 torpedo and badly damaged. There were many dead and wounded, and the ship then had to be repaired for two years.
- The HMS Achilles / HMNZS Achilles took part in the sea battle in front of the Río de la Plata . She was the second ship to be loaned to New Zealand. It was put into service there in September 1941 as HMNZS Achilles . It was sold to India in 1948 and renamed HMIS Delhi . During the occupation of Goa, she sank a Portuguese ship and forced another to sink.
- The HMS Ajax took part in the sea battle in front of the Río de la Plata and in the battle of Cape Matapan . She later shelled the beaches at the Normandy landing companies.
- The HMS Neptune sailed with a New Zealand crew, although it was not part of the Royal New Zealand Navy . The Neptune was sunk by an Italian mine near Tripoli in 1941.
Amphion or Sydney group
- The HMS Amphion / HMAS Perth was completed in 1936 and handed over to the Royal Australian Navy as Perth in 1939 . She took part in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. It was lost in the Battle of Sunda Strait in early 1942 .
- The HMS Apollo / HMAS Hobart was completed in 1936 and handed over to the Royal Australian Navy as Hobart in 1938 . She took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea and gave artillery support to the amphibious landing operations of the Battle of Guadalcanal .
- The HMS Phaeton / HMAS Sydney was handed over to the Royal Australian Navy during construction and renamed Sydney . She operated with British units in the Mediterranean, took part in the Battle of Cape Matapan and the naval battle of Punta Stilo in 1940, sank two Italian destroyers, the Espero and the Zefiro . In 1941 there was a battle with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran , in which the two ships sank each other and the Sydney and all crew members were lost.
