HMNZS Leander
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Leander |
Ordered | 18 February 1930 |
Builder | HMNB Devonport |
Laid down | 8 September 1930 |
Launched | 24 September 1931 |
Commissioned | 24 March 1933 |
Recommissioned | 27 August 1945 |
Decommissioned | February 1948 |
Out of service | loaned to Royal New Zealand Navy 30 April 1937 |
Identification | Pennant number: 75 |
Fate |
|
New Zealand | |
Name | HMNZS Leander |
Commissioned | 30 April 1937 |
Out of service | Repair and refit at Boston 8 May 1944 |
Identification | Pennant number: 75 |
Fate | Returned to Royal Navy 27 August 1945 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Leander-class light cruiser |
Displacement |
|
Length | 554.9 ft (169.1 m) |
Beam | 56 ft (17 m) |
Draught | 19.1 ft (5.8 m) |
Installed power | 72,000 shaft horsepower (54,000 kW) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 32.5 knots (60 km/h) |
Range | 5,730 nmi (10,610 km; 6,590 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
Complement | 570 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
|
Aircraft carried |
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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 light ships, the Leander-class light cruiser and was initially named HMS Leander.
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 HMS 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]
In 1941 the New Zealand Division became the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and she was commissioned as HMNZS Leander in September 1941.
In
In June 1941, Leander was transferred to the
On 13 July 1943, Leander was with Rear Admiral
She returned to the Royal Navy on 27 August 1945. In 1946 she was involved in the
The superyacht
In 2020 Fiji commissioned the RFNS Savenaca, a patrol vessel named after Savenaca Naulumatua, a sailor from Fiji who lost his life while serving on the Leander during the Battle of Kolombangara.[5][6]
See also
References
- .
- ^ "Recovery and repair - HMNZS Leander | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". nzhistory.govt.nz.
- ^ Morison 1975, p. 190.
- ^ Gosling, Donald. "Sir Donald Gosling's superyacht memories". Boat International. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- ^
Maika Bolatiki (6 July 2019). "RFNS Volasiga To Arrive In October And RFNS Savenaca In April 2020, Women To Make Up 16% Of Fiji Navy Personnel". Fiji Sun. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
Savenaca Naulumatua from Yasawa and Timo Puamau from Lau were members of Fiji Naval Volunteer Force and during World War II they were part of the HMSNZF {sic} Leander's crew that was hit by a Japanese torpedo at the Battle of Kolombangara in July 1943.
- ^
"Fiji's future Guardian-class patrol boat to honour fallen sailor". Baird Maritime. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
The vessel honours Seaman Savenaca Naulutuma, a Fiji-born Royal New Zealand Navy sailor who was killed in action while serving aboard the cruiser HMNZS Leander at the Battle of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands in World War II. Naulutuma and 25 other crewmembers on Leander were killed shortly after their ship was struck by a Japanese torpedo in the early morning hours of 13 July 1943.
Sources
- ISBN 978-1-59114-078-8.
- Lenton, H. T.; Colledge, J. J. (1968) [1964]. British and Dominion Warships of World War Two (orig. pub. Warships of World War II ed.). Garden City, NY: Doubleday. OCLC 440734.
- ISBN 0-7858-1307-1.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- ISBN 1-86019-874-0.