HMNZS LEANDER
HMS LEANDER was built in His Majesty's Dockyard Devonport, England,
being the name ship for a class of light cruisers.
LEANDER was laid down on 8 September 1930, launched on 24 September
1931 and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 23 March 1933. The ship was acquired by New Zealand, on loan, along with a sister
ship
HMS ACHILLES, to replace
HM Ships DUNEDIN and DIOMEDE, respectively. A result of the acquisition of these
ships was the expansion of dockyard and naval base facilities and the lengthening of Calliope Dock.
LEANDER commissioned for New Zealand at Devonport, England on 30 April 1937. During the subsequent workup period
she attended the Coronation Review at Spithead on 20 May, some members of the ship's company marching in the Coronation Parade
in London. The ship departed England on 2 July for New Zealand, steaming via Jamacia, Balboa and Pitcairn Island en route,
arriving at Auckland on 18 August 1937.
LEANDER toured New Zealand ports after arrival from England and over the next two years also participated in exercises
in home and Australian waters, as well as undertaking visits to the Pacific Islands.
War Service
In what was New Zealand's first act of the Second World War, LEANDER departed Auckland 30
August 1939 for Fanning Island in the central Pacific, to land a small garrison. This deployment, prior to the outbreak of
hostilities, was in anticipation of a possible repeat of the destruction by German Naval Forces of the transpacific cable
link in 1914.
With ACHILLES deployed overseas LEANDER patrolled the seas in the New Zealand area which included two visits
to Campbell and Auckland Islands in search of German Raiders, between September and November 1939. However, LEANDER
did not locate one of the Raider's supply ships ERLANGEN , which was in a remote anchorage in the Auckland Islands
during the time of the ship's first visit. Six troopships carrying the 1st Echelon of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force
to the Middle East were escorted to Australia in January 1940, before LEANDER participated in the New Zealand Centenary
celebrations at Waitangi, on February 1940.
On 2 May 1940 LEANDER departed Wellington as a part ofbthe escort for the troopships carrying 6,800 men of the 2nd
Echelon of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. LEANDER , detached in the Indian Ocean, for Alexandria, while the remainder
of the convoy proceeded around the Cape of Good Hope.
SHIP DETAILS
Dimensons: 169 x 16.9 x 6.1m(554.5 x 55.3 x 20ft)
Displacement: 7270
Machinery: 4 shaft, geared turbines shp 72,000 = 32 knots
Complement: 550
Armament: 8 x 6 inch(152mm) Guns
8 x 4 inch(102mm) Guns
8 x 21 inch(533mm) Torpedo Tubes
Aircraft: 1 x Supermarine Walrus
