HMNZS Achilles was a Leander-class light cruiser, the second of five in the class. She served in the Royal New Zealand Navy in the Second World War. She was launched in 1931 for the Royal Navy, loaned to New Zealand in 1936 and transferred to the new Royal New Zealand Navy in 1941. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, alongside HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter and notable for being the first Royal Navy cruiser to have fire control radar, with the installation of the New Zealand-made SS1 fire-control radar in June 1940.
Protected cruisers, a type of cruising warship of the late-19th century, gained their description because an armoured deck offered protection for vital machine-spaces from fragments caused by shells exploding above them. Protected cruisers resembled armored cruisers, which had in addition a belt of armour along the sides.
Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology.
The Town class consisted of 10 light cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. The Towns were designed to the constraints imposed by the London Naval Treaty of 1930. The ships were built in three distinct sub-classes, the Southampton, Gloucester and Edinburgh classes respectively, each sub-class adding on further weaponry.
The Leander class was a class of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s that saw service in World War II. They were named after mythological figures, and all ships were commissioned between 1933 and 1936. The three ships of the second group were sold to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) before World War II and renamed after Australian cities.
HMS Ajax was a Leander-class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy during World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the siege of Tobruk. This ship was the eighth in the Royal Navy to bear the name. In February 1942, she was adopted by the civil community of Halifax.
HMS Neptune was a Leander-class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy during World War II. Neptune was the fourth ship of its class and was the ninth Royal Navy vessel to carry the name.
HMAS Hobart was a modified Leander-class light cruiser which served in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. Originally constructed for the Royal Navy as HMS Apollo, the ship entered service in 1936, and was sold to Australia two years later. During the war, Hobart was involved in the evacuation of British Somaliland in 1940, fought at the Battle of the Coral Sea and supported the amphibious landings at Guadalcanal and Tulagi in 1942. She was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1943, then returned to service in 1945 and supported the landings at Tarakan, Wewak, Brunei, and Balikpapan. Hobart was placed in reserve in 1947, but plans to modernise her and return her to service as an aircraft carrier escort, training ship, or guided missile ship were not followed through. The cruiser was sold for scrapping in 1962.
Six ships of the Royal Navy, have been named HMS Leander after the Greek hero Leander:
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.
Several ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Phaeton or Phaëton after Phaëton, the son of Helios in Greek mythology:
HMS Ulysses was the debut novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. Originally published in 1955, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean's experiences in the Royal Navy during World War II provided the background and the Arctic convoys to Murmansk provided the basis for the story, which was written at a publisher's request after he'd won a short-story competition the previous year.
HMS Naiad was a Dido-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy which served in the Second World War. She was sunk in action on 11 March 1942 south of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.
HMS Leander was a second class cruiser, name ship of the Royal Navy's first Leander-class cruisers. During a revolution in Panama in 1900, Leander helped protect the lives and property of foreign residents.
The QF 4 inch Mk XVI gun was the standard British Commonwealth naval anti-aircraft and dual-purpose gun of World War II.
The action of 27 February 1941 was a single ship action between the British cruiser HMS Leander and the Italian auxiliary cruiser Ramb I. It began when Leander ordered an un-flagged freighter to stop for an inspection. The freighter raised the Italian colours and engaged Leander which sank Ramb I shortly after. Most of the Italian crew were rescued and taken to Addu Atoll, thence to Ceylon. Leander patrolled southwards to investigate more reports of commerce raiders.
The Attack on Convoy BN 7 was a naval engagement in the Red Sea during the Second World War between a British force defending convoyed merchant ships and a flotilla of Italian destroyers. The Italian attack failed, with only one merchant ship being slightly damaged. After a chase, the British destroyer HMS Kimberley torpedoed the Italian destroyer Francesco Nullo which was beached on Harmil Island. Kimberley was hit, disabled by Italian shore batteries on the island and towed to safety by the cruiser HMS Leander.
718 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy created on 15 July 1936 to serve as a Catapult Flight of the Fleet Air Arm. It was elevated to squadron status at the end of 1937, before being disbanded on 21 January 1940. It was re-formed on 5 June 1944 to operate as the Army Co-operation Naval Operational Training Unit before being disbanded again on 1 November 1945. On 23 August 1946 it was reformed for the third time to operate as a Seafire Conversion Squadron but was disbanded less than one year later, on 17 March 1947. On 25 April 1955, after almost a decade, the squadron was reformed once more to train RNVR on jet aircraft. Once this work was complete, it was disbanded for the final time on 31 December 1955.
