Cruisers of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Commissioned cruisers of the Royal New Zealand Navy
Royal New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...

from its formation on 1 October 1941 to the present:

Name	Type	Class	Dates	Notes
HMNZS Achilles (70) HMNZS Achilles (70) HMNZS Achilles was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the Royal New Zealand Navy in World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, alongside HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter....	Cruiser Cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...	Leander class Leander class cruiser (1931) 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...	1941-1946
HMNZS Bellona (63) HMS Bellona (63) HMS Bellona was the name ship of her subgroup of light cruisers for the Royal Navy. She was a modified Dido-class design with only four turrets but improved anti-aircraft armament...	Cruiser Cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...	Dido class Dido class cruiser The Dido class was a class of sixteen light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. The design was influenced by the Arethusa class light cruisers. The first group of three ships was commissioned in 1940, the second group and third group were commissioned in 1941–1942...	1946-1956
HMNZS Black Prince (81) HMS Black Prince (81) HMS Black Prince was a Dido-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, of the Bellona subgroup. The cruiser was commissioned in 1943, and served during World War II on the Arctic convoys, during the Normandy landings, and as part of the British Pacific Fleet. In 1946, the cruiser was loaned to the...	Cruiser Cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...	Dido class Dido class cruiser The Dido class was a class of sixteen light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. The design was influenced by the Arethusa class light cruisers. The first group of three ships was commissioned in 1940, the second group and third group were commissioned in 1941–1942...	1946-1961
HMNZS Gambia (C48)	Cruiser Cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...	Crown colony class Crown Colony class cruiser The Crown Colony-class light cruisers of the Royal Navy were named after Crown Colonies of the British Empire. The first eight are known as the Fiji class, while the last three to be built are commonly referred to as the Ceylon class and were built to a slightly modified design.-Design:They were...	1943-1946
HMNZS Leander HMNZS 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 eight ships, the Leander class light cruiser and was initially named HMS Leander.- History :...	Cruiser Cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...	Leander class Leander class cruiser (1931) 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...	1941-1948	Served in the New Zealand Division 1937-1941
HMNZS Monowai (F59) HMNZS Monowai (F59) HMNZS Monowai was an armed merchant cruiser of the Royal New Zealand Navy . She subsequently became HMS Monowai, a Landing Ship, Infantry mostly operating as a troopship, before returning to her old trade as a passenger ship....	Armed merchant cruiser Armed merchantmen Armed merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value...		1940-1943
HMNZS Royalist (C89)	Cruiser Cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...	Dido class Dido class cruiser The Dido class was a class of sixteen light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. The design was influenced by the Arethusa class light cruisers. The first group of three ships was commissioned in 1940, the second group and third group were commissioned in 1941–1942...	1956-1966

Loss of HMS Neptune

HMS Neptune

HMS Neptune (20)

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...

was a Leander class

Leander class cruiser (1931)

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...

light cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

which served with the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Early in 1941 the New Zealand Government responded to an Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

request for sailors to man an additional cruiser. Neptune was selected and was expected to leave the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

for New Zealand in May. However because of the loss of cruisers during the Crete campaign

Battle of Crete

The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...

Neptune was instead attached to Admiral Cunningham's Force K, based on Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

. On 19 December 1941 she was sunk by mines. Only one crewman survived.

150 of those lost were New Zealanders, 80 of them had served in the Naval Reserve

Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve

The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal New Zealand Navy .-Early history:The first Naval Volunteer units were formed in Auckland and Nelson in 1858. Over the rest of the 19th century Naval Volunteer units were formed in various ports such as Bluff,...

before the outbreak of war. The loss of Neptune was the greatest single tragedy New Zealand Naval Forces have experienced.

Loss of HMS Neptune

See also