Crew from HMNZS Leander carry out maintenance on a torpedo. Leander-class light cruisers carried standard Allied 21-inch (533-mm) torpedoes in eight deck-mounted tubes. They did not have the range or speed of the 24-inch (610-mm) Type 93 ‘Long Lance’ torpedoes used by the Japanese. This was a fact brutally exposed at Kolombangara – of the 51 ‘fish’ launched by Task Force 36.1, only two hit the target (helping to sink the cruiser Jintsu); in return, long-range Japanese torpedoes sank one Allied ship and badly damaged three others (including Leander).
Community contributions