1944: HMNZS LEANDER leaves Calliope Dock, Auckland, after battle damage repairs – HMNZS LEANDER had been hit by a 24-inch Japanese ‘long lance’ torpedo during the night Battle of Kula Gulf in the southwest Pacific on July 13, 1943. She lost 28 men.

HMNZS Leander entering Calliope Dock

After receiving temporary repairs at Tulagi, she returned to Auckland for further work, but her final repairs and re-fitting were to be made in Boston.
The 7,270 ton LEANDER reverted to the Royal Navy in May 1944, and was replaced by the 8,000 ton Mauritius or Colony Class cruiser HMNZS GAMBIA, the largest combat ship to be operated by the RNZN until HMNZS Aotearoa came along.
The Calliope Dock at Devonport Naval Base, one of the largest repair facilities in the South Pacific, was in constant demand by US forces during the first years of the Pacific War.
Photo: RNZN, it appeared in Ross Gillett’s book ‘Australian and New Zealand Warships 1914-1945’ [Doubleday, Sydney 1983] p290.

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