HMS Lion (C34)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Tiger-class light cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Lion |
| Ordered: | 1942 Additional Naval Programme |
| Builder: | Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Wallsend |
| Laid down: | 6 June 1942 |
| Launched: | 2 September 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 20 July 1960 |
| Decommissioned: | December 1972 |
| Out of service: | Used as parts hulk for sister-ships from 1973 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap 12 February 1975 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 11,560 tons as built 12,080 tons after conversion |
| Length: | 555.5 ft (169.3 m) overall 538 ft (166 m) between perpendiculars |
| Beam: | 64 ft (20 m) |
| Draught: | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | Four Admiralty-type three drum boilers (400 psi) Four shaft Parsons steam turbines 80,000 shp |
| Speed: | 31.5 knots |
| Range: | 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) at 16 knots |
| Complement: | 716 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Lion was a light cruiser of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1942 as one of the Minotaur class and laid down that same year as Defence by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at Greenock on 6 June 1942.
Partially complete, Lion was launched on 2 September 1944 by Lady Edelson, but work was suspended in 1946 and Defence was laid up at Gareloch. Construction of Defence and two other cruisers was later resumed to a revised Tiger class design. Defence was renamed Lion in 1957 and construction continued at the yards of Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson at Wallsend. She was finally commissioned in July 1960.
In September 1964 Lion was present at the Maltese Independence celebrations, and later that year she was rammed under the Forth Road Bridge by HMS Lowestoft. Lion then undertook a period of reserve at Devonport from 1964 until 1972, when she was placed on the disposal list - plans to convert her along the lines of her sisters HMS Tiger and HMS Blake having been rejected as too costly. On 15 May 1973 she arrived at Rosyth and was subsequently stripped of parts and equipment for use with Tiger and Blake. Lion was sold for breaking up on 12 February 1975 for £262,500. On 24 April 1975 Lion arrived at Inverkeithing where she was scrapped by Wards. Some equipment from her was salvaged and sold to Peru for use with their former British Crown Colony class cruisers.
[edit] References
- Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- HMS Lion at Uboat.net
- A history of the Tiger class
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