HMS Lion - C34

HMS Lion was a light cruiser of the Royal Navy, originally ordered in 1942 as one of the Minotaurclass and laid down that same year as Defence by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company atGreenock in Scotland on 6 June 1942.

Partially complete, Lion was launched on 2 September 1944 by Lady Edelson, but work was suspended in 1946. The cruiser, which would serve as HMS Lion, was further advanced than the two other Tigers and the new Mk 24 triple six inch turrets for all three Tiger-class ships were 75-80% complete^[1] Still named Defence, she 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 Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson yards at Wallsend.

She was finally commissioned in July 1960, having been rushed into service with some shortcuts in the engineering department, due to political pressure to get her to sea. Initial trials were disrupted by severe rotor, turbine and vibrational problems and a further three months in Portsmouth dockyard were required before she really became operational in Feb 1961.^[2]

Lion's first commission included a Mediterranean leg covering some 20,500 miles^[3] in 1961. In the latter part of that year she headed to South America and returned to Plymouth in 1962.

Lion recommissioned at Devonport for service in the Home Fleet and Far East on 31 July 1962 and sailed to the Mediterranean for work-up at the end of November. She reached the far East in March 1963 and was present at the Malaysia Independence celebrations in September. She subsequently visited Australia before returning to the UK via the Suez Canal. In early 1964, Lion took part in major NATO and other national exercises; she then visited Spain and Portugal before returning to the UK.

In September 1964 Lion was present at the Maltese Independence celebrations. Earlier that year she had been rammed under the Forth Road Bridge by HMS Lowestoft. Emergency repairs were carried out in Rosyth Dockyard before she sailed for Malta with only hours to spare. Early in 1965, Lion was present at the Gambia Independence ceremony on Bathurst, now Banjul. The ship was present at Portsmouth Navy Days in August 1965,^[4] before being decommissioned into the reserve at Devonportuntil 1972, when she was placed on the disposal list.

Plans to convert Lion along the lines of her sisters Tiger and Blake were rejected as too costly. On 15 May 1973, she arrived at Rosyth and was subsequently stripped of parts and equipment for use withTiger and Blake. Lion was sold for breaking up on 12 February 1975 for £262,500. On 24 April 1975 she 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.