HMS Lion (C34)

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. 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 Tigers were 75-80% complete 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 yards of Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson 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 sever rotor, turbine and vibrational problems and a further three months in Portsmouth dockyard were required before she really became operational in Feb 1961.

Operational Service
Lion's first commission included a Mediterranean leg covering some 20,500 miles in 1961. In the latter part of 1961 she headed to South America and returned to Plymouth at the end of her first commission in 1962.

She recommissioned at Devonport for service in the Home Fleet and Far East on 31st 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 1963. 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 and visited Spain and Portugal before return to the UK.

In September 1964 Lion was present at the Maltese Independence celebrations, and earlier that year 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. In August 1965 Lion was present at Portsmouth Navy Days before being decommissioned into reserve at Devonport 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 were 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.

Publications

 * HMS Lion at Uboat.net
 * A history of the Tiger class
 * A history of the Tiger class