Cruisers Of The Royal New Zealand Navy
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Commissioned cruisers of the Royal New Zealand Navy from its formation on 1 October 1941 to the present:


Loss of HMS ''Neptune''

was a light cruiser which served with the
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during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Early in 1941 the New Zealand Government responded to an
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request for sailors to man an additional cruiser. ''Neptune'' was selected and was expected to leave the
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for New Zealand in May. However, because of the loss of cruisers during the Crete campaign ''Neptune'' was instead attached to Admiral Cunningham's Force K, based on
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. On 19 December 1941 she was sunk by mines. Only one crewman survived.Royal New Zealand Navy
HMS ''Neptune'' 150 of those lost were New Zealanders, 80 of them had served in the Naval Reserve before the outbreak of war. The loss of ''Neptune'' was the greatest single tragedy New Zealand Naval Forces have experienced.


See also

*
Current Royal New Zealand Navy ships This is a list of current commissioned Royal New Zealand Navy ships. The affiliations are ceremonial only, with the navy operationally stationed at the Devonport Naval Base, Auckland. As of 2022, the Navy operates nine commissioned ships. S ...
*
List of ships of the Royal New Zealand Navy Sortable list of commissioned vessels of the Royal New Zealand Navy from its formation on 1 October 1941 to the present. It does not include vessels of the New Zealand Division (1921–1941) or New Zealand Naval Forces (1913–21) or earlier ves ...


Notes


References

* Walters, Sydney David (1956) ''The Royal New Zealand Navy: Official History of World War II'', Department of Internal Affairs, Wellingto
Online
* McDougall, R J (1989) ''New Zealand Naval Vessels.'' Page 23–36. Government Printing Office.

HMS ''Neptune'' Military history of New Zealand Royal New Zealand Navy {{Navy-stub