''Leon'' (D54) ( el, Α/Τ Λέων, "Lion") was a destroyer that served with the
Greek Navy
The Hellenic Navy (HN; el, Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Polemikó Naftikó, War Navy, abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of vario ...
between 1951–1992. The ship had formerly served with the United States Navy under the name , famous for its alleged role in the
Philadelphia Experiment
The Philadelphia Experiment was an alleged event claimed to have been witnessed by an ex- merchant mariner named Carl M. Allen at the United States Navy's Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, sometime around ...
.
Service history
''Leon'' was transferred to Greece under the
Mutual Defense Assistance Program
The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949. For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Eur ...
. It was put to service in January 1951 by Vice Admiral D. Foifas. She was used mainly for patrols in the Eastern Aegean Sea and for cadet officer (midshipmen) training.
''Leon'' was decommissioned on November 15. 1992 and later in November 1999 it was sold as scrap to the Piraeus-based V&J Scrapmetal Trading Ltd.
Sister ships
''Leon'' belonged to a group of four ''Cannon''-class destroyers that were transferred to the Greek Navy in 1951. The other three were ''Ierax'' (D31) ( el, Ιέραξ, "Hawk"), ''Aetos'' (D01) ( el, Άετός, "Eagle") and ''Panthir'' (D67) ( el, Πάνθηρ, "Panther"), affectionately known as the ''Thiria'' ( el, Θηρία, "Beasts").
References
Wild Beast-class destroyers (1951)
Ships built in Kearny, New Jersey
1943 ships
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