HMS Lion (C34)

HMS Lion underway
History
United Kingdom
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 a parts hulk for sister ships from 1973
Fate	Sold for scrap 12 February 1975
General characteristics
Class and type	Tiger-class light cruiser
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 (58 km/h)
Range	8,000 nautical miles (14,816 km) at 16 kn (30 km/h)
Complement	716
Armament	Four × QF 6 inch Mark N5 guns (2 × 2) Six × 3 in (3 × 2)

HMS Lion was a Tiger-class light cruiser of the British Royal Navy, originally 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 in Scotland on 6 June 1942.

Work was stopped and not begun again until the mid-1950s for completion as an air-defence cruiser pending the introduction of guided missile-equipped County-class destroyers into the navy. She was commissioned in 1960. All three Tigers were to be converted into helicopter carriers but Lion was placed into reserve in 1965 and served as a supply of spares for the other two until decommissioned in 1972 followed by selling for scrap in 1975.