Royal Navy Cruiser HMS Achilles arrives home in Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand, from the Battle of the River Plate (1940) ~ Pathe News HMS Achilles (later HMNZS) was a Leander-class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy (New Zealand Division) and from October 1941 with the Royal New Zealand Navy in the Second World War, the second of five in the class. Originally constructed by the Royal Navy, she was loaned to New Zealand in 1936 before formally joining the new Royal New Zealand Navy

During World War II, the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Eagle served in the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the South Atlantic, primarily hunting German commerce raiders and escorting vital convoys to Malta. Equipped initially with torpedo bombers, the carrier gained fighters later in the war, contributing to several operations, including the Battle of Calabria and numerous Malta supply runs. HMS Eagle was sunk by German torpedoes from the U-73 on August 11, 1942, while participating in th