page_title: HMAS Perth (D29)
section_title: Armament and protection
hierarchical_section_title: HMAS Perth (D29) / Design and description / Armament and protection
caption_attribution_description: English: AWM caption&#160;: "MEDITERRANEAN AREA, 1941. SOME CREW MEMBERS OF HMAS PERTH ASTRIDE ONE OF THE SHIP'S BIG GUNS."
context_page_description: HMAS Perth was one of three modified Leander-class light cruisers used by the Royal Australian Navy during the early part of World War II. She was built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s and was commissioned as HMS Amphion in 1936. The ship spent the next several years as flagship of the Africa Station before she was transferred to the RAN in 1939 and renamed as HMAS Perth.
  At the start of World War II in September, the ship patrolled the Western Atlantic and the Caribbean in search of German shipping and escorting convoys for six months before she was ordered home in early 1940. The ship continued the same types of duties in Australian waters before she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet at the end of 1940. Perth then helped to escort numerous convoys to Malta in early 1941 and played a minor role in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March. She escorted convoys to Greece and Crete and helped to evacuate Allied troops from both places in the face of the victorious Axis forces. The ship was badly damaged by Axis aircraft in May during the evacuation of Crete.
context_section_description: The main battery of the Modified Leander class consisted of eight BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XXIII guns arranged in two pairs of superfiring twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament consisted of four QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V guns in open single mounts abreast the aft funnel. For short-range air defence, the ship was fitted with three quadruple mounts for Vickers 0.5 in (12.7 mm) AA machineguns. They were also armed with eight 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes in two above-water quadruple mounts, one on each broadside.
  Most of the armour protecting parts of the ship consisted of non-cemented armour. The machinery spaces were protected by a 3-inch (76 mm) waterline belt and the deck above them consisted of 1.125 inches (29 mm) of high-tensile steel. The sides of the magazines consisted of 3.5-inch (89 mm) armour plates and their roofs were protected by 2-inch (51 mm) plates. The gun turrets had 1 inch (25 mm) thick sides and roofs.
caption: Sailors astride one of Perth's main guns, 1941
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