Captain Martin Dunlop's log turns commissioning into a concrete readiness exercise: magazines were tested, compasses adjusted, provisions and ammunition loaded, and coal use carefully recorded. A man went overboard, fresh food came aboard, and firing twenty-one six-inch rounds broke a gun fitting, searchlight glass, and carriage equipment. A defective centrifugal-fan spindle then forced the crew to bank the boiler fires while engineers worked through the night. Repairs, torpedo trials, port movements, and repeated preparation made the new cruiser an operational unit before she joined Hornby's squadron at Berehaven.
Notable Point · 16:17-20:43
Commissioning Leander reveals everyday fleet readiness
Leander's first weeks in commission involved provisioning, coal accounting, machinery defects, gunnery breakages, torpedo trials, and movement between ports.