Protected deck, coal bunkers, and compartmentation

A sloped steel deck covered roughly fifty metres of the ship and shielded magazines and machinery, while full wing bunkers added some protection around the vital spaces. Gun shields gave the crews another one and a half inches of steel, but much of the ninety-six-metre hull remained outside the protected box. Watertight bulkheads and numerous compartments were therefore an essential part of the survivability scheme rather than a secondary feature. When Leander struck Hornet Rock and rivets sheared, subdivision kept her afloat and operational, demonstrating the practical value of the arrangement despite its limited armour thickness.