File:Intelligence - Movements of HM ships - HMS "Neptune" (ship) - January 1941 - April 1945 (50666862486).jpg

HMS Neptune was a Royal Navy Leander-class light cruiser. During World War II it served alongside the HMS Achilles and HMS Leander, and had a large number of New Zealand personnel within its crew. The Neptune headed to the Mediterranean in response to losses made during the Crete campaign.

In the early morning of the 19th December 1941, while sailing to intercept an Italian supply convoy, the Neptune sailed into an uncharted deep-water minefield around 30 km from Tripoli. Its movements around the minefield caused four mines to explode and the ship quickly sank.

764 crew were on board at the time of the disaster, and 150 of them were New Zealanders. One crew member survived the disaster, who was picked up by Italian forces and sent to an Italian prisoner of war camp until 1943.

The loss of the HMS Neptune was concealed for a time by the Admiralty, as it followed the losses of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulser weeks earlier.

The Memorial Wall at the Devonport Naval Base records the names of all 150 New Zealand sailors who were killed during the disaster.

This image is of a page from a file about the disaster, which details information about those killed and efforts to locate crew members initially considered to be missing. This file comes from a group of Registered Secret Subject Files [record group] from the Navy department. This record group is comprised of sensitive Navy general correspondence files, including records on operations intelligence, personnel, security and the defence of New Zealand and various Pacific Islands.

Archives New Zealand reference: AAYT 8491 N2 12/ 08/20/24 (R22042191)

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