HMS Dido (37)

HMS Dido (37) History

Even before the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), the Royal Navy was aware of the threat that aircraft posed to many of its ships. These airborne threats can fly farther and faster than the forerunners of the last world war, so there is a focus on retrofitting ageing, phased-out cruisers as floating air defense platforms, along with a whole new initiative - which brings 16 "Dido-class" light cruisers with adequate anti-aircraft weapons.

As such, these warships can be deployed with a combination of artillery and machine guns as needed for self-defense, critical fleet elements, or critical offshore airspace.

HMS Dido (37) became the lead ship of this new class and was laid on 26 October 1937 by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, UK. The ship was launched on July 18, 1939, and commissioned on September 30, 1940. World War II officially began on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, prompting the British government to declare war.

By the time Britain and her Royal Navy had been at war with the Axis Powers for over a year, by the time HMS Dido was operational - her services were much needed.

After commissioning, HMS Dido excelled as a protection ship - escorting convoys, defending the skies for Allied ships from attack aircraft, and aiming her guns at inland targets. She served mainly in the Mediterranean and was initially threatened by the Italian Navy.

In September 1940, she installed a Type 281 radar to improve situational awareness. From 1941 to 1943, her armament consisted of 5 x 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns instead of the original 102mm and 0.50 caliber accessories. In August 1942 she was hit by a heavy bomb at the stern and landed in Massawa (Eritrea) in August 1942 for repairs. Repairs were done as best as possible (in just six days) and the boat was back in service. During the Allied advance towards Rome, her gun was used in the inshore bombardment of enemy positions in Lazio Gaeta on the west coast of Italy.

By 1945, the ship received five more 20mm anti-aircraft guns to enhance its anti-aircraft capabilities. Throughout the war - HMS Dido managed to survive - the class lost 5 out of 16 men in combat.

While a good fighting platform overall, the HMS Dido and her class were ultimately limited by their armament - however, the 5.25" main gun was considered too light to bomb inland targets or interact with The Considerer in the U.S. steel-clad battleship, which fires too slowly to engage fast-moving enemy aircraft. Still, any battleship was better than nothing, and the class was used as efficiently as possible until the conflict ended in 1945.

During the Queen's Coronation in 1953, HMS Dido served as flagship of the Reserve Fleet as one of the last gestures of a combat warship. Since the ship was no longer in service in post-war Britain, her useful parts were stripped off and sold as scrap on 18 July 1957.

At the end of the decade, most of the class met the same fate.

HMS Diadem (Bellona Group) served in the Pakistan Navy from 1956 and finally decommissioned in 1985.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

AIR WING