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HMS Dido (37)
HMS Dido (37)
HMS Dido
Career (UK) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Dido
Builder: Cammell Laird Shipyard (Birkenhead, UK)
Laid down: 26 October 1937
Launched: 18 July 1939
Commissioned: 30 September 1940
Out of service: October 1947
Reclassified: In reserve at Gareloch between 1947 to 1951) and at Portsmouth between 1951 to 1958
Fate: Scrapped, Arrived at Thomas W Ward Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness UK on 18 July 1957.
General characteristics
Class & type: Dido-class anti-aircraft cruiser
Displacement: 5,600 long tons (5,700 t) (standard)
6,850 long tons (6,960 t) (full load)
Length: 485 ft (148 m) p.p.
512 ft (156 m) o/a
Beam: 50 ft 6 in (15.39 m)
Draught: 14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power: 62,000 shp (46,000 kW)
Propulsion: 4 × Parsons geared steam turbines
4 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
4 × shafts
Speed: 32.25 kn (37.11 mph; 59.73 km/h)
Range: 1,500 nmi (1,700 mi; 2,800 km) at 30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h)
4,240 nmi (4,880 mi; 7,850 km) at 16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h)
Capacity: 1,100 short tons (1,000 t) fuel oil
Complement: 480
Sensors and
processing systems:
Type 281 RADAR from September 1940[1]
Armament:
  • Original configuration: 8 × 5.25 in (133 mm) dual purpose guns (4x2)
    1 × 4 in (100 mm) anti-aircraft gun
    8 × .50 in (13 mm) machine guns (2x4)
    12 × 2-pounder pom-pom guns (3x4)
    6 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (2x3)
  • 1941–1943 configuration: 10 × 5.25 in (133 mm) dual purpose guns (5x2)

    5 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons
    12 × 2-pounder pom-pom guns (3x4)
    6 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (2x3)
  • 1943–1945 configuration: 10 × 5.25 in (133 mm) dual purpose guns (5x2)
    12 × 2-pounder pom-pom guns (3x4)
    10 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons (2x1, 4x2)
    6 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (2x3)
Armour:
  • Belt: 3 in (7.6 cm)
  • Deck: 1 in (2.5 cm)
  • Magazines: 2 in (5.1 cm)
  • Bulkheads: 1 in (2.5 cm)
  • Notes: Pennant number 37

    HMS Dido was the name ship of her class of light cruisers for the Royal Navy. She was built by Cammell Laird Shipyard (Birkenhead, UK), with the keel being laid down on 26 October 1937. She was launched on 18 July 1939 and commissioned on 30 September 1940.

    History[]

    Mediterranean[]

    HMS Dido gun

    A 20 mm Oerlikon gunner on board Dido getting a light from a pal between bombing attacks in the eastern Mediterranean, January 1942.

    On 18 August 1942 Captain H. W. U. McCall brought Dido to Massawa for major repairs to a bomb-damaged stern. Because Dido was at that time one-quarter of British surface power in the Eastern Mediterranean it was critical that she be repaired as quickly as possible. The only working drydock in Massawa wasn't large enough to lift Dido entirely so she was partially floated up to clear the stern, leaving the bow low in the water. Six days later Dido was undocked to return to battle alongside her three sister ships, Euryalus, Cleopatra and Sirius.[2]

    Arctic[]


    Post War[]

    In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II,[3] where she was Flag ship of the Reserve Fleet.

    Commanding officers[]

    From To Captain
    1940 1942
    1953 1953 Captain T E Podger RN

    Notes[]

    1. Macintyre, Donald, CAPT RN "Shipborne Radar" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1967 p.75
    2. Commander Edward Ellsberg, O.B.E. Under the Red Sea Sun, (1946). Dodd, Mead and Co., New York
    3. Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden

    Publications[]

    External links[]


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