HMS Dido (37)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Dido.

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HMS Dido
History
United Kingdom
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 and 1951) and at Portsmouth between 1951 to 1958
Identification: Pennant number 37
Fate: Scrapped, arrived at Thomas W Ward Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness 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:
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
  • 12 × 2-pounder pom-pom guns (3x4)
  • 8 × .50 in (13 mm) machine guns (2x4)
  • 6 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (2x3)
  • 1941–1943 configuration: 10 × 5.25 in (133 mm) dual purpose guns (5x2)
  • 12 × 2-pounder pom-pom guns (3x4)
  • 5 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons
  • 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)

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

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. 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 was not 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

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Post War

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

She was subsequently decommissioned and sold for scrap to Thomas William Ward (industrialist) and scrapped at Barrow in 1957.

Commanding officers

From To Captain
1942 1942
1946 1948 Captain P Reid RN
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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