Dido-class cruiser

HMS Argonaut HMS Argonaut
Dido-class	RN Ensign
General Characteristics
Displacement:	5,700 tons to 5,900 tons standard / 6,900 tons to 7,600 tons full load
Length:	512 ft
Beam:	50.06 ft (50.45 ft Bellona-class)
Draught:	17.8 ft (18.0 ft Bellona-class)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines, 1 cruising turbine (Bellona-class only), 4 shafts, 4 boilers, 62,000 shp (3,900 shp cruising turbine)
Speed:	32.25 knots (32.20 knots Bellona-class. 21 knots cruising turbine)
Range:
Complement:	480 (530 Bellona-class)
Armament:	Original configuration: 8 x 5.25-in guns (First Group, Bellona-class. Second Group had ten) 9 x 4.5-in guns (Third Group only) 1 x 4.0-in gun (Second and Third Groups) 8 x 2-pounder guns (Ten in Third Group, twelve in Bellona-class) 12 x 20mm Oerlikon guns (Bellona-class) 8 x 0.5-in machine guns (First, Second and Third Groups 6 x 21-in torpedo tubes

The Dido-class were a sixteen ship (including Bellona sub-class) class of light anti-air (AA) cruisers built for the Royal Navy. The design was influenced by the Arethusa-class light cruisers. The first group (three ships) were commissioned in 1940, the second group (six ships) were commissioned between 1941-42, the third group (two ships) were also commissioned between 1941-42. The Bellona-class were commissioned between 1943-44. All the class were named after figures of Greek mythology.

The class were intended to be armed with ten 5.25-in guns in twin turrets, but a shortage of the guns, due to difficulties in manufacturing them, led to the first group being armed with eight 5.25-in guns in four twin turrets. The fifth twin turret was added later to HMS Dido only. The first group was also armed with a single 4.0-in gun and eight 2-pounder guns.

The second group had the full five twin 5.25-in guns but did not have the single 4-in gun added. The third group's armament was completely changed due to the shortage of the 5.25-in gun, being armed with eight 4.5-in guns in four twin turrets instead. The 4.5-in gun was actually better suited to the primary anti-aircraft role of the Dido-class. The single 4.0-in gun was also reintroduced, and its 2-pounder armament was increased from eight to ten.

The Bellona sub-class differed only slightly to their predecessors. They had eight 5.25-in guns in four twin turrets, and had vastly improved AAW armament, with twelve 2-pounder guns and twelve 20mm Oerlikons. The bridge of the Bellona-class was lowered by one deck compared to the previous three groups, which allowed full radar control to be fitted to the 5.25-in turrets and 2-pounders, due to the decreased topweight. Bellona, Black Prince and Royalist were loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy post-WWII. In 1956, Diadem was sold to Pakistan.

In WWII, the ships of this class saw much action, including the Battle of Cape Matapan, Battle of Okinawa, Operation Overlord, Operation Torch and the Second Battle of Sirte, as well as many other duties in the Mediterranean and Pacific, though it must be said that the Didos saw even more service than is mentioned here. The class lost a number of ships during the war. These were Bonaventure, Charybdis, Hermione, Naiad, Scylla and Spartan. The post-war survivors continued in service; all were decommissioned by the 1960s.