Editing Dido-class cruiser (section)

{{Short description|Class of light cruisers built for the Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=HMS Argonaut.png
|Ship caption={{HMS|Argonaut|61|2}} in wartime camouflage, November 1943 just after repairs at the [[Philadelphia Navy Yard]]
}}
{{Infobox ship class overview
|Name=''Dido'' class
|Builders=
*[[Alexander Stephens and Sons]] (1)
*[[Cammell Laird]] (3)
*[[Chatham Dockyard]] (1)
*[[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company|Fairfield Shipbuilding]] (2)
*[[Harland and Wolff]] (1)
*[[Portsmouth Dockyard]] (1)
*[[Hawthorn Leslie]] (3)
*[[Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company|Scotts Shipbuilding]] (3)
*[[Vickers Armstrongs]] (1)
|Operators=*{{navy|United Kingdom}}
* {{navy|New Zealand}}
* {{navy|Pakistan}}
|Class before={{sclass|Arethusa|cruiser|4||1934}}
|Class after={{sclass|Fiji|cruiser|4}}
|Subclasses=*''Dido''
* ''Bellona''
|Cost=
|Built range=1937–1943
|In service range=
|In commission range=  1940–1980s
|Total ships completed=16
|Total ships lost=5
|Total ships scrapped=11
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=(as built)
|Ship type=[[Light cruiser]]
|Ship displacement=* {{convert|5521|–|5770|LT|t|lk=on}} ([[Displacement (ship)#Standard displacement|standard]])
* {{convert|7081|–|7420|LT|t}} ([[full load]])
|Ship length={{convert|512|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} ([[o/a]])
|Ship beam={{convert|50|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on|1}}
|Ship draught=* ''Dido'' class: {{convert|16|ft|10|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (deep load)
* ''Bellona'' class: {{convert|17|ft|9|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (deep load)
|Ship power=* 4 [[Admiralty 3-drum boiler]]s
* {{cvt|62,000|shp|kW|lk=on}}
|Ship propulsion=4 shafts; 4 [[steam turbine]]s
|Ship speed={{convert|32.25|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range={{cvt|4850|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|11|kn}}
|Ship complement=*''Dido'' class: 487
* ''Bellona'' class: 530
|Ship sensors=
* Type 128 [[ASDIC]]
* [[Type 279 radar|Type 279]] [[early-warning radar]]
|Ship armament=*''Dido'' class as designed:
** 5 × twin [[QF 5.25 inch Mark I naval gun|{{cvt|5.25|in|mm|0}} guns]]
** 2 × quadruple [[QF 2 pounder naval gun|2-pdr ({{cvt|40|mm}})]] [[AA gun]]s
** 4 × twin [[Vickers .50 machine gun|{{cvt|0.5|in|mm|1}} AA machine guns]]
** 2 × triple [[British 21 inch torpedo|{{cvt|21|in|mm|0}}]] [[torpedo tubes]]
* ''Bellona'' class as designed:
** 4 × twin 5.25 in guns
** 3 × quadruple 2&nbsp;pdr AA guns
** 6 × twin [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|{{cvt|20|mm|1}}]] AA guns
** 2 × triple 21 in torpedo tubes
|Ship armour=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

The '''''Dido'' class''' consisted of sixteen [[light cruiser]]s built for the [[Royal Navy]] during [[World War II]]. The first group of three ships were commissioned in 1940; the second group of six ships and third group of two were commissioned between 1941 and 1942. A fourth group, also described as the '''Improved Dido''' or '''''Bellona'' class''' (five ships) were commissioned between 1943 and 1944. Most members of the class were given names drawn from [[Classical antiquity|classical history and legend]]. The groups differed in armament, and for the ''Bellona''s, in function. The ''Dido'' class were designed to replace the [[C-class cruiser|C-class]] and [[Danae-class cruiser|D-class]] cruisers as small fleet cruisers and [[flotilla leader]]s for the destroyer screen.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Friedman |first=N. |date=July 2012 |title=Judging the Good from the Bad |work=US Navy History |publisher=USNI |volume=26 |issue=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Friedman |first=Norman |title=British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |year=2010 |pages=186–192}}</ref> As designed, they mounted five twin 5.25-inch high-angle gun turrets on the centreline providing [[Dual-purpose gun|dual-purpose]] anti-air and anti-surface capacity; the complex new turrets were unreliable when introduced, and somewhat unsatisfactory at a time when the UK faced a fight for survival.

During the war, the original 1939–42 ships required extensive refit work to increase electrical generating capacity for additional wartime systems (notably radar and gun direction equipment) and in the final ''Bellona,'' [[HMS Diadem (84)|HMS ''Diadem'']], fully-electric turrets. While some damage was experienced initially in extreme North Atlantic weather, changes to gun handling and drill partially mitigated the problems. The fitting of the three forward turrets in the double-superfiring A-B-C arrangement (although in Royal Navy classification, fifth turrets were called "Q", not "C") relied upon the heavy use of aluminium in the ships' superstructure, and the lack of aluminium after the [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuation of the British Army from France]] was one of the primary reasons for the first group only receiving four turrets, while the third group received four twin 4.5-inch mounts and no 5.25-inch guns at all.<ref name=rr5>Raven & Roberts, p. 275</ref> The ''Bellonas'' were designed from the start with four radar-directed 5.25-inch gun turrets with full Remote Power Control and an expanded light anti-aircraft battery, substantially increasing their efficiency as AA platforms.

From the initial trials of the lead ship ''Bonaventure'', the new light cruisers were considered a significant advancement and were surprisingly effective in later actions in the [[Mediterranean Sea]], such as protecting [[Malta Convoys|convoys to Malta]], seeing off far larger ships of the [[Regia Marina|Italian Royal Navy]].<ref name=rr5/> The {{convert|5.25|in|mm|adj=on}} gun was primarily an anti-surface weapon but designed to fire the heaviest shell suitable for manual loading for use in anti-aircraft defence, and accounted for around 23 aircraft and deterred far more{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}. Both the ''Didos'' and ''Bellonas'' were dogged by roller path jams in the rail track upon which the turret gunhouses rotated. These issues regularly put turrets out of action from their initial sea trials until the last operational service of ''Euryalus'' and ''Cleopatra'' with the RN in 1953–54 and were the bane of the three ''Bellonas'' operated postwar by the RNZN.<ref>D. Brown. Reconstructing the RN 2012</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=December 2023}}<ref>NZ Archives/ RNZN Dido cruiser files, Captain Reports, Logs, Proceedings, Rule books turret safety and magazines and key control. Dido class Black Prince and Bellona. Archives. Wellington</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=December 2023}}. The original ''Dido''-class ships {{HMS|Bonaventure|31|6}}, {{HMS|Charybdis|88|6}}, {{HMS|Hermione|74|6}} and {{HMS|Naiad|93|6}} were lost in the war. The survivor, name ship {{HMS|Dido|37|6}}, was [[Reserve Fleet (United Kingdom)|put into reserve]] in 1947 and decommissioned ten years later. {{HMS|Euryalus|42|6}} was the last of the original class to see service, being decommissioned in 1954 and scrapped in 1959.

The ''Bellona'' class (as well as four rebuilt ''Didos'') were mainly intended as [[Radar picket|picket ships]] for amphibious warfare operations in support of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy and [[United States Navy]] in the [[Pacific War|Pacific]]. {{HMS|Spartan|95|6}} was the only ship of the sub-class to be sunk, struck by a German [[Fritz X]] glide bomb while supporting the landings of the [[Battle of Anzio]]. Two ships were to be modified to be command ships of [[aircraft carrier]] and cruiser groups, intended for action against planned German [[battlecruiser]]s. Originally these were to be ''Scylla'' and ''Charybdis'' of the third group, but the 1943 loss of ''Charybdis'' saw ''Royalist'' of the fourth (''Bellona'') group selected instead; these were also known as the '''Modified ''Dido'''''<nowiki/>''.''

Postwar modernisation proposals were limited by the tight war emergency design. There was insufficient space and weight for the fire control and magazines of four or five modern twin 3-inch turrets, combined with the fact that the 5.25-inch shells had a much larger bursting charge than the smaller 4.5-inch guns in service postwar, making them more effective high-altitude AA weapons.<ref name=m9>Murfin, p. 139</ref> {{HMS|Royalist|89|6}} was rebuilt for potential action alongside the battleship {{HMS|Vanguard|23|6}} against the post-war [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] {{sclass|Sverdlov|cruiser|1}}s and {{sclass|Stalingrad|battlecruiser|1}}s and was loaned to the [[Royal New Zealand Navy]] (RNZN) from 1956 to 1966.