Editing Dido-class cruiser (section)

==Ship modifications==

===''Dido''s===

''Bonaventure'' completed with only four twin 5.25-inch turrets because of shortages and received a 4-inch [[Shell (projectile)#Illumination|starshell]] gun in "X" position. She received a radar set before October 1940 but was otherwise unaltered. ''Naiad'' was completed with five turrets. She received five 20&nbsp;mm in September 1941 and had [[Type 279 radar]] by this time. {{HMS|Phoebe|43|2}} completed with four turrets and was fitted with a 4-inch gun in "C" position forward of the bridge. The latter was 'landed' (removed) during her refit between November 1941 and April 1942 at [[New York City]], along with the 0.5-inch machine guns and Type 279 radar, while a quadruple 2&nbsp;pdr replaced the 4-inch gun and eleven 20&nbsp;mm guns were fitted. Radars were now [[Type 281 radar|Type 281]], 284 and 285. The "A" turret was temporarily removed at the end of 1942 after [[torpedo]] damage. During repairs in the first six months of 1943, all three quadruple 2-pounder pom-pom mounts were landed, as were seven 20&nbsp;mm, to be replaced by three quadruple [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40&nbsp;mm Bofors guns]] and six twin 20&nbsp;mm. Radar Type 272 was also fitted. Her A turret was replaced in July 1943. Her light anti-aircraft weaponry in April 1944 was twelve 40&nbsp;mm (3 × 4) and sixteen 20&nbsp;mm (6 × dual, 4 × single).

''Dido'' had four turrets and a 4-inch gun similar to ''Phoebe''. The 4-inch and the machine guns were removed in the latter half of 1941 at [[Brooklyn Navy Yard]], when the "Q" position 5.25-inch turret was shipped and four 20&nbsp;mm were fitted, two of which replaced the original quadruple 0.5 mm machine guns. In the early summer of 1943 three 20&nbsp;mm were exchanged for four twin 20&nbsp;mm and the radar outfit was altered by the addition of Types 272, 282, 284 and 285. April 1944 lists show only eight 20&nbsp;mm.

[[File:HMS Birmingham convoy.jpg|thumb|The cruisers {{HMS|Edinburgh|16|2}}, ''Hermione'', and ''Euryalus'', steaming in line abreast whilst they escort a convoy (not visible) as part of [[Operation Halberd]] to resupply Malta]]
{{HMS|Euryalus|42|2}} completed with her designed armament. In September 1941 the .5-inch machine guns were landed and five single 20&nbsp;mm fitted. Two more were added by September 1942. By mid-1943 two 20 mm had been removed and four twin 20&nbsp;mm shipped. The type 279 radar was replaced by types 272, 281, 282 and 285. In a long refit from October 1943 to July 1944, C turret was replaced by a quadruple 2-pounder pom-pom and two twin 20&nbsp;mm were fitted. Radar 271 and 272 were removed and types 279b, 277 and 293 fitted.

''Hermione'' was also completed as a five-turret ship. She had the .5-inch MGs removed in October–November 1941 and received five 20&nbsp;mm.

{{HMS|Sirius|82|2}} was completed with five turrets and five 20&nbsp;mm. She had received two more 20&nbsp;mm by mid-1943. One of these was landed at [[Massawa]] at the end of 1943 and two 40&nbsp;mm Bofors Mk III were fitted.{{efn|in [[Italian East Africa]] captured during the [[East African campaign (World War II)|East African campaign]]}} She is listed as having only seven 20&nbsp;mm as light AA in April 1944. By April 1945 she had two Mk III 40&nbsp;mm fitted and had landed two 20&nbsp;mm.

{{HMS|Cleopatra|33|2}} was completed with two 2-pounder pom-poms in 1942 in lieu of the .5-inch machine guns but these were removed in the middle of the year and replaced by five 20&nbsp;mm. A sixth 20&nbsp;mm was added in mid-1943. During repairs between November 1943 and November 1944, Q turret was removed, as were two quadruple 2-pounder pom-poms and five 20&nbsp;mm. Three quadruple 40&nbsp;mm Bofors and six twin 20&nbsp;mm were fitted and there were four single 20 mm. In 1951 the American quadruple Bofors and Oerlikons were replaced by three twin MK 5 Bofors and eight single Mk 7.

{{HMS|Argonaut|61|2}} was completed with four 20&nbsp;mm in lieu of the .5-inch machine guns. She had Q turret removed during repairs in 1943/44, and lost the four 20&nbsp;mm. She received a quadruple 2-pounder pom-pom in lieu of the 5.25-inch and had five twin 20&nbsp;mm fitted. By April 1944 her light AA comprised three quadruple 2-pounder pom-poms, six twin power-operated 20&nbsp;mm and five singles. By the end of the war with [[Japan]] she had received five 40&nbsp;mm Bofors and three 40&nbsp;mm Bofors Mk III.

{{HMS|Scylla|98|2}} was completed with four twin 4.5-inch Mk III in UD MK III mountings because of a shortage of 5.25-inch mountings. The forward superstructure was considerably modified to accommodate these and also to increase crew spaces. Her light AA on completion was eight single 20&nbsp;mm. Six twin power-operated 20&nbsp;mm were added at the end of 1943.

{{HMS|Charybdis|88|2}} was also completed with four twin 4.5-inch and had a 4-inch Mk V forward of X mounting. Her light AA at completion was four 20&nbsp;mm and two single 2-pounder pom-poms. The 4-inch star shell gun and two of the single 2-pounder pom-poms were removed and replaced by two twin and two single 20&nbsp;mm, probably in 1943.

===''Bellona''s===
[[File:Bellona (cruiser)- SLV H91.250-1391.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Bellona|63|2}} of the ''Bellona'' subclass]]
{{HMS|Spartan|95|2}} received no alterations as far as is known. ''Royalist'' was converted to an [[escort carrier]] squadron flagship immediately on completion, when an extra two twin 20&nbsp;mm were fitted as well as four single 20&nbsp;mm. She was the only ship to receive an extensive postwar modernisation ordered for service in the RN but was later loaned to [[New Zealand]]. Plans were drawn up to fully modernise the four improved ''Dido''s with either four twin 3-inch L70 guns or 4.5-inch Mark 6 gun turrets. However that would have required building new broad-beamed ''Dido''s because the magazines of the ''Royalist'' type could hold  only enough 3 -inch ammunition for 3 minutes 20 seconds of continuous firing.<ref name=m9/> The refit of ''Royalist'' was shortened and ''Diadem'''s was abandoned because the new steam turbines needed were unaffordable. ''Royalist''′s reconstruction, like that of ''Newfoundland'', incorporated much of the RN's late 1940s and early 1950s view of a desirable cruiser. ''Royalist''′s  5.25-inch armament was given some of the improvements of the final 5.25 inch mounts built for the battleship ''Vanguard'' but not the extra space or power ramming. Also added was a secondary armament of three STAAG automatic twin 40mm guns, new Type 293 and 960M radar and Type 275 (two sets) DP fire control for the 5.25 guns, and a [[lattice mast]]. {{efn|''Royalist'' was loaned to the RNZN in 1956, in exchange for ''Bellona''}}

''Bellona''  had four single 20&nbsp;mm added by April 1944 and received an extra eight single 20&nbsp;mm by April 1945. When she was loaned to the RNZN after the war, the twin Oerlikons were replaced by six single 40mm in the RNZN's own electric powered mount. ''Bellona'' was never fitted with six standard tachymetric directors which were requested by the RNZN for controlling the Bofors. The quadruple pom pom mounts were mothballed by RNZN for manning reasons but the single Oerlikons were maintained on ''Bellona''.

''Black Prince'' and {{HMS|Diadem|84|2}} also received eight single 20&nbsp;mm, and had a further two twin 20&nbsp;mm by early 1945.