Hms Dido: The End of an Era

By HMS Dido Association

The complete and concise history of a ship that served through World War II and became known as the Luckiest Ship in the Fleet as she was damaged only once by enemy action. The people of Bolton, a town in the north of England, collected 1.2m in one week of 1937, known as Warship Week. This was donated for the completion of HMS Dido. During her service, she gained battle honours at Crete, Sirte, Anzio, Salerno, South of France, Sicily and the Malta convoys. At the end of the war, not only did she fire the last shot of the war, but was also instrumental in accepting the surrender of the German Navy at Copenhagen in 1945. She carried the late queen mother to the Isle of Man, represented the Royal Navy at the funeral of King Christian of Denmark. Finally, she was the flagship of the reserve fleet at Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation revue of 1953.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Oct 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496992000

HMS Dido Association

Tom Ashton, the author, spent over twenty years researching and interviewing crewmembers of HMS Dido. At the first reunion of the HMS Dido Association, the association formed for crewmembers of both the cruiser and the frigate, Tom passed the research material on to Colin Bates, the founder of the association. The story of Dido is a unique and interesting story. The first Dido served in the Royal Navy in 1784. There have been a further six Didos, albeit one laid down in 1861 was cancelled two years later before launching. The last being sold to the New Zealand Navy in 1983 and being renamed HMNZS Southland. Each Dido made her own mark on history. From Captain Henry Keppel for the suppresion of piracy in Borneo, to accompanying Queen Elizabeth II in 1973 for the opening of Sydney Opera House.

Book preview

AuthorHouse™ UK

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403 USA

www.authorhouse.co.uk

Phone: [phone]

© 2014 HMS Dido Association. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/21/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9197-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9198-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9200-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Cruiser Design And Armanent

Description And Details Of Dido

Construction At Cammell Laird

September 1940

Commissioning

The Ship’s Company

October 1940

Working Up At Scapa Flow Storm Damage

Home Fleet – October 1940

November 1940

A Voyage To West Africa

December 1940

Return Home – Repairs At Wallsend

January 1941

Continuation Of Repairs And Refit

February 1941

Back With The Home Fleet

March 1941

Convoy Duty And Storm Damage

April 1941

Aa Guardship For Convoys

To The Mediterranean

May 1941

Convoy Escort To Malta And Back

The Battle Of Crete Greek Gold

Flag Of Rad Hoisted

Preparations To Counter Seaborne Invasion Of Crete

Attack On Invasion Convoy

Hereward

Janus

Further Sweep Off Crete Formidable Badly Hit

The Evacuation Of Crete

Crete – The Aftermath

June 1941

Capture Of Assab

Passage To Mombasa

July 1941

Durban – Simonstown – St Helena – Trinidad

August 1941

New York – The Brooklyn Navy Yard

September – October – November

December 1941

Return To The Mediterranean

January 1942

Naval Situation In The Eastern Mediteranean

Convoys To Malta

February 1942

8Th Army In Retreat A Spell In Harbour

Failure To Resupply Malta

Reorganisation Of The Destroyer Flotillas

March 1942

Loss Of The Flagship Naiad

Bombardment Of Rhodes

The Battle Of Sirte

Shore Leave In Alexandria

April 1942

A Peaceful Month In Harbour

May 1942

Another Peaceful Month At Alexandria

June 1942

Operation Vigourous – Malta Convoy

Daylight- Approach Of Italian Fleet

The Convoy Retreats Under Continous Attack

Evacuation Of Alexandria – Sinking Of Medway

July 1942

Life At Port Said

Bombardment Of Mersa Matruh

August 1942

Haifa Dummy Convoy To Malta

Massawa For Repairs

September 1942

Port Said. Haifa Bombardment Of El Daba Suez

October 1942

Haifa Exercises At Sea Captain Terry Assumes Command

November 1942

Suez – Port Said – Back To Alexandria

Operation Stoneage Successful Convoy To Malta

Return To Malta As Force K

December 1942

Escort For The Last Time For A Malta Convoy

To Bone, Algeria And Force Q

Life At Bone

January 1943

Brief Visit To Gibraltar

Air Raids At Bone

Algiers

February 1943

Algiers-Bone

March 1943

April 1943

Wartime Harbour Routine

Last Visit To Bone For A While

Home To England

May 1943

Refit At Cammell Laird

June 1943

Scapa Flow For Exercises – Return To Mediterranean

July 1943

The Invasion Of Sicily

August 1943

Night Bombardments And Shipping Strikes

September 1943

1St Airborne Division Landed At Taranto – Loss Of Abdeil

Operation Avalanche – Landing At Salerno

October 1943

Disaster In The Aegean. Dido Damaged In Collision

November 1943

Repairs In Alexandria, Pendant Of Cs12 Hoisted

December 1943

Malta - Algiers – Gibraltar – Taranto

January 1944

Taranto – Malta – Exercises At Sea

Operation Shingle – Bombardment Of Civitavecchie – Landing At Anzio

Bombardments Of Terracina And Formia

Sinking Of Spartan

February 1944

Bombardments Off Anzio And In Gulf Of Gaeta

Shore Leave In Naples

Collision Again – Loss Of Penelope

March 1944

Repairs In Malta Dockyard

April 1944

Some Changes Aboard

Return To Naples – Hoist Flag Of Cs15

May 1944

Final Assault On Gustav Line Breakout From Anzio

June 1944

An Uneventful Month

July 1944

Squadron Back To Full Strength Royal Review Of Naples

August 1944

Operation Dragoon

Bombardments Off Cap Negre

September 1944

Return To The United Kingdom

October 1944

Home Fleet – 10Th Cruiser Squadron

A Convoy To North Russia

Convoy J. W 61 Composition Of Forces

The Voyage To North Russia

The Kola Inlet

November 1944

Convoy R.a.61, The Return Journey

A New Captain Takes Over

German Withdrawal From Northern Norway

Operation Provident

December 1944

Christmas Leave From Rosyth

January 1945

Composition Of The Home Fleet

Operation Spellbinder

Operation Gratis

Operation Charlton

February 1945

Operation Kitchen

Operation Selenium I

Opeartion Selenium Ii

Operations Shred And Groundsheet

March 1945

Fleet Exercises Off Scapa Flow

Operation Prefix

Operation Muscular

April 1945

Another Trip To North Russia Becomes Necessary

Opeartion Trammel

Review Of Service In The Home Fleet

May 1945

To Copenhagen

Copnehagen – The Social Aspect

Visit By Field Marshal Montgomery

Disarmament Of German Ships Mine Clearance

Inspection Of Disarmed German Cruisers

Departure From Copenhagen With German Cruisers

July 1945

Royal Visit To The Isle Of Man

On Stand-By For Further Royal Duties Bolton

August 1945

Gun Calibration End Of World War Ii

September 1945

Peace Time Routine

Royal Visit To The Fleet

October 1945

Chatham – Dido’s Home Port

November 1945

Temporary Squadron Flagship At Rosyth And Portland

December 1945

Portland – Harbour Routine

January 1946

Winter Time At Portland

February 1946

Exercises Off Portland – Cs 10 Strikes Flag

Sudden Reduction Into Reserve – The Reasons

March To August 1946

In Reserve And Refit At Chatham Dockyard

September 1946

Delay Before Rejoining Fleet

October 1946

To Portland To Rejoin The Home Fleet

November 1946

Fleet Exercises In The Irish Sea And Channel

Sabotage Of Main Engines

More Exercises And A Visit To Plymouth

December 1946

To Chatham For Leave And Repairs

January 1947

Return To Portland. Long G Course Firings

February 1947

Royal Family Leave Fo South Africa

Exercises On Passage To Gibraltar

Hit By Starshell- Casablanca

Gibraltar And Much Ceremony

March 1947

Oporto – A Memorable Visit

Exercise On Passage Back To Portland

Turning Trials – Easter Leave At Chatham

April 1947

Refit - Funeral Of King Christian Of Denmark

May 1947

Return To Portsmouth Ship Target Firing Trials

Composition Of Fleet Pulling Regatta

June 1947

Beginning Of Summer Cruise Guernsey

Haugesund

Frederikshaven

Stockholm

Passage To Rosyth The Fleet Rejoined

July 1947

Nairn - Loch Ewe

Royal Review Of The Fleet In The Clyde

Fleet Exercises Off Ireland

August 1947

Refit, Docking And Leave At Chatham

September 1947

Return To The Home Fleet At Portland

October 1947

Admiral’s Inspection Of Ships

Bombshell Hits The Fleet

November & December 1947

To The Gareloch And Into Reserve

1948

January – Feburary

March To May

Post War Decline Of The Cruiser

1949 – 1950

Laid Up In The Gareloch

1951

Resrve Fleet Flagship Group In Portsmouth

1952

1953 - 1959

1953

Coronation Review

1954 – 1955

Declining Years In Reserve

End Of The Dido Class

Statistics

The Frigate Hms Dido F104

Awards

FOREWORD

Over the past 30 years or so, I have been researching into all ships to be named DIDO. During that time I have had the privilege of meeting some extraordinary people- Lady McCall who kindly loaned to me personal papers of her husband Admiral Sir Henry McCall, Vice Admiral Sir Robert & Lady Elkins provided personal information by way of papers, photographs and recordings - As did Cdr. G… Tilney and Schoolmaster, commissioned Warrant Officer C. A. Sinfield.

Numerous one to one interviews were carried out with crew members - to which I remain most grateful. The service provided by the Records Office at Kew, The National Maritime Museum and the Imperial War Museum were second to none.

My great fortune was to meet with Alex (Sandy) Cavendish, who since serving on the cruiser HMS DIDO from April 1942 to June 1944- retained a great affection for the ship and was also carrying out meticulous research into the ship’s history.

We soon became friends and shared research- Alex sadly died in 1996 -

I acknowledge that Alex was by far the major contributor to this comprehensive record of one of the Royal Navy’s finest ships and I am proud to dedicate this publication to his memory.

Lt. Cdr. Alexander Arbuthnott Cavendish D. S. C, RN

24.04.1914 to 11.09.1996

___________________________________________

The research papers were handed to Colin Bates of the HMS DIDO Association and it is to his credit that publication has now taken place.

Tom Ashton 2012

Lord, a word about boats,

A splendid thought of yours,

To show man that things float,

That water can be a friend, a wide road.

‘Noah’, you said ‘here are the details, go ahead.’

And an old man. Far far inland,

Surrounded by neighbours who

Though him mad, made an Ark.

Seaworthy enough to give your world a fresh start.

A million different kinds of boat since,

From a tar-pitched coracle to Queens,

From Sheba’s barque to hovercraft.

A mid-lake dinghy for a man and his rod,

Or a leviathan holding a sea of oil.

Boats there were of a soaring many-sailed beauty

Who knew of Trade Winds and Spice Isles.

And now exist the Killing Boats

All grey, a bristle with electronic marvel

That can hear and search out from far far off

And utterly destroy- to atoms,

Or be likewise treated.

If lately Lord, it is in your mind

That we have strayed somewhat from the Ark,

And gentle animals two by two,

And the cleansing rain,

And the dove of your forgiveness,

Lately Lord, we have had the same thought.

This poem was specially written for this book

by David Kossoff -Actor (film & stage) & Author

The%20author%2c%20Tom%20Ashton%20and%20David%20Kosoff.jpg

The author, Tom Ashton and David Kosoff

CRUISER DESIGN AND ARMANENT

At the Washington Naval Conference in 1922, cruisers were limited to a maximum displacement of 10,000 tons and guns of 8 inch calibre, but not all were built to these limits and many made use of 6 inch or less gun armaments.

By the time World War II began, 13 County class of 10,000 tons equipped with eight 8 inch guns as well as two of 8,400 tons with six 8 inch guns had been completed and three types with 6 inch gun armaments, 28 in all, were in service or under construction.

The largest, of 10,000 tons, carried twelve 6 inch guns in triple turrets while the smaller types of the Leander and Arethusa classes were equipped with eight and six 6 inch guns respectively.

For anti-aircraft purposes all vessels carried twin 4 inch High Angle (HA) guns for long range fire and, for close range, four barrel 2 pounder Pom Poms and four barrel 0.5 inch machine guns. But, in 1935, at the time of the Abyssinian crisis, the menace of air attacks urgently indicated the need of a dual purpose small cruiser of about 5,000 tons to work with the fleet for surface and air protection rather than out on the trade routes, one of a cruiser’s primary roles. So a 5.25 inch High Angle/Low Angle (HA/LA) dual purpose gun in a twin turret was developed and in 1937, five ships to carry it were ordered under the 1936 Naval Construction programme. They were BONAVENTURE, NAIAD, PHOEBE, DIDO EURYALUS and they were given the class name of DIDO.

The 1937 programme saw HERMIONE and SIRIUS ordered, followed by CLEOPATRA, SCYLLA and CHARYBDIS in 1938. With war clouds gathering and the eventual outbreak of war in 1939, a further six ships were ordered: ARGONAUT, SPARTAN, ROYALIST, BLACK PRINCE, BELLONA and DIADEM. Unfortunately, a problem arose with the 5.25 inch turret, which had also been ordered for the new 14 inch gun battleships of the King George V class. The rate of production was insufficient to fully equip both the battleships and cruisers, so the former were given priority. Consequently of the first four ships completed in 1940, only NAIAD had 5 turrets, the other three having only 4 each. In place of Q turret, the one just before the bridge, DIDO and PHOEBE had a single 4 inch starshell gun, while BONAVENTURE had hers in place of X turret, the foremost of the two turrets at the stern of the ship. SCYLLA and CHARYBDIS ended up by never being fitted with 5.25 inch turrets at all but had instead four twin 4.5 inch HA/LA guns in open mountings. SPARTAN, ROYALIST, LACK PRINCE, BELLONA and DIADEM, the last ships to be laid down, were considerably modified from the earlier vessels and had only four turrets, which gave a much lower profile and their funnels were vertical instead of raked.

As the war progressed more effective close range AA weapons were introduced to replace the outdated 2 pound Pom Poms and 0.5 inch machine guns. The latter were totally ineffective and were replaced by the excellent 20mm Oerlikon in either single or twin mounting. However, the equally efficient 40mm Bofors remained in short supply and few were ever fitted in the Dido’s, not even after the war. Unfortunately little could be done to improve or replace the High Angle Control System (HACS) using a director control tower and calculating equipment below decks in the Transmitting Station (TS). This had been designed years before the outbreak of war under the assumption that air attack would be in the form of high level bombing with aircraft flying on a steady course and height, leaving the Pom Poms and machine guns to counter diving aircraft at close range. The 5.25 inch gun was also slower in rate of fire and tracking fast-moving aircraft than the 4.5 inch and 4 inch HA weapons and downed very few aircraft in comparison with the latter, but the dramatic effect of these large guns, belching and thundering out salvos and broadsides into the skies overhead, helped boost a ship’s company’s morale during air attacks and also could well have proved something of a deterrent to the men in the attacking aircraft confronted by the bursts.

The HACS was also designed to be used with a time fused HE shell, which was exploded by the fuse at the estimated time of contact with the aircraft, predicted by the ineffective barrage fire in connection with it produced some slight improvement as did the Variable Time (VT) fuse, which exploded the shell provided it passed close enough to an aircraft to trigger a radar device in the fuse.

DESCRIPTION AND DETAILS OF DIDO

The hull was based on that of the existing 6 inch gun Arethusa class and was 512 feet overall in length with a beam of 50 feet 6 inches. When fully loaded at deep load, her displacement was 7,013 tons against a designed standard of 5,450 tons and a full load of 6,700 tons. With the addition of Q turret in late 1941 and radar and other equipment, this had gone up to 7,420 tons by the end of hostilities.

Two boiler rooms, in tandem with an engine room and each with 3 drum boilers connected to Parsons geared steam turbines, drove four propellers at 62,000 shaft horsepower giving a designed speed of 32 ½ knots at standard and 30 ½ knots at full load displacement.

In practice 30 to 30 ½ knots at full load was achieved only when fresh out of dock with a clean bottom, and by the end of six months, without docking, dropped to about 29 ½ knots.

Oil fuel capacity was 1,100 tons and the steaming radius was approximately:

4,400 miles at 12 knots

3,480 miles at 20 knots

2,440 miles at 25 knots

1,500 miles at 30 knots

For protection a main armour belt of 3 inches plate covered the machinery spaces with 1 inch transverse bulkheads and a 1 inch deck. An armoured platform deck extended forward and aft from this citadel and was 2 inches thick over the forward and after magazines but thinned to 1 inch over the spaces between the forward magazine and forward boiler room.

Reinforcing this armoured deck was a narrow waterline strake of ¾ inch side plating, while 1-1 ½ inch longitudinal bulkheads were placed inboard abreast of the magazines.

The turrets were protected by 1-1 ½ inch plate and were mounted on ½ - ¾ inch barbettes. Bullet-proof plating was applied to the fore end of the bridge and aft at the stern 1 inch side and deck armour enclosed the steering gear.

A low Angle Director Control Tower (DCT) at the rear of the bridge with a High Angle (HA) Director behind it and a combined HA/LA Director aft were linked to LA and HA fire control tables in the Transmitting Station (TS) well below waterline below the bridge. The twin 5.25 inch guns in the turrets were capable of an elevation of 80 degrees and were supplied from a combined Shell Room and Magazine. The shells were either High Explosive (HE) or Semi-Armour Piercing (SAP), weighing 80 lbs each and could be fired out to a range of 23,400 yards at 45 degrees elevation or a height of 29,544 feet at 80 degrees elevation. Besides the 5.25 inch armament, there were two quadruple 2 pound Pom Poms and two quadruple 0.5 inch machine guns and a pair of triple 21 inch torpedo tubes. With her raked funnels she had a swift and lithe appearance like a very large destroyer and at high speed or when heeling over under hard rudder she was in every way a lovely sight to any viewer.

Below is a comparison between DIDO and other contemporary cruisers in navies of the same era:

CONSTRUCTION AT CAMMELL LAIRD

The ship’s keel plate was laid down on a launching slipway at Cammell Laird’s shipyard in Birkenhead on 20th October 1937; following that of NAIAD on 26th August at Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn on Tyne; BONAVENTURE on 30th August at Scott’s in Greenock; PHOEBE on 2nd September at Fairfield’s, Govan; HERMIONE at Stephen’s, Linthouse on 6th October and one day before Euryalus which was laid down at Chatham dockyard on 21st October 1937. The others of the class, SIRIUS, CLEOPATRA and ARGONAUT did not have their keel plates laid until 1938 and 1939.

Cammell Laird had built two of Britain’s best known ships in the fleet existing at the beginning of the war; the battleship RODNEY and the aircraft carrier ARK ROYAL, whose name was to become famed in the earlier part of the war. Also rising up from a nearby slipway to DIDO were the sides of the hull of the great new battleship PRINCE OF WALS of the King George V class.

It was almost a year, by which time the hull was beginning to take shape, before the first naval officer was appointed to the ship. He was Commissioned Gunner (T) S C Gregory who joined on 8th September 1938, followed by Gunner C F H Andrews on 29th November 1938 and the Chief Engineer, Engineer Commander S J Armstrong on 24th January 1939.

Ships, whether being built at one of the three Admiralty dockyards, Chatham, Devonport or Portsmouth, or at a private yard such as Cammell Laird came under the aegis of The Admiral Superintendent Contract Built Ships, which comprised a vast organisation. The Department of Naval Construction had two overseers; Civilian Naval Constructors H S Peake and D W Smithers at Cammell Laird and retired Engineer Captain H B Tostevin DSO and 1 typist. Representatives of the departments of Naval Ordnance, Armament Supply, Electrical Engineering and many others were also frequently on the site.

All of these individuals and the gradually growing number of officers and key ratings worked in conjunction with the shipyard’s management and workers, making use of space in Cammel Laird’s buildings at the shipyard. Officers especially had to become accustomed to the ways of the Navy being vastly different to those of civilians, in particular the negative trade union attitude of workers such as lines of demarcation between one job and another.

Another important specialist joined on 31st January 1939, Warrant Shipwright J H Glanville, and he and the other three officers, previously appointed, were present when, on 18th July 1939, the ship was launched by Lady Laird, wife of a prominent shipyard owner, almost one year and nine months after the first keel plate had been laid.

War clouds were already looming in Europe but a large number of men who were building her as well as some invited spectators were there as the ship glided down the slipway then moved by tugs to lie alongside in a large fitting out basin in the shipyard, still only a hull with part of the bridge superstructure completed.

On the opposite side of the basin lay the hull of the new battleship PRINCE OF WALES which had been laid down on 1st January 1937, launched on 3rd May 1939, 2 ½ months before DIDO and completed on 31st March 1940, 6 months ahead of DIDO, which gives an indication of the priority given to the battleships to counter the threat of the new German battleship BISMARCK.

Lieutenant (E) A W M Collyer joined on 24th July 1939 as Senior Engineer, second to Commander Armstrong, followed by Lieutenant Commander J Spencer on 21st September as Torpedo Officer, As yet, his main concern was not torpedoes, which would not be installed until a very much later date, but to supervise in conjunction with Mr Gregory the very complicated electrical equipment and systems which were being installed.

War against Germany was declared on 3rd September 1939 but it was to be some months before the anticipated heavy air raids by the Luftwaffe began, so work in the yard continued without interruption. The main machinery – turbines, boilers, generators – all were installed, making use of the dockyard cranes, and a check by the specialist officers had to be kept on the flow of A and As (Alteration and Additions), issued weekly by the Admiralty to see that they were complied with, if applicable to DIDO.

The 15th November saw the appointment of another important officer, Commander H G Dickinson, an ex-Gunnery specialist, the sip commissioned. Another, on 14th December, was Lieutenant (E) W R Harding, who was to take over later, in early 1941, as Senior from Collyer when the latter was promoted and took over another appointment.

By the beginning of 1940, although the machinery, decks and armour were all in place, externally the ship still looked like a hull with no funnels, masts or turrets and this was her state when Lieutenant Commander C C Suther joined as Gunnery Officer, on 1st January, followed two days later by Warrant Mechanician T E Meopham and a little afterwards, Mr W F Cooper, the Dagger Gunner; the highly trained technical and practical expert who was the right hand of any Gunnery Officer.

Paymaster Commander F S Muller was appointed on 1st April 1940, Temporary Lieutenant R.N.V.R, A R Rye, another Electrical specialist and Torpedo officer on 29th May and the first Wavy Navy reservist and non-regular officer to join the ship.

The Navigating Officer, Lieutenant P E Muers, joined in June as did three other engineers, Lieutenant (E) W T Barnard, R.N.V.R officer, Temporary Sub Lieutenant (E) L R Vandome on the 27th of the month.

By now the ship had appeared in almost her final shape, complete with bridge, funnels, masts and turrets and July saw arrival of two Supply and Secretariat officers to assist Commander Muller, Paymaster a P W B Clarke on the 10th to be in charge of Stores and Supplies and Paymaster Midshipman A W Gossage on the 15th for secretarial work. Finally the last officers to arrive before commissioning in the engineering branch were Sub Lieutenant (E) R Young who arrived on the 9th July ND IN August Lieutenant J P G Brooks and Schoolmaster commissioned Warrant Officer C A Sinfield.

By now there were 22 officers and a large number of ratings in the Advance Party, as it was called, appointed to the ship, and whose numbers increased gradually as and when particular tasks were required. For example, in August and September, while the Battle of Britain was as its height over Southern England, the German Luftwaffe had begun a few night raids around the country and some of these were in the Liverpool area. One of their targets was PRINCE OF WALES and a near miss flooded one of her below waterline compartments. The manhole covers connecting to the next and several other compartments were not yet on and as a result several became flooded and the ship settled on the bottom with quite a list. This was shortly after DIDO had received some divers in her Advance Party and they were sent over to help locate the damage and generally help in the salvage work.

It should not be thought that the early arrivals appointed to the ship were all technical officers, many of them warrant officers, who had risen up through the ranks from Lower Deck. There were numerous Artificers; Engine room, Electrical and Ordnance as well as skilled Artisans, such as Shipwrights and Carpenters, also working abroad by the early months of the year. The Gunnery Officer had his full ratio of ordnance Artificers before the turrets had been installed and was able to send all of them to Vickers so they were able to be fully acquainted with the, as yet, quite novel 5.25 inch mounting and turret; to prove of invaluable value once the ship was at sea and in commission.

All that now remained before the commissioning pendant was hoisted as the mainmast was the arrival of a Commanding Dangerfield on 8th July 1940. A Signals and W/T specialist, he had recently completed 2 years of shore service in the office of the Admiral Commanding Reserves, prior to which, as a Commander, he had been in command of the destroyer BASILISK.

Shortly before commissioning, the ship was to receive the first of what would be several Royal visits. King George and Queen Elizabeth were making a tour of Cammell Laird’s, so a Seamen’s Guard of Honour was quickly produced from the Advance Party, since, as yet, there were insufficient Royal Marines on board to form one. The King, being an ex-sailor, wished to have a fairly extensive look around this new type of cruiser, and to go into areas inaccessible to a lady like the Queen, who found herself standing on the still very dirty wooden quarterdeck with Commander Dickinson. With her, now so well known, charm and vivacity she chatted away and showed that she was well acquainted with naval cleaning ship routine as she pointed to the deck and commented on the headache it would give the Commander in bringing it to an acceptable state by Naval standards.

Captain Dangerfield was never to take DIDO to sea, because of illness, and unfortunately died on 3rd January 1941 but this was not to be the ship’s loss as his successor was Captain H. W. V. McCall commonly known as Jock. He was to take over on 22nd September at short notice, instead of going to the elderly D class cruiser DUNEDIN. A non-specialist or salt horse, he had spent much of his time in destroyers and, as a Commander, was in the destroyer ACHATES in the Mediterranean in the early 1930s. Afterwards he was the Commander and Executive Officer at Chatham Barracks, from which post he had been promoted to Captain on 30th June 1937. His first appointment in his new rank was as Naval Attaché in Buenos Aires, covering Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela and he played an important role when the GRAF SPEE took refuge in Montevideo after the River Plate battle in handling both men and ships. Tall, well built, with ruddy aquiline features and black hair, a cooler or more inspiring Captain could not have been found to take the ship through what were to be the most hazardous two years in her wartime Malta Convoys and Battle of Sirte in 1942. To some, he may have been seemingly a little Olympian, distant and aloof but this is an aspect probably preferable than a leader who tries to be too much one of the boys.

SEPTEMBER 1940

COMMISSIONING

The final inspection by the Admiral Contract Built Ships’ department took place at 0930 on Tuesday 10th September and at 1030 the ship was handed over and commissioned as a ship of the Royal Navy.

Being wartime and at the height of the Battle of Britain with prospects of invasion imminent, there was no ceremony with guard and band and only the advance party of Officers and ratings were aboard, as the still was piped by the quartermaster and the Union flag and White Ensign raised on their staffs and the narrow commissioning pennant hoisted to the head of the mainmast.

The hands were occupied in the afternoon in embarking canteen stores, 0.5 inch ammunition and officers’ baggage and it was not until 1745 that the main draft of ratings marched up alongside, having come up by train from Chatham barracks. After being issued their station cards and mess numbers under the supervision of the Master at Arms and Regulating Petty Officers, they then boarded the ship with their hammocks, kit bags and personal gear and found their way to their messes below decks and later had their first meal onboard.

The weather had been perfect for the first day of the commission and was to remain so for most of the next two weeks with at worst a little cloudy weather but almost no wind and temperatures from the mid-fifties to the mid-sixties.

Next day was spent in cleaning and storing ship, getting to know the surroundings and in the afternoon all hands being mustered and detailed for their Action Stations. The working day usually ending at 1600, leave was also given to one of the two watches until 0700 on the following morning, since once with the Home Fleet; prospects of all night leave would be seldom and far between.

Getting everyone shaken down, acclimatised and efficient would be much simpler away from Cammel Laird’s, so at 0745 on the 12th, tugs moved the ship out of the basin and took her about a mile to the north into the Albert dock, one of the large basins on the western side of the Mersey between Birkenhead and New Brighton. There she stayed temporarily until tugs moved her again at 1030 further inland and to the west to the Bidston dock by Wallasey and at that time out in almost open fields. During the move there was an Air Raid Warning from 1041 to 1105, the first of many in the coming two weeks but luckily no attack came in the ship’s vicinity as the crew were quite untrained and the ship had no ammunition. However, the latter problem was soon rectified when the hands fell in to commence ammunitioning at 1250 and were to continue during working hours through the next day until 18:15 in the last dog-watch.

It was necessary to darken ship each evening by 2000 and there were frequent air raid warnings throughout the night from 2040 to 2125, 2215 to 0250, 0320 to 0407 and 0430 to 0445, but the hands were still untrained and it was a cloudy overcast sky and the ship itself was not threatened.

The 14th was a Saturday but the ammunitioning had still not been completed so, although it was a customary make and mend day, at least in peacetime, the hands were set to and continued at 0755 and again at 1315 and it was finally completed before darkness fell. Clouds and rain that night produced no problems when the sirens sounded at 2025 and were quickly followed by the All Clear at 2130 and the remained of the night was undisturbed.

The rain had eased when Sunday morning, 15th September, arrived and so the first Divisions of the commission were held at 0950 followed by Church in the Recreation Space at 1025. There were more air raid warnings that night and then on Monday morning at 0845 and again at 1315, the hands began their first Gunnery and Torpedo training, starting with basics such as communication drill between directors, turrets and the Transmitting Station (TS). This was to continue through Tuesday and Wednesday and it was not until the afternoon on the latter day that the crews began to operate their turrets.

Intermittent air raid warnings continued without any hampering effect and other necessary drills such as lowering one of the whalers to give the seaboat crews some practice as well as rigging the starboard accommodation ladder on the quarterdeck were also carried out. Other small but essential tasks such as using the Duty part of the watch to embark frozen meat at 1600 on Monday, the 16th, were also necessary.

The powerboat’s crews were exercised in the basin in the afternoon on Thursday, 19th September, and the torpedoes embarked at 1600, while some of the Contract Built ships staff made a further inspection in the morning but it was not until 09:00 on Friday, the 20th, that the whole ship’s company closed up at General Quarters and practised Action Stations drill.

The weather still continued fine and gunnery drills continued on Saturday, the 21st, during the forenoon and next day proper Sunday Divisions followed by the traditional church on the quarterdeck took place but this didn’t prevent the HA/LA Control parties being piped to drill at 1030 after Pipe down had been called.

With the new week beginning on Monday, the 23rd, there were signs that everyone was beginning to know their job but after cleaning ship at 0755, gunnery drills continued at 0845 and 1315 and the duty part were employed in bringing Naval stores during the dog watches.

Tuesday, 24th September, really saw the beginning of what would be the expected harbour routing of future days. Scrub decks at 0530 with hoses and brooms either with seaboots or rolled up trousers over bare feet as in days of old. Clean ship at 0845 and more gunnery training and warheads for the torpedoes hoisted in and also depth charges during the forenoon.

Captain McCall was now aboard and it was time to take the ship out to the river ready for sea trials on the following day. So at 1245, the ship was moved from the Bidston to the wall in the basin. At 1540, but now with steam up in the boilers, tugs moved her out of the basin and once out in the river, they were slipped at 1550 and for the first time the ship gently vibrated under her own power to anchor in the river, 13 minutes later in 8 fathoms.

A few minutes later, at 1625, the Air Raid sirens sounded, so the Pom Pom and Machine guns crews closed up but nothing happened and the All Clear sounded half an hour later. It was to be an early start next morning so there was no leave and at 1820 the motor cutter was hoisted inboard and everything was set to go.

Anchor was weighed at 0750 on 25th September and by 0800 the ship was steaming at 15 knots out of the river. Action Stations were exercised at 0815 and by 0915, the Bar Light Vessel was abeam to starboard. At 1030 while steaming down the south channel, paravanes were launched and after passing the Outer Float Light at 1126, the ship patrolled up and down a north/south line while zigzagging. Cruising stations for the armament were exercised and then for an hour from 1500 the engines were run at full power, reaching revolutions equivalent to a theoretical speed of 32 knots. After speed was reduced steering trials were begun at 1620 in the vicinity of the Bar Light Vessel until 1655, when the ship turned to move back into harbour. Tugs were secured at bow and stern at 1750 and she was taken back into the basin at Cammell Laird’s and by 1800 she was secure alongside. Altogether it had been a perfect day for the first time out at sea with very light winds and sea, temperatures in the high fifties and a blue sky with a few clouds.

Next day, the 26th, an oiler came alongside to refuel, the hands were set to at 0600 for the daily chore of clean ship and there were more gunnery drills in the forenoon and afternoon.

At dusk, the air raid sirens sounded yet again and the close range crews closed up, falling out at 2350 with the All Clear.

Friday, the 27th was to be the main day of trials and by 0625 the Gun trial party from D.N.O (Director of Naval Ordnance) and Experimental department from the Gunnery School at Whale Island in Portsmouth were aboard. The tugs came close by, hauled the ship off the dock wall, took her outside the basin and within 20 minutes, at 0733, they had been slipped and once again the ship was moving down the river out to sea at 15 knots.

The Bar Light Vessel was passed at 0835 and, as the ship moved down the South Channel once more at 20 knots, the first firing tests began with the Pom Poms and Machine guns.

Speed had been reduced briefly at 0840 to 10 knots to get out PV’s and then increased again at 0915 back to 20 knots and at 1020 firing tests of the 5.25 inch guns and the control system began, and it was not until 1455 before they were completed. Once again, as on the previous trip, the weather conditions had been perfect and the trials turned out to everyone’s satisfaction.

Before returning to harbour, some tripping trials on the cruising turbines were necessary and these began at 1600, after which, at 1730, the paravanes were recovered. At 1737, the Bar Light Vessel was passed once again, speed reduced to 15 knots, the tugs secured fore and aft as before at 1840 and by 1920 the ship was back once again in Cammell Laird’s basin.

The torpedo party were busy on Saturday, the 28th, getting the warheads fitter to the torpedoes and all night leave was once again given but the crew were now to get their first experience in Liverpool, at least, of what became known as the Blitz.

The Germans had eased up their daylight attacks on London on 24th August when they made an attack instead on Portsmouth. The two men in charge of the German air assault on England were Field Marshals Kesselring and Sperrle, the first with No 2 and the latter No 3 group of aircraft.

Sperrle had always been an advocate of night bombing and his aircraft had been responsible for the so far comparatively minor night attacks in the Liverpool area, but on 9th September, some 300 of his bombers had begun bombing London and continued to do so for 57 nights in succession, employing an average of 160 aircraft in each assault.

Those on Liverpool lasted for four successive nights, beginning on 28th September, but many of the bombers failed to find the Merseyside area, because of inadequate training and interference of their navigational beams by the defence. However the AA defences in the port area were still rudimentary, and, as far as DIDO was concerned, although the hands might be closed up at Action Stations, not a round could be fired since there was no means as yet of co-ordinating the ship’s armament with the shore defences and there were too many obstacles such as cranes nearby.

Luckily no bombs fell near the ship and next morning she was moved at 0900 to go across and enter dry dock for a final underwater inspection before leaving for final trials next day and then on to join the Home Fleet. Even though it was a Sunday, training had to be continued, so all the communication numbers in the TS, directors and turrets carried out a communication exercise under the direction of Mr Cooper, the Dagger gunner at his station in the TS and as the ship was leaving early next morning there was no leave on this, the ship’s final night at Birkenhead.

That night there was an especially heavy raid, on the second of Sperrle’s four night Blitz, but mainly on the Liverpool side of the river where the blaze from a sugar warehouse, which had been hit, could clearly be seen from the ship.

No bombs fell near DIDO but, as Captain McCall commented: - being aboard a man of war gave him a sense of security that had been entirely absent when he had been in London during an air raid just prior to joining DIDO. Perhaps it was absurd, because, instead of being menaced by falling brick or stone walls, he was standing on an open bridge on top of an armoured magazine.

Among the most important equipment fitted in the ship was Type 281 RDF for Radio Direction Finding as Radar was initially called; DIDO being the first ship in the Royal Navy to be fitted with this much improved and advanced long range air warning system.

At the outbreak of the war, operational radar was almost non-existent in the World’s navies and only two or three of the vessels in the Home Fleet were fitter with Types 79 or 279, both much inferior to Type 281.

RDF had first shown its effectiveness in the Battle of Britain and Type 281 was later to become the principal air search radar for cruisers and larger vessels. It was designed to a 1939 specification, not only for long range surveillance but also for gunnery with an accurate range panel.

Typical ranges were 88-115 miles on an aircraft at 16,000 feet; 38-50 at 3,000 feet; 22-28 at 1,000 feet and 7-9 miles at 100 feet.

Range accuracy was 100 yards between 14,000 and 28,000 yards and, with beam switching between the two aerials, one on the fore and the other on the mainmast, a bearing accuracy of 1 degree could be obtained; the foremost aerial being used for transmission and the one on the main for reception.

There were two pairs of range scales; a long range on of either 20 or 100 miles and a gunnery one, either up to 14,000 yards or 28,000 yards with respective accuracies of ¼ mile and 1 mile or, for the gunnery, 50 and 75 yards.

In the days to come in the Mediterranean, Type 281 was to prove of vital importance by giving advance warning of approaching aircraft in sufficient time to close up at Repel Aircraft or Action Stations, thus giving the crew some chance of a little rest.

Monday, the last day of September, arrived and at 0755, the hands began preparing for sea and by 0930, the tugs had moved the ship out of the now flooded dock, and, slipping them at 0940, she moved out to sea, again at 15 knots. Once the Bar Light Vessel had been passed and PV’s got out at 1100, speed was increased to 25 knots as she moved down the South Channel.

From 1215 to 1415 a Full Power Trial was carried out and revolutions of 338.9 to 340.6 rpm. were achieved. This was followed by Stopping and Starting trials and then the PV’s were brought in at 1510 and 5 minutes later astern trials began, followed between 1550 and 1555 with some steering ones.

This completed all the trials, so the ship moved back towards the Bar Light Vessel, which was reached at 1705, and the tender BISON came alongside to take off all the Admiralty and Cammell Laird officials and workmen.

It had again been another perfect and calm day and once the BISON had cast off, the ship ahead at 10 knots, got out the PV’s once again at 18:45 and after further turning trials, at 1855, a course was set of 300 degrees at 2005 for the Clyde.

43857.png

THE SHIP’S COMPANY

All H.M. ships were manned from one of the three Home ports – Chatham, Portsmouth (Pompey) or Devonport (Guz) and in peacetime crews generally expected to serve for a period of between two and two and half years whether at home or one a foreign station. This could not always be the case in wartime but most officers and men could expect to be aboard for a period of two years or more.

Chatham was DIDO’S manning port and in actual fact some of the men who commissioned her were still aboard five years later at the end of the war but this was at their own request. Knocker Payne, gunner’s yeoman and HA director layer, later to be awarded the DSM; Stroud, the Commander’s Writer; Leading Stoker Mollyher; Mumford, the Captain’s coxswain and producer of Mumford special in the hair cutting line. Also Petty Officer Brotchie, later mentioned in despatches, Captain of the Quarterdeck part of ship and Y turret. These were some but not all of those on the Lower Deck who served in DIDO throughout the war.

During the years of war, maybe not so much in the difficult immediate post-war reduction of the fleet, DIDO was what is known in the Navy as a Happy Ship by no means routine occurrence and there were few aboard who did not have an affection for her. Much of this can be attributed at the start of her career due to the outstanding example of leadership shown by Jock McCall and imparted by him down through the officers and chief and petty officers to the men under their commands.

She was also a lucky ship except for the bomb damage off Crete and often next in station to