BRITISH AND AMERICAN

ANTI-AIRCRAFT CRUISER HISTORY

Brief History Of The Anti-Aircraft Cruisers

Essentially, the development of the anti-aircraft cruiser began in the late 1920s and early
1930s when the Royal Navy re-armed several light cruiser of World War I vintage to provide
AA protection for the larger warships. These designs combined numerous light weapons on a
single hull with wide arcs of fire, but were notably deficient in gunnery direction, rate of fire,
and the ability to keep pace with capital ships under all sea conditions. The lessons of these
experiments were not lost on the Admiralty, but resulted in the construction of the Dido class
cruisers shortly before the beginning of the war.

In the Didos, the Royal Navy combined the sea keeping qualities and speed of a modern light
cruiser with the armament of several destroyers, the long barreled 5.25-inch naval rifles being
mounted in twin turrets, three forward and 2 aft, to give the greatest possible field of fire. In
addition, numerous light machine guns were mounted for close in supplemental fire support.
The main battery was controlled by duplicate fire control installations, which were intended to
allow continuous tracking of targets around the ship by only two control stations. Principle to
the success of these ships was their hull design – a fine lined hull with knuckled bow and
tapered stern, propelled by four shafts and designed to sustain 30 knots in all but the roughest
sea conditions (provided comfort of the crew was not taken into consideration).

The early months of the war provided a crucial testing ground for the first few Didos
completed, and deficiencies were immediately obvious, most notably in the ability of the ships
to deal with aircraft which broke through the main battery barrage – many more light AA guns
were needed as well as provisions for control of these weapons. As initial changes were made,
they were viewed with interest by the American Naval Mission to the Royal Navy. Initial
problems in armament and tactics were carefully noted and saved for application to the
Atlanta class AA cruisers under construction by the US Navy. Many changes were made in
the Atlanta design before the launching of the first hull, and still more alterations were
performed before the first ships went into active service.

Essentially the Atlantas were expansions of the basic Dido concept with some exceptions in size,
range, and propulsion equipment to meet the needs of a two ocean navy.


Royal Navy
Anti-AircraftCruisers
The Dido Class (1937-1959)

Name	Keel laid	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
HMS Argonaut		6 September 1941		Broken up 1955
HMS Bonaventure	19 April 1939			Sunk 31st March 1941
HMS Charybdis		17th September 1940		Sunk 23rd October 1943
HMS Cleopatra		27th March 1940		Broken up 1958
HMS Dido	20th October 1937	18th July 1939	30th September 1940	Broken up 16th July 1958
HMS Euryalus	21st October 1937	6th June 1939	30th June 1941	Broken up 18th July 1959
HMS Hermione		18th May 1939		Sunk 16th June 1942
HMS Naiad		3 February 1939	24 July 1940	Sunk 11 March 1942
HMS Phoebe		25th March 1939		Broken up 1956
HMS Scylla		24th July 1940		Broken up 1950
HMS Sirius		18th September 1940