White Ensign Models 1/700 HMS Dido 1942 Royal Navy Dido Class Cruiser Kit (K702)

White Ensign Models 1/700 HMS Dido 1942 Royal Navy Dido Class Cruiser Kit (K702) | Antics Online

Contact Mail Order Hotline on 01453 825381 or email to enquiries@antics.ltd.uk

Secure Ordering &
Free UK Delivery
for orders over £30.00 (more)

> White Ensign Models > 1/700th Scale Kits

White Ensign Models 1/700 HMS Dido 1942 Royal Navy Dido Class Cruiser Kit (K702)
H.M.S. Dido was in fact the sixth of the class of light cruisers that bore her name, launched on 18 July 1939, and completed in September 1940. The class was derived from the Arethusas, and was intended to boost the number of cruisers as quickly as possible. The ships were designed to mount 10 x 5.25" dual purpose guns in twin turrets , as used as secondary armament on the King George V class of battleships, but due to supply shortages, a number of the ships did not receive their full number of these guns before commissioning. Dido entered service with only four of the turrets fitted, mounting a 4" starshell gun in place of Q turret. Her fifth turret was eventually fitted during her refit in Brooklyn Naval Yard in late 1941. The ships proved to be an adequate compromise, excelling against neither surface nor airborne targets, but able to engage either with reasonable effectiveness. They handled well, almost destroyer like, but pitched heavily due to the weight of the three turrets forward. Some of the class had Q turret removed to save on the ever increasing topweight. Dido served with the Home Fleet 1940-41, then sailed for the Mediterranean. She was bombed off Crete in May 1941, resulting in her repairs and refit in Brooklyn. She returned to the Med, being involved in the sinking of three enemy supply ships off North Africa in December 1942, before rejoining the Home Fleet in 1944. The surrender of Copenhagen was taken by Dido in May 1945. She joined the Reserve Fleet in 1947, before being finally broken up at Barrow in 1958. Dido’s battle honours were as follows: Crete 1941, Sirte 1942, Mediterranean 1942-44, Malta Convoys 1942, Sicily 1943, Salerno 1943, Aegean 1943, Anzio 1944, South France 1944, Arctic 1944.

> White Ensign Models > 1/700th Scale Kits