HMS Charybdis (88) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

As a Dido-class cruiser, Charybdis was intended to fulfil a primarily anti-aircraft role and was designed with a primary armament of ten QF 5.25 inch guns. This gun had also been selected as the secondary armament for the King George V-class battleships also under construction at this time. Delays in the delivery of the turrets, prioritised for the battleships after the outbreak of the Second World War, resulted in several of the Dido class being fitted with different primary armament. Charybdis and another Dido-class cruiser, HMS Scylla, were armed with four twin QF 4.5 in Mk.III guns instead of the 5.25 inch guns. These 4.5 inch guns had originally been intended for the Danae-class cruisers as part of an upgrade programme. Scylla and Charybdis's armament put them on a par with the Tribal-class destroyers. Charybdis differed from Scylla in having a single QF 4 inch Mk V gun mounted. Her armament changed during her time in service, with the 4 inch Mk V gun removed in an early 1943 refit and ten 20 mm guns added. As originally fitted, Charybdis also had eight QF 2 pounder guns arranged in two quadruple mountings, and six 21 inch torpedo tubes arranged above water in two triple banks.

Like the other ships of the class, Charybdis was named after a character in Greek mythology. Charybdis is the name of a sea monster, usually mentioned alongside Scylla, the name given to another Dido-class ship, in the idiom "between Scylla and Charybdis". She was laid down at the yards of Cammell Laird at Birkenhead on 9 November 1939, and launched on 17 September 1940. After fitting out and undergoing trials, she was completed for service on 3 December 1941.