HMS Charybdis (88)

Charybdis underway in February 1943
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Charybdis
Builder:	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
Laid down:	9 November 1939
Launched:	17 September 1940
Completed:	3 December 1941
Fate:	Sunk in Battle of Sept-Îles on 23 October 1943
Badge:	On a Field White, issuant from a whirlpool in base a fig tree Proper, suspended from the branches a bat inverted Gold.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Dido-class light cruiser
Displacement:	5,600 tons standard 6,975 tons full load
Length:	485 ft (148 m) pp 512 ft (156 m) oa
Beam:	50.5 ft (15.4 m)
Draught:	14.3 ft (4.4 m)
Propulsion:	Parsons geared turbines Four shafts Four Admiralty 3-drum boilers 62,000 shp (46 MW)
Speed:	32.25 knots (60 km/h)
Range:	2,414 km (1,500 miles) at 30 knots 6,824 km (4,240 miles) at 16 knots 1,100 tons fuel oil
Complement:	480
Armament:	Original configuration: 8 x 4.5 in DP dual guns, 1 x 4 in (102 mm) starshell gun, 8 x 20 mm (0.8 in) single guns, 2 x 2 pdr (37 mm/40 mm) pom-poms single guns, 2 x 21 in (533 mm) triple Torpedo Tubes. 1943 configuration: 8 x 4.5 in DP dual guns, 10 x 20 mm (0.8 in) single guns, 6 x 20 mm (0.8 in) twin power-operated guns, 2 x 21 in (533 mm) triple Torpedo Tubes.
Armour:	Belt: 3 inch, Deck: 1 inch, Magazines: 2 inch, Bulkheads: 1 inch Turrets: ½ inch
Notes:	Pennant number 88

HMS Charybdis was a Dido-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War and was sunk with heavy loss of life by German torpedo boats in an action in the English Channel in October 1943.

Charybdis was intended to fulfill 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 for surface action, but with much superior high angle capability.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.