Harwich Naval Force Song

DESCRIPTION: "Don't send away the Dido, Don't send her out to see, If you send away the Dido, Then down comes Parkestone Quay."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy)
KEYWORDS: ship navy
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy, p. 81, "Harwich Naval Force Song" (1 short text)
NOTES [197 words]: Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy's informant L. B. Horton said that the Dido was the depot ship for the destroyers based at Harwich in the First World War. Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I (1919; I use the 1990 Studio Editions reprint with modern foreword by Captain John Moore, RN), p. 62 lists the Dido as an 1896 cruiser of the Eclipse class. That, by 1914, made her ancient (she was actually slower than contemporary battleships, which meant she was completely useless at sea). Little wonder she was used as an accommodations ship. It seems most unlikely that she would ever actually have been sent to sea.
Although I have no reason to doubt that this song refers to the Dido of World War I, there was also a cruiser Dido in World War II; that one actually fought (she was the name ship of a class of anti-aircraft cruisers built in the late 1930s and early 1940s, according to M. J. Whitley, Cruisers of World War II: An International Encyclopedia, Arms and Armour Press, 1995, p. 112). This Dido spent some time in the Home Fleet, so she could have been at Harwich for a while (Whitley, p. 114), but probably not long enough for her to become a fixture! - RBW
Last updated in version 5.1
File: Tawn061

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