Brilliant Dave, thanks very much. The AWM photo does not seem to be any higher resolution than the picture Mike Bendon sent me but the 6th Div history certainly seems to nail the Phoebe involvement and possible date of 25th April. I will try to find out a bit more about Nauplion, which is mentioned in some of Mike B's research into LCT movements around that time. It is quite likely that the troops were lifted from the beach by LCT and ferried out to Phoebe (might be able to identify which one) and then ferried ashore at Suda by another, possibly A16. Mk1 LCTs were known as 'A Lighters' and numbered accordingly.
Searched through hundreds of pages of Mike B's research and found a few relevant pages. You will have to zoom in a fair bit to read them. To summarise: It appears A16 remained in Suda Bay during the evacuation of Greece with a siezed Port engine. She operated on Starboard engine alone and unloaded most of the troops from larger ships, including possibly Phoebe. A16 was eventually scuttled in Suda Bay after contiuous engine problems. Phoebe was at 'S beach' on 'D1' (24/25th April) and helped transport 5000 troops to Suda Bay. No apparent mention of any other Dido class ships involved directly with the evacuation. On the same night A6 was at 'D beach' (probably Lavrion) and transported 450 troops to Zea island. A1 and A19 were at Megara, where A1 was sunk. A5 was carrying out 'ferrying duties' at Nauplia. Reading the attached documents closely and comparing details there seems to be some inconsistencies in location of some beaches and vessels (eg Coventry) for particular dates.
Looking again at those pages it appears Phoebe also evacuated troops on D3 (26/27 April) from 'Z position'. 8000 troops were evecuated that night, and again on D5 (28/29 April) again from 'Z position' but only 400 troops were evacuated on that night. From an estimate of 55,000 troops requiring evacuation the total estimated number transported was a remarkable 47,670 plus 400 Merchant seamen from ships sunk in Greek waters.
Sorry guys - I have been away ill again but hope to have turned the corner now! I would also concur that Phoebe would be the most likely identity for the cruiser in the background of Mikes picture. I will look through my pictures and see if I can come up with some appropriate examples for this thread.
Dido was built with just 4 main turrets, the 5th was added when she went to Brooklyn Dockyard for repairs after She was hit by bomb to B turret on 29th May 1941. I have pictures which I will post later. My Grandfather was killed in the attack.
It is definitely Phoebe. She wore that camouflage pattern from late 1940 until after ship emerged from her US refit at the beginning of 1942 with a quad Pom-Pom in place of the 4” gun. Dido was overall grey at this time.
