ship's machinery and magazines with protecting the ship's shell rooms. Deck armour was thick, with caps over the magazines. The 5.25 inch gun turrets had armour of thickness. Modifications While several of the Dido-class were completed with reduced main armaments owing to production problems (the King George V-class battleships had priority for the new guns), Hermione was completed with the full ten-gun outfit. In October–November 1941, the ship's .50 in machine guns were replaced by five single Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. History After commissioning and workup, Hermione joined the 15th Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet. Hermione took part in the pursuit of the and heavy cruiser when they sortied into the North Atlantic in May 1941. Hermione left Scapa Flow on 22 May as part of a force including the battleship and the aircraft carrier . On 24 May, Victorious, escorted by Hermione, and , was detached to launch an air attack against Bismarck. The attack by Victoriouss Swordfish torpedo bombers resulted in a single torpedo hit on Bismarck which did little damage to the German ship. On 25 May, Hermione, short of fuel, was detached from the chase in order to refuel at Iceland. Following the sinking of Bismarck, the British launched a major operation against German supply ships in the Atlantic which supported the operations of surface raiders, with Hermione taking part in searches for these supply ships and German blockade runners before joining Force H, based at Gibraltar on 22 June. Hermione was then deployed to the Mediterranean. On 2 August 1941, whilst helping to protect a convoy, Hermione attacked by ramming the Italian submarine Tembien, sinking her; an action commemorated in a propaganda painting by artist Marcus Stone. Fate While under Captain G.N. Oliver, DSO, RN, Hermione was part of the Force A group which escorted convoy MW-11, a supply convoy under Rear Admiral Philip Vian from Alexandria to Malta in Operation Vigorous. On the 14th and 15 June 1942, the Hermione expended most of her ammunition while defending the ships against heavy air attacks and had to return to Alexandria, escorted by , , and . At 23:20 hours on 15 June, U-205 spotted a group of warships north of Sollum and attacked two destroyers with one G7e torpedo each at 23:38 and 23:40 hours, but missed both. Only then did U-205 recognize one of the shadows as a cruiser and fired a spread