as background for his acclaimed first novel HMS Ulysses (1955) as well as for some of his subsequent works. Post war reconstruction Royalist was withdrawn from the East Indies after the conclusion of hostilities, and returned home to be mothballed and dehumidified in 1946. The modernisation of four Dido-class cruisers including Royalist was approved by the Admiralty board on 30 March 1950 and 6 April 1950. Royalist was planned to be the first of 4-6 Dido- and Bellona-class cruisers to be modernised under the programme, with work planned to begin in January 1953. The decision to prioritise the updating of Royalist and the Didos were for the same reasons the RNZN accepted HMS Black Prince and Bellona as replacements for Gambia in 1946; the Didos were modern, more economical in fuel and manpower, and could be modernised on a realistic timescale and budget by fitting Type 275 radar directors with British adaptions of the US Mk 37 fire control for effective medium range anti-aircraft cover. Previous post war plans to refit the Colony-class and Swiftsure-class cruisers were abandoned in 1950 on cost and time grounds The Dido class had the same 5.25 guns as the King George V battleships and HMS Vanguard as PM Winston Churchill wanted to maintain the battleships in the 1950s. The Dido cruisers and HMS Royalist was essentially the same size as 50 cruiser-destroyers the RN planned as cruiser replacements in 1949-50. The reconstruction of Royalist from deep preservation with new superstructure and advanced interim fire control fitted involved major work but was intended to extend the cruiser's life by only six years. Diadem was better preserved and was offered to the RNZN as an alternative in 1955. Royalist and Diadem were complex warships even as built in 1944. After refit and rewiring in 1956 they could never be further updated and to be kept running needed 200 men aboard even for short periods in reserve and refit; difficult for small navies such as the RNZN. In March 1953 the reconstruction of Royalist was started The works included new superstructure and electronics, but retained the old engines. The reconstruction of the Dido-class cruisers was intended to upgrade them for only six years more service to 1962 the period of maximum danger and threat from the USSR. However when Churchill, led the Conservative Party back into office, in the second of two 1951 general elections 1951 United