HMS Charybdis was a Dido-class cruiser built for the Royal Navy 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.

[1] 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.

[2][a] After trials Charybdis joined the Home Fleet and in December 1941 escorted the 1st Minelaying Squadron during Operation SN81, the laying of mines in the Northern Barrage.

[4] She remained with the Home Fleet into 1942, and in March was adopted by the civil community of Birkenhead, Cheshire, where she had been built, after a Warship Week savings campaign.

[4] In April 1942 she was assigned to join Force H at Gibraltar, and sailed for there as an escort for the aircraft carrier USS Wasp and battlecruiser HMS Renown.

[4] Operation Pedestal was built around a 15-ship convoy of merchantmen, escorted by a powerful force consisting of two battleships, four aircraft carriers, seven cruisers and twenty six destroyers.

HMS Eagle was sunk by torpedoes from German submarine U-73, and only five merchant ships, including the damaged tanker SS Ohio, survived to reach Malta.

On 25 November 1942 she was allocated to the 12th Cruiser Squadron in Force H and sailed from Gibraltar for Algiers to take part in Operation Torch - the landings in Morocco and Algeria.

Initially based at Scapa Flow, she covered minelaying operations and patrolled the North Sea until April 1943, when she was transferred temporarily to the Plymouth Command.

[4] In late 1943, the British authorities were aware of the approach of the German blockade runner Münsterland, which was carrying an important cargo of latex and strategic metals.

[4][8] Münsterland was eventually forced ashore and destroyed west of Cap Blanc-Nez on 21 January 1944 by fire from British coastal artillery after she ran aground.

[9]: 131 Charybdis gained six battle honours during her service: Malta Convoys 1942, North Africa 1942, Salerno 1943, Atlantic 1943, English Channel 1943 and Biscay 1943.