HMS Dido was an Eclipse-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1890s.

Using normal draught, the boilers were intended to provide the engines with enough steam to generate 8,000 indicated horsepower (6,000 kW) and to reach a speed of 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph); using forced draft, the equivalent figures were 9,600 indicated horsepower (7,200 kW) and a speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph).

In October 1901 she left Hong Kong homebound,[11] arriving at Sheerness 14 December.

[12] She paid off at Chatham on 11 January 1902 and was placed in the Fleet Reserve as an emergency ship.

[13] It was more than a year until she was commissioned again in February 1903 with the crew of HMS Galatea, succeeding her as coast guard ship at Humber district based at Hull.