The Mago class was the first 'light' cruiser type built by Greenland and the only 6" class. The next classes of light cruiser would all be armed with the Coventry works 5.5" gun originally designed for the Greek light cruisers that became the Chester class. Because these ships were out of step with the rest of the light cruiser classes, they were the first to be converted to other duties ships.
1932 and the 5" dual purpose weapons are starting to come into service. The Mago class had been sliding down the slippery slope towards the breakers yard. Japans failure to accept the new treaty limits gave the worlds navies a shake up with older ships being kept in service to maintain the lesser roles that had been evolving since aircraft had gone to sea and could now carry ordnance that could damage and even sink ships. Ships were required with anti-aircraft armaments to protect the fleet. The Mago class conversions would do very well to support the older capital ships and once the Melqart class CVE's came into service, one of these handy ships would become a Melqart's shadow.
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Being the first conversions, a lot more was done to these ships than some of the later ships where speed was of the essence. A new bridge structure replaced the armoured conning tower, and provided far superior command and control functions. The four 6" and three 4" low angle guns were removed and replaced with six 5" dual purpose weapons in one twin turret and four single mountings. The weight difference was very small but the increase in firepower was huge. The two sets of broadside mounted 18" torpedoes were kept through till 1942 when they were removed to compensate for the topweight added by the electronic outfit. They were replaced with another pair of liferaft stacks.
Originally a class of six, two were lost, both to mines. One in the Dover Straits when attached to the Channel Squadron. The other was lost in action with Goeben/Yavuz and Breslau, when chasing the enemy ships off Imbros toward the Dardanelles the ship was unfortunate to run into a floating mine at 32 knots which blew off the ships bow and the remainder plunged underwater, surfaced, rolled onto its side, received an 11" hit from Goeben and gently expired with a large loss of life.
The four remaining ships went through their refit/rebuild cycles through to the start of the war when they were placed as part of the Hadad and Manuzi escort force. Where those aircraft carriers went so did the Mago class ships. This deployment lasted until the Melqart class escort carrier entered service and one of the Mago class was paired with a Melqart class ship. This meant a lot of convoy escort duties.
