The Chalcaor class brought a complete change to the light cruiser type for the Amazons. Where the previous classes were considered 'broadside' cruisers, the Chalcaor were the first 'inline' cruisers. The Alke type had 7x6" of which only five could fire to one side or the other. The Chalcaor mounted 6x6" and could fire them all to either side. A distinct advantage. The other new innovation was that these cruisers were the first to be completely oil fired .
Where the Alke class went to the North Sea, the Chalcaor class went to the Mediterranean where cruisers had a much more sedate war. The Hippothoe would have disputed that, as it was involved in the chase of the Goeben and Breslau after those ships attacked and bombarded the Imbros Naval base sinking and damaging shipping in the harbour. Goeben and Breslau made it back into the Dardanelles but those chasing them were lured on to a new minefield which claimed four ships sunk or damaged. Hippothoe was one of those sunk. Like other World War One cruisers, the Chalcaor class went through a survey in the mid-1930's to see if the ships were in a good enough condition to have the money spent on them to keep them in service. They passed with flying colours. One thing that had plagued the class was the height that the midships 6" guns were mounted at, this had caused the ships to roll more than they should, and any rebuilding would take that into consideration.
The original silhouette of the class with the very tall masts to carry all the wireless transmission lines were shortened time and again as the power of the wireless transmitters increased markedly between the wars. The ships rebuilds and refits started in 1935 and would include a complete transformation from Light Cruiser to a new type - Anti-Aircraft cruiser. Aircraft had become so capable that protection of the major warships would be required by their escorts. Specialised ships would be converted and built for this role.
Four twin 4" mountings looked like a very light armament for a ship of the Chalcaor's size. Only a few years later the Dido class would start completing with 10x5.25" on a similar sized hull. In the end the problems with the Dido type would show that the armament on this ship was more than adequate. The volume of fire from the 4" put up a very good air barrage or made life very miserable for destroyers trying to get within torpedo range of the fleet.
As war broke out the ships were due for an electronics refit to add radar control to the weapons and air search and sea search radar to the masts. The electronic outfit was increased and upgraded at every refit for the next four years at which stage it was decided that no further money would be spent on the ships, they would spend the rest of the war with what they had. The torpedo tubes would disappear as topweight was adjusted for the addition of electronic units.
Of the five that started the war, two were lost. Four would be a normal part of TF69 on its Pacific deployments, they would get a lot of action in their air defence role. The fifth ship would be in a holiday role as guard ship for the Prindylla during its air training role. The five ships would alternate the Prindylla role with the other old light cruisers so that none would get more than a month in the sun. It was during these periods that any major refit work would be scheduled for the the dockyards of Ephesos. Of the two ships lost, one was part of a Guadalcanal guard force when it was torpedoed and sunk by Admiral Tanakas destroyer force in a night action in the 'slot'. The other was acting as guard ship to the carrier force off Okinawa and put itself in the way of a Kamikaze attack. Its weapons did so well that two of the Kamikazes it was shooting at crashed into the ship. Uncontrollable fires were started and the ship had to be abandoned, then torpedoed and sunk by a destroyer of the escort force. The last three were used as accommodation ships for a short period after the war, all three had been discarded and scrapped by 1947.
