HMS Dido (1784)

Capture of La Minerve off Toulon, 24 June 1795 by Thomas Whitcombe. In the foreground the damaged and dismasted Minerve duels with HMS Dido, while in the background Artémise flees, pursued by Lowestoffe.
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Dido
Ordered	5 June 1782
Builder	Joshua Stewart and Mr. Hall Sandgate, Kent
Laid down	September 1782
Launched	27 November 1784
Completed	15 March 1785
Commissioned	September 1787
Honors and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Dido 24 June 1795" "Egypt"[1]
Fate	Sold to be broken up, 3 April 1817
General characteristics
Tons burthen	595 39⁄94 (bm)
Length	120 ft 5 in (36.70 m) (gundeck) 99 ft 3 in (30.25 m) (keel)
Beam	33 ft 7 in (10.24 m)
Depth of hold	11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	200 officers and men
Armament	Upper deck: 24 × 9-pounder guns QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronade Fc: 2 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Dido was one of the twenty-seven Enterprise class of 28-gun sixth-rate frigates in service with the Royal Navy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Dido was commissioned in September 1787 under the command of Captain Charles Sandys. She participated in a notable action for which her crew would later be awarded the Naval General Service Medal; her participation in a campaign resulted in the award of another. Dido was sold for breaking up in 1817.