The QF 5.25 guns performed well on during Operation Halberd, escorting a convoy to Malta under, but later "Prince of Wales" was overwhelmed and sunk while operating as part of along with "Repulse" when Force Z was attacked by Japanese aircraft, due to factors unrelated to the guns performance. No "Dido"-class cruisers were lost to air attack, although four were sunk by submarine or surface-launched torpedoes. However , a "Bellona"-class cruiser (Improved Dido), was sunk at anchor in 1944 by a "Luftwaffe" guided missile. According to postwar publications the gunhouses were cramped, and the heavy projectile and cartridge cases resulted in a reduced sustained rate of fire to seven or eight rounds per minute rather than the designed twelve rounds per minute. However, these factors do not appear to have reduced HMS "Euryalus"s rate of fire, over a one-minute period, which was typical for a World War II AA engagement. The dual-mount turrets 10 deg/s traversal speed was considered too slow to engage higher-speed aircraft at close range. Nevertheless, these elevation and traverse rates were still higher than some contemporary weapons, such as the &lt;a href="10.5%20cm%20FlaK%2038"&gt;10.5 cm SK C/33&lt;/a&gt; twin mounts carried on the German battleships and .