New Zealand and Far East cruiser presence

Diomede and Dunedin served with the Royal Navy's New Zealand Division, an organization that predated the separate Royal New Zealand Navy. The division included cruisers, sloops, and other vessels, making it a broader force than a conventional four-cruiser squadron or a flotilla. Their grey appearance may have distinguished them from cruisers wearing the more conspicuous livery associated with the China Station. Despatch also went east, placing roughly half of the new class in the Far East. Modern light cruisers offered enough firepower and visual prestige to reinforce deterrence, yet were less provocative than dispatching capital ships or admitting that only a few capital ships were available. The pattern anticipated later deployments of County- and Town-class cruisers around the Indian Ocean and China.