"Coventry" and "Curlew" first had all armament removed. This was replaced with 10 single mount 4 inch high angle (HA) guns and two eight-barreled 2-pounder "pom-pom" mounts. The previous gun directors were removed and replaced with two suitable for anti-aircraft gun control. To keep costs down, only limited structural work was carried out, but the masts were altered. In 1938, because of a shortage of this weapon, the aft pom-pom was removed and fitted on another ship, being replaced by two quadruple Vickers machine gun mounts.