Indian Ocean
In late 1939 Ramillies sailed for the East, with a stint in the Indian Ocean, when HRH Prince Philip was a crew member. She visited New Zealand at Christmas 1939 and from 6 January 1940 to 12 February she escorted 13,000 New Zealand troops from Wellington to Suez. From 15 April to 7 May 1940 she escorted Australian soldiers from Melbourne to Suez.
But before this she was diverted from escort duties when the Admiralty became aware of the presence of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the Indian Ocean off Lourenço Marques (current Maputo, Mozambique) on 16 November 1939. Ramillies was detached at Aden and formed Force J along with the battleship HMS Malaya, and the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. They were sent south to intercept the German raider, but she sailed back into the South Atlantic where she was brought to action in the Battle of the River Plate off Montevideo by Force H, the cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles, joined by HMS Exeter from Force G.
Read more about this topic: HMS Ramillies (07)
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