After
calls at Tahiti and Fiji PERTH arrived in Australia,
sailing through Sydney Heads just after 10am on 31st March
1940 . She tied up at the cruiser wharf, Garden
Island at 10.40am. Since commissioning she had steamed
over 73000 miles.
HMAS
Perth about to berth at Garden Island |
HMAS PERTH spent April 1940 refitting. In May,
she carried out convoy escorts and exercises and on 17th
was off the coast of Queensland shadowing the Italian
liner "Romolo". On her return from
there she ran into a violent storm and was subsequently
docked for repairs at Sydney. She then proceeded
to Melbourne with HMAS SWAN.
On June 6th, Capt. Sir Philip Bowyer-Smyth relieved Capt.
Farncomb and for the rest of the month PERTH escorted
liners to Melbourne and patrolled the Bass Strait.
In July she escorted the liner ORONTES to Adelaide
and then carried out patrols in that area. August
was spent patrolling the Tasman and on the 30th August,
Perth took over escort of a convoy from HMNZS ACHILLES
in the Tasman and escorted it to Melbourne.
In early September, PERTH carried out exercises
off Sydney and then spent the rest of the month
and October escorting convoys from Melbourne to Fremantle.
In late October she escorted a convoy, which included
"Queen Mary" and "Aquitania",
1500 miles into the Indian Ocean and then proceeded to
Cocos Islands.
November
was spent on escorts and patrols from Fremantle
and on November 30th , with HMAS CANBERRA, she
steamed 800 miles into the South Indian Ocean to find
a German raider but the search was unsuccessful.
On 28th PERTH
and CANBERRA left Fremantle as escorts for
the liners, "Orion", "Strathnaver"
and "Stratheden" bound for Colombo.
After performing some convoy duties in the Colombo - Aden
area with the Royal Indian Navy, PERTH sailed through
the Suez Canal and arrived at Alexandria on 24th December
1940. On the 27th, the ship was painted in her first
camouflage pattern designed by AB Ross Birbeck.
