Kingston, Jamaica 1939

On the 21st August 1939, HMAS PERTH anchored of Kingston, Jamaica in the West Indies.   She was to have continued her cruise back to Australia however, due to the worsening war situation, she was loaned to the R.N. and was attached to the 8th Cruiser Division based at Kingston.   Her duties here were to intercept any German vessels trying to leave neutral ports for Germany.         PERTH commenced patrols on the 26th August  near the islands of Trinidad, Aruba, and Tobago off the coast of Venezuela.   On 1st September all names on the ship were painted out and cap namebands were removed when going ashore. On the 3rd September, the day war was declared, PERTH was off Curacao.   A third dummy funnel had been erected to give the impression that there were two cruisers in the area and funnel flaps were added sometime after.                    For the rest of September patrols were carried out off Aruba and Bonaire Islands, Santo Domingo, Haiti, and the Gulf of Mexico.  On  3rd October, with HMS BERWICK, she escorted a convoy into the mid Atlantic and on the 16th, whilst returning, she ran into a hurricane with winds reaching 120 mph.  Her depth charge racks, smoke floats , and stern rails were carried away and the port cutter smashed. On the 24th October PERTH intercepted radio signals from the German Pocket Battleship DEUTSCHLAND but despite a search no contact was made.             Calling at Bermuda, repairs were carried out and PERTH then sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada to pick up a draft from Australia.  She then returned to Bermuda.  In November she carried out patrols and on the 22nd sailed through the Panama Canal into the Pacific to patrol off the west coast of Colombia.   Returning to Kingston , she spent most of December patrolling the Yucatan Passage off Mexico before returning to Kingston for Christmas. While on patrol in this area PERTH was challenged by USS VINCENNES, TWIGGS and EVANS as to her identity, but PERTH would only reply" British Warship".              January 1940 saw PERTH patrolling the Windward Passage, between Cuba and Haiti, and Hispaniola.    She returned  to the Aruba area where she patrolled for most of February finally returning to Kingston on the the 16th.  After another short patrol of Aruba she called at Kingston for the last time on 27th February.  On 29th February 1940, she left the West Indies Station and proceed through the Panama Canal bound for Australia. After calls at Tahiti and Fiji she arrived in Australia.

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