to inform the Commander of the British Far East Fleet, of the situation as "Commander Far East has enough trouble fitting Royalist in his operational plans now with limitations on his main capability in the Confrontation War." The Royal Navy was desperately overstretched during the confrontation, and keeping one carrier fully operational in the theatre at all times was difficult to provide nuclear deterrence to Jakarta with the threat of potential aerial nuclear strike. The high-maintenance Tiger-class cruisers required far too much human and technical resources to be operated East of Suez in a complimentary role for GFS and carrier escort with the Far East Fleet; HMS Lion was withdrawn after a boiler explosion on anti-infiltration patrol, and was put into reserve from December 1963 due to crew shortages in the RN. HMS Royalist was still perceived by the RN as useful and needed in Singapore, even if it could not run at the 25+ knots needed when a carrier group was launching aircraft as an escort for amphibious carriers like HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark and it was decided Royalist would proceed to Pearl Harbor for a second workup, rather than a longer refit in the Devonport dockyard, before deploying to Hong Kong and Singapore in support of RN forces. During Royalist stay at Pearl Harbor the USN Staff and naval dockyard provided substantial assistance in alleviating some of the cruiser's faults and adjustments to allow the fire control system to be aligned for brief periods. During the subsequent workup Royalist achieved "E Excellent" for Efficiency, meaning maximum efficiency within system capability though, like all peacetime naval or weapon tests, actual effectiveness was not measured. During a brief spell on station at Singapore in 1965, Royalist conducted anti-infiltration patrols, boarding boats, deployed shore patrols, and participated in Exercise Guardrail as the simulated "enemy Sverdlov cruiser" and provided extra men, potential heavy gunfire support, and AD support for Bulwark on a vulnerable deployment transferring a new helicopter squadron to Borneo. For the 1965 Far East tour, the crew were awarded Operational Service Medals. This reflects the general build up in tension with Indonesia, the probable use of weapons by landing parties, the higher grade of main munition preparation and the political support for the mission, but the earlier deployments of Royalist when its system were more effective were much more important in the tactical and even strategic sense. The 1965