and maintaining radio and radar silence, the force would proceed at full speed to the French coast to keep the German s bottled up in Brest. The force would return to Plymouth by daylight. By day the RAF would patrol the Channel and by night, Plymouth. On 6 June Bellonas duty was to help to support Omaha Beach, in the American sector, where she was placed along with US battleships and under the command of Rear admiral Carleton F. Bryant. As the army advanced, Bellona fired her guns inshore at targets spotted by aircraft and forward observation officers off-shore. On several occasions Bellona returned to Plymouth to get more ammunition and change her gun barrels because of wear. At night Bellona went close inshore to provide supporting fire. In July 1944 Bellona covered the carrier raids against the but the following month was back in the Channel, attacking German convoy traffic in the Bay of Biscay and off the Brittany coast. Bellona returned to northern waters for the remainder of the war, sailing on Arctic convoys and accompanying carrier and cruiser sweeps along the Norwegian coastline before arriving in Copenhagen in time for the German surrender in May 1945. After the war she was part of the 10th Cruiser Squadron until 1946 when she was loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy. Royal New Zealand Navy During March and April 1947 Bellona was involved in training exercises with the Royal Australian Navy. During gunnery practice a sailor, Gordon Patten, was injured and was sent to hospital for treatment where he remained for months. The cruiser returned to Devonport Naval Base in Auckland in late April and the crew were given a day's leave to attend Anzac Day services and events on Friday, 25 April. Although the ship had missed the main mutiny at the start of the month, personnel from Bellona were concerned about how their colleagues had been treated and during the afternoon, about 100 sailors assembled in Quay Street, Auckland and decided not to return to duty. They compiled a list of three demands—that naval pay rates be increased to match the New Zealand Army and Royal New Zealand Air Force; that committees tasked with improving the welfare of the lower ranks be established; and that the sailors involved in the previous mutiny not be persecuted or punished. Another 40 sailors mustering before boarding Bellona were recruited into