V, later a Supermarine Walrus. The ship was assigned to convoy escort duty and patrols along the Australian coasts in May. On 6 June Captain Sir Philip Bowyer-Smyth, Bt. assumed command of Perth and Rear-Admiral John Crace hoisted his flag aboard the cruiser as commander of the Australian Squadron. These duties continued through November 1940, when she was sent to the Mediterranean to relieve her sister ship . Escorting a troop convoy from Australia to the Red Sea en route, Perth reached Alexandria, Egypt, on 24 December, after a short spell of escort duty in the Red Sea. She was assigned to the 7th Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. During Operation Excess in early January 1941, the ship escorted a convoy from Malta to Alexandria along with other elements of the Mediterranean Fleet. While docked in Grand Harbour, Malta, on 16 January, Perth was damaged by a near-miss from a bomb that temporarily knocked out her power and caused some flooding. During the bombing, her crew helped to put out the fire aboard the ammunition ship and rendered assistance to the damaged aircraft carrier . The cruiser departed Malta that evening and reached Alexandria on the 18th where she entered the dockyard for temporary repairs. On 22 January she departed to rendezvous with Illustrious and escort her to Alexandria and then returned to Greece where she patrolled the sea between Crete and Piraeus, Greece. While returning to Alexandria for more permanent repairs, Perth encountered a severe sandstorm while approaching the harbour on the night of 6/7 February, only to find out that the ship was going to be inspected by the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies, the following morning and thus had to be cleaned before his arrival. The ship entered the floating drydock on 9 February and remained there for 10 days. During this time, her catapult was removed and replaced by a pair of captured Italian Breda AA guns, one on each side of the catapult mount. In addition, a non-rotating Type 286 search radar was installed. On the morning of the 27th, she was one of the escorts for destroyers carrying reinforcements for Operation Abstention, the attack on the island of Kastellorizo, off the Turkish coast in the Italian Dodecanese Islands. Arriving there that night, the British ships found that the Italians had reinforced their garrison; after landing the reinforcements, the army commanders decided to