for a rotating aircraft catapult and its associated crane were also installed. Australian service Amphion was sold to the RAN and was commissioned into service on 29 June 1939. She was renamed HMAS Perth on 10 July by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. On entry into Australian service, the ship's company stood at 646 (35 officers and 611 ratings). Most of the ship's company had departed Australia in May 1939 aboard : the enlisted men had to live and sleep in the ship's livestock holds. In early August, while en route to Australia, Perth was used to represent her nation at the 1939 New York World's Fair. While at New York City, there was a minor "mutiny" aboard. The cause was orders that sailors ashore for shore leave would have to return to the ship at 18:00 and change from white uniforms to blue uniforms, although the overall treatment of the sailors by the officers had been an issue since the cruiser was taken over by the RAN. Over 60 sailors gathered on the ship's forecastle, where they were confronted by officers with side arms (the first time RAN officers had been armed to deal with a mutiny) and were ordered below decks, but they refused. The warship's commanding officer, Captain Harold Farncomb, next approached the sailors and informed them that if they did not follow orders to disperse, he would treat their actions as a mutiny. The standoff could be seen from the wharfside, and a heavily armed force from the New York City Police Department was dispatched but did not intervene. Farncomb successfully defused the situation by making the offer that any sailor wanting to wear blue uniform all day ashore could do so after asking permission; an offer taken up by almost every sailor taking shore leave. World War II While still en route to Australia, Perth was steaming off the coast of Venezuela when World War II began. As she was initially the only British Commonwealth warship in the Caribbean and western Atlantic, the cruiser began searching the region for German shipping and escorting convoys. Perth did not leave the area until March 1940, sailing via the Panama Canal to reach Australian waters for the first time on 31 March. On arrival, Perth was refitted at Sydney's Garden Island Naval Base until 29 April, during which her catapult was installed. She initially carried a Supermarine Seagull