The outbreak of war made Edinburgh's aircraft, armament, and modern equipment too valuable to leave unavailable while work continued aboard. She entered the 18th Cruiser Squadron despite still carrying trial and dockyard personnel. The squadron patrolled the broad approaches between Britain, Norway, and Iceland in severe weather. Its cruisers were intended to find a German breakout and coordinate destroyers, capital ships, and carriers into a force capable of stopping it. Edinburgh's first assignment therefore put the interwar theory of countering surface raiders directly into practice.
Chapter · 28:30-30:43
Edinburgh joins the North Atlantic barrier
Commissioned before every trial and dockyard task was complete, Edinburgh immediately reinforced the cruiser barrier guarding access to the North Atlantic.