Enterprise spent much of her early career with the 4th Cruiser Squadron on the East Indies Station, demonstrating the value of a long-ranged and seaworthy cruiser. In 1936 she transported the exiled Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie from French Somaliland to Haifa after the Italian conquest. She carried Princess Alice and the Earl of Athlone on the first British royal-family visit to Saudi Arabia in 1938. Later that year she moved relief crews to and from the China Station before entering reserve, combining diplomacy, crisis response, and routine imperial logistics.
Chapter · 35:39-37:14
Enterprise carried emperors, royals, and relief crews
Her interwar career ranged from evacuating Haile Selassie to royal diplomacy in Saudi Arabia and crew transfers for the China Station.