Commissioned in late 1938, Egret began World War II at Lourenço Marques in East Africa and then hunted raiders in the Indian Ocean. That surface-search assignment again showed that her dual-purpose 4-inch guns were useful beyond anti-aircraft defence, even though she was not intended to fight a major raider. Her return to Britain took her through the Suez Canal and Gibraltar before she joined North Sea coastal-convoy work from Rosyth. She later moved to Western Approaches Command and escorted convoys between Britain and Freetown. The itinerary shows how a modest sloop could be shifted across widely separated theatres as wartime demands changed.
Notable Point · 19:26-21:39
HMS Egret moved from East Africa to Atlantic convoy work
Egret began the war at Lourenço Marques and on Indian Ocean raider hunts before moving through the Mediterranean to North Sea and West African convoy duty.