At 8:30 on 22 May, Ajax had 40 percent of her anti-aircraft ammunition remaining, Orion 38, Fiji 30, Dido 25, and Gloucester only 18. Ajax, Orion, and Dido returned to Alexandria, while Fiji and Gloucester stayed because their stable hulls, directors, four-inch guns, and pom-poms made them especially valuable air-defense platforms. Rear Admiral King then detached the two cruisers to cover Kandahar and Kingston as the destroyers rescued Greyhound's crew. Rawlings expressed concern about their ammunition, but the recall came after they had been sailing away for roughly 50 minutes. Both cruisers exhausted their four-inch anti-aircraft ammunition and resorted to practice rounds before sustained bombing destroyed them. Their loss led to a standing 40-percent ammunition threshold for cruiser withdrawal.
Chapter · 58:22-1:07:36
HMS Fiji and the anti-aircraft ammunition crisis at Crete
Fiji's loss shows how command decisions and depleted anti-aircraft magazines could leave modern cruisers exposed to sustained air attack.