Misoa and the cancelled seizure of the Azores

After conversion, HMS Misoa sailed from the Clyde with landing ships, troopships, and an escort that grew to twelve destroyers for a projected seizure of the Azores. Britain instead obtained access under its old alliance with Portugal, so the task group returned to the Clyde. In January 1942 Misoa moved to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where she could carry stores and prepare for Operation Torch. That position avoided sending the slow, flat-bowed conversion across the Atlantic and through the Bay of Biscay before the North African landings.