The 1923-24 Service Squadron was the Royal Navy's answer to the Great White Fleet, a world cruise designed to display useful combat power. Dauntless, Delhi, Dragon, Danae, and Dunedin formed the light-cruiser contingent alongside battlecruisers. The battlecruisers could force an opponent to send heavy ships after them, while the long-range cruisers could attack trade across a much wider area. Dunedin seems to have returned from the New Zealand Division to join the circumnavigation. Calls in South America, Africa, and South-East Asia advertised British reach in regions where the fleet expected to operate. The voyage paired spectacle with a warning about commerce raiding.
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How the Service Squadron projected naval power
The 1923-24 Service Squadron paired battlecruisers with five long-range D-class cruisers to display Royal Navy reach and warn rivals that their trade was vulnerable.