During World War II, Rigault de Genouilly served on the side of the Allies until June 1940, and then in the naval forces of Vichy France.

[1] In March 1938, a small group of sailors ordered to join Rigault de Genouilly′s crew began a voyage aboard the cargo ship Ville d'Amiens from Marseilles, France, bound for Nouméa on Grande Terre in New Caledonia, where they reported aboard Rigault de Genouilly on 13 March 1938.

[2] Rigault de Genouilly then departed Nouméa for Port Vila on Efate in the New Hebrides, from which she conducted an exercise with the training cruiser Jeanne d'Arc.

She was based at Oran in Algeria on 3 July 1940, when the British began Operation Catapult, which sought to seize or neutralize the ships of the French Navy to prevent their use by the Axis Powers.

Rigault de Genouilly quickly got underway and attempted to join Strasbourg′s escort, but lacked the speed to keep up with the battleship and turned back for Oran.

Rigault de Genouilly fired nineteen 14 cm (5.5 in) shells in return before taking a hit from Enterprise and withdrawing.

[4] On 4 July 1940, the British submarine HMS Pandora sighted the damaged Rigault de Genouilly along the Algerian coast off Algiers near Cap Matifou.