This lasted until November when she finally joined her squadron at its base at the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda.

Ajax took part in the December, 1936 reburials at Punta Arenas of the dead of HMS Doterel (killed in the explosion of a magazine in 1881).

[2] On the 2nd and 3 June 1937, Ajax and other ships of the squadron took part in combined exercises with the Bermuda Garrison, to practice raiding a hostile shore.

Sherwood Foresters, a company of Royal Marines, a Royal Navy howitzer battery and a naval demolition party), commanded by Major J. R. Chidlaw-Roberts, M.C, Sherwood Foresters (with its boats guided by members of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club), was landed from Ajax before sunrise at Spanish Point, with the objective of moving overland to attack an imaginary fuel dump at Admiralty House, supported by fire from Ajax, Exeter and other vessels of the naval flotilla, as well as by naval aircraft.

[9] The Governor of Trinidad signalled the Commander-in-Chief in Bermuda on the 20th June 1937 for a cruiser to be sent to that colony due to riots that had broken out among strikers in the oil fields of Apex and Fyzabad, which had included the killings of two police officers.

She intercepted the German merchantman Carl Fritzen and the passenger ship Ussukuma (with the cruiser HMS Cumberland) on 4 and 5 September, respectively.

[2] When the German raider, Admiral Graf Spee, became a threat, Force G was formed from Ajax (flagship, Commodore Henry Harwood), Exeter and Achilles, all cruisers.

Ajax was hit seven times by the Germans: X and Y turrets were disabled, structural damage was sustained and there were 12 casualties including 7 killed.

[18] Exeter, more severely damaged, retired, leaving the two light cruisers to maintain contact with Graf Spee when she withdrew to Montevideo.

The reasons for the German ship's withdrawal and her failure to exploit her advantage are unclear, but there was damage to her bow, that affected her sea-worthiness, and to her fuel systems.

Ajax and Achilles, joined by Cumberland, awaited events and successfully bluffed the Germans into believing that a superior force was on hand.

She was joined en route by the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Renown and the destroyers Hasty, Hero, Dainty and Diamond.

[2] In August 1940, Ajax was allocated to the 7th Cruiser Squadron for Mediterranean service (France had fallen and Italy was now a belligerent with a significant navy).

She sailed from Britain on 21 August as part of the escort (with York), to a convoy for Egypt routed via the Mediterranean (Operation Hats), but she remained with a portion that was diverted via Durban.

On 8 October, Ajax again deployed with a major naval force [note 3] to cover the passage to Malta of convoy MF3 (Operation MB6).

[21] Ajax herself was hit by seven shells that destroyed one of her whalers,[22] caused severe damage to the bridge and radar installation[21] and 35 casualties, including 13 killed.

She was part of Force X[note 6] which was detached from the main fleet on 11 November to sortie into the Straits of Otranto, between Italy and Albania, to provide a diversion and give cover for the successful naval air attack on Taranto.

On 12 November, after turning to return to the main fleet, they intercepted a small convoy of four Italian merchant ships escorted by naval auxiliary Ramb III and the obsolete torpedo-boat Nicola Fabrizi.

Permanent repairs were arranged to take place in the United States and she was taken in hand at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia; these lasted until September.

Ajax was recommissioned at Portsmouth on 25 December and joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow once more for work-up before returning to the Mediterranean in February 1944 after nearly two years out of action – apart from just a couple of days in January 1943.

[2] As part of Force K, Ajax bombarded Gold Beach during the D-Day invasion; the battery at Longues gave some trouble but was silenced by 6-inch shells through the embrasures of two of the four casemates.

Like Ajax, the novel's fictional HMS Antigone was a Leander-class light cruiser which was based on the North America and West Indies Station before World War II and saw action in the Mediterranean.