Phoebe's first six months were spent in the Home Fleet, escorting troop convoys on the first stage of their long voyage via the Cape of Good Hope to the Middle East.

On 27 April 1941 Phoebe and the destroyers Defender, Hereward, and Hero rescued all the crew and all 2,600 soldiers from the Dutch troop ship Costa Rica.

[2] On 23 October 1942, Phoebe was torpedoed by the German submarine U-161 off the Congo Estuary, while on passage to French Equatorial Africa.

From April to May 1945, Phoebe was involved in the amphibious assault on Rangoon as part of the East Indies Fleet's, 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron.

In early 1948, the cruiser took elements of Royal Marines 40 Commando to Haifa, to assist in the British withdrawal from Mandatory Palestine.