In April 1941 Germany and Italy
invaded Yugoslavia and
Greece. After 10 days of fierce fighting the British Empire started to plan the evacuation of 60,000 troops from Greece.
Slamat had been spending the month making shuttle trips between Suez and
Port Sudan, but by 23 April she was in the
Mediterranean Sea and on the 24th she was in Convoy
AG 14 from
Alexandria to Greece. When the convoy reached Greek waters, it split to reach different embarkation points.
Slamat and another troop ship, the
British-India Line-managed , were ordered with the cruiser and a number of destroyers to
Nauplia and
Tolon on the
Argolic Gulf in the eastern
Peloponnese. Before their arrival another troopship had grounded in Nauplia Bay, blocking ship access to the port. An air attack had turned her into a total loss. Ships would now have to anchor in the bay, where boats would bring troops out to them from the shore.
En route to Nauplia
Slamats group of ships was bombed and her superstructure was heavily damaged. On the evening of 26 April three cruisers, four destroyers and
Khedive Ismail and
Slamat were in the Bay of Nauplia. The only available tenders were one landing craft, local
caïques and the ships' own boats. Two cruisers and two destroyers embarked nearly 2,500 troops, but the slow rate of embarkation meant that
Khedive Ismail did not get its turn and did not embark any. The destroyer reported seeing four bombs hit
Slamat. Two lifeboats capsized; one from overloading and another when, in the midst of transferring survivors,
Diamond had to speed away from her to evade an air attack. Some aircraft machine-gunned survivors in the water. Pridham-Wippell sent the destroyer to the position where
Slamat had been lost. She found 14 survivors in two Carley floats that night, more floats and another four survivors in the morning, and took the survivors to Crete.
Royal Army Service Corps veteran George Dexter, states that after
Wryneck was sunk he and three other men were rescued by the cruiser . Survivors in
Wrynecks whaler reached Crete in three stages. On 28 April they aimed for the island of
Milos in the
Aegean Sea, but were too exhausted so they landed at Ananes Rock, about southeast of Milos. There they met a caïque full of Greek refugees and British soldiers evacuated from
Piraeus, who were sheltering by day and sailing only by night to avoid detection. In the evening everyone left Ananes and headed south for Crete, with most people in the caïque and five being towed in the whaler. On 29 April the caïque sighted a
small landing craft that had left
Porto Rafti near Athens. She took aboard everyone from the caïque and whaler, and the next day they reached Souda Bay. 11 survived. Of
Diamonds 166 complement, 20 survived. Of
Wrynecks 106 crew, 27 survived. ==Monuments==