At 09:30 on 5 May 1940
Royal Scotsman left Gourock to transport Force HQ and the 3rd
Independent Company to
Bodø in Norway as part of "Scissorsforce", which was tasked with preventing the Germans from occupying
Bodø,
Mo and
Mosjøen. They arrived off Bodø on 8th May but rough sea and poor visibility made a landing impossible, and the ship lay off until the weather improved, finally berthing at 22:00 on 9th May. Owing to the danger of air attack, disembarkation and unloading were carried out as quickly as possible and were completed by 02:00 on 10 May, when the
Royal Scotsman departed.
Royal Scotsman was then requisitioned by the
Admiralty in October 1940, and in January 1941 she prepared for operational service. Most of the ship's company were the original merchant crew who had joined the Navy under T124X engagements (which meant that they could not be transferred to a combat ship), while the captain and some specialist officers were from the
Royal Navy or Reservists. and then was deployed to transport troops and equipment in the western Mediterranean, operating with her
sister ship , and the Dutch ships and . In May 1943, she took part in landings on the Italian island of
Pantelleria ("
Operation Corkscrew"), then on 10 July, landed troops on the beach codenamed "Bark South" during the
Allied invasion of Sicily. In September, she sailed to
Tripoli, to embark troops, and joined military
convoy TSF-1 to
land troops at Salerno, on 9 September. In November 1943, she returned to the UK. There is no record of her being deployed in any further operations, though whether the ship was damaged or only used for training purposes is unknown. In February 1945, she was decommissioned and returned to her original owners in March. ==Scientology==