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for Saigon, where she arrived on 23 July as flagship of the Indo-China squadron. On the outbreak of war she carried out patrols in the South China Sea and searched for German merchantmen off the Dutch East Indies. Then, at the end of November 1939, she arrived at Singapore to participate in the escorting of major Australian troopship convoys across the Indian Ocean, together with HMS Kent. These duties continued until the end of April 1940, and on 5 May Suffren sailed from Columbo to return to the eastern Mediterranean via Aden and Suez. On 18 May she arrived at Alexandria for service with Admiral Godfroy's squadron. There was time for only one raid into the Aegean after Italy's declaration of war and before the French armistice, between 11 and 13 June, but this was without result. A second operation for the purpose of bombarding the port of Bardia on 21 June in company with Duguay-Trouin and Lorraine was also completed. Then, as a result of the armistice, Suffren remained immobilised for the next three years until, in May 1943, Admiral Godfroy decided to rejoin the Allies. After circumnavigating Africa the cruiser arrived in Dakar on 3 September 1943, from where she immediately began search patrols into the south Atlantic for Axis blockade runners. This duty continued until 1944, the ship sailing as far afield as Recife in Brazil, and she then spent the remainder of the war under refit at Casablanca. Postwar, she carried out a number of transport and repatriation missions between Metropolitan France and Indo-China before an active tour of duty in Indo-China between 26 February 1946 and 21 March 1947, when she arrived back in Toulon. On 1 October 1947 the ship was placed in reserve and used as a pontoon base at Toulon.
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