When Japan entered the war in December 1941, New Zealand's naval contribution would normally have been with the Royal Navy (RN) based at Singapore. But in two days, Japanese forces had sunk HM Ships PRINCE OF WALES and REPULSE, and there was no longer an RN presence east of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
Following high-level political agreement, operational control of the New Zealand Navy was passed to the United States Navy, South Pacific Command. This arrangement continued until the formation of the British Pacific Fleet in late 1944. All New Zealand cruisers, as well as the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla, the 80/81st Motor Launch Flotillas and the corvettes HMNZS ARABIS and ARBUTUS saw active service in the Pacific.
The campaign for control of the Solomon Islands, in which New Zealand's Naval forces participated, is most widely known and remembered.
After service in the Atlantic, HMS GAMBIA joined the British Eastern Fleet at Trincomalee, Ceylon, in February 1944. From April to July the cruiser took part in operations against Japanese bases at Sabang and Surabaya in the East Indies before detaching for New Zealand, arriving here at the beginning of November. The anti-submarine corvettes, HMNZS Ships ARABIS and ARBUTUS, arrived in New Zealand during 1944. ARABIS saw service in the Solomons, while ARBUTUS was assigned as a radar repair ship to the British Pacific Fleet.
At the end of the war in August 1945, the cruisers ACHILLES and GAMBIA, together with ARBUTUS, were off the coast of Japan. GAMBIA represented New Zealand at the surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay in September of that year.