By May 1964 the Indonesian Confrontation had escalated with Indonesian forces conducting cross-border raids in Kalimantan and landings in Borneo. The British Minister of Defence Peter Thorneycroft and Mountbatten requested the use of carriers and major units to conduct provocative passages, to encourage a revolt against Sukarno and his generals. After rest and recreation in Singapore, "Royalist" took on 580 tons of fuel oil on 14 July 1964 and the following morning took ammunition on from lighters. It left Singapore in the afternoon returning to Auckland from Singapore via the Cairns races in Queensland, transited the Carmat Straits on 15 July, Sapud on 16 July (at ABC state Yankee, at 2130 raised to condition X Ray at 2230) as it was in the Java Sea between Jakarta and SW Kalimatan and then ran along the coast of Java thru the night to arrive off Bail at sunrise about 6.00 am and through the Lombok Strait on 17 July 1964 on what was described as "routine passage" in the highly confidential communication to Canberra.