In October 1941, the Admiralty decided the ship was to be transferred to the 3rd Battle Squadron, which was to be based in Colombo, Ceylon; she was joined there by her three surviving sisters ( had been sunk in October 1939). The unit was established in December, with the squadron attached to Force F. With the start of the Pacific War on 7 December, naval forces were necessary in the Indian Ocean to protect British India. By the end of March 1942, the Eastern Fleet had been formed, under the command of Admiral James Somerville. Despite the numerical strength of the Eastern Fleet, many of its units, including the four "Revenge"-class battleships, were no longer front-line warships. Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's powerful "Kido Butai", composed of six carriers and four fast battleships, was significantly stronger than Somerville's Eastern Fleet. As a result, only the modernised battleship could operate with the two fleet carriers; "Revenge", her three sisters, and the carrier "Hermes" were kept away from combat to escort convoys in the Indian Ocean.