The Royal Navy (RN) intended in late 1943 to use the "Bellona" class as flagships for escort carrier and cruiser groups for the projected invasion of Normandy and of southern France and for operations with the United States Navy and with the RN fleet in the Pacific. "Royalist" was a class of one from the start being fitted out - within months of commissioning - with further modifications. These modifications gave it two extra rooms for additional communications with aircraft carriers and Fleet Air Arm aircraft and one of the first implementations of an "Action Information Office" (AIO) – an early operations room for plotting and display of the tactical position and associated mechanical computers to make it more effective. Intended to enhance the vessel's role as a command ship in northern Atlantic waters for operations against the German capital ships "Tirpitz" and "Scharnhorst", the extra equipment took the ship to the limit leaving minimal comfort and sleeping provision for crew. The wartime development of radar and the requirement to equip "Royalist" as a "Carrier Flagship" fitted with AIO increased the crew complement from 484 to 600, adding to the problem.