"Rohna" took troops from Bombay to Suez in August 1940 in Convoy BN 3 and from Bombay to Port Sudan in September/October 1940 in Convoy BN 6. She made further trips from Bombay to Suez in November 1940 in Convoy BN 8A, from Colombo to Suez in February 1941 in Convoy US 8/1 and from Bombay to Singapore in March 1941 in Convoy BM 4. The day after the Iraqi "coup d'état" in April 1941 "Rohna" was ordered to Karachi, whence she took some of the first elements of Iraqforce to Basra in Convoy BP 2. During the Anglo-Iraqi War in May the ship made a second trip from Karachi to Basra in Convoy BP 5. After the Allied victory in Iraq at the end of May she spent the rest of the year running between Basra and Bombay, each time going to Basra in a BP-series convoys and returning independently.