She sailed to the West Indies in November 1941 for her maiden voyage. While there, "Indomitable" ran aground on a coral reef near Jamaica, though she returned to service soon afterwards. This did mean she did not reach Southeast Asia in time to provide air cover for Force Z, a naval force sent to deter the Japanese from attacking Singapore. This force was sunk by Japanese aircraft when the Japanese landed in Malaya in December 1941. The following month, in January 1942, "Indomitable" joined the Eastern Fleet based at Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). At the end of January, she ferried 48 Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricanes to airfields in Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies, to reinforce the air defenses of Singapore, but a large proportion of the Hurricanes were destroyed on the ground by Japanese air raids. The British commanders in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February.