On completion of these duties she participated in the Battle of Crete. On 22 May 1941 she was acting in company with the destroyers HMS Kandahar and HMS Kingston shortly after the loss of HMS Gloucester. These ships fought on and shot down one attacker and damaged two others. She finally expended all of her AA ammunition fighting off numerous air attacks that persisted for two hours. She was attacked and hit by several bombs from Messerschmitt Bf 109s before an aircraft of Jagdgeschwader 77 dropped a bomb close alongside to port. This blew in Fiji’s bottom plates and caused a list to port. Fiji lost power and came to a standstill. She was now largely defenceless, having practically exhausted her 4 inch ammunition. She was then hit by three bombs dropped by a Junkers Ju 88 from Lehrgeschwader 1 piloted by Gerhard Brenner. Captain William-Powlett gave the order to abandon ship and at 2015 Fiji rolled over and sank. The destroyers dropped floats and withdrew to the south. They returned after dark to pick up 523 survivors. 241 men had gone down with the ship.
Gloucester formed part of a naval force acting against German military transports to Crete, with some success. On 22 May 1941, while in the Kithera Channel, about 14 mi (12 nmi; 23 km)14 miles (26 km) north of Crete, she was attacked by German Stuka dive bombers and sank, having sustained at least four heavy bomb hits and three near-misses. Of the 807 men aboard at the time of her sinking, only 85 survived.[4] Her sinking is considered to be one of Britain's worst wartime naval disasters.
During the invasion of Crete, Greyhound escorted the battleship HMS Warspite west of Crete on 22 May as she covered the cruiser forces attempting to sink the German invasion convoys. The ships were en route to rendezvous with the cruisers when she was struck by three bombs dropped by Stukas of StG 2 and sank a few minutes afterwards.[13] Her survivors were rescued by the destroyers HMS Kingston and HMS Kandahar, but six officers and 74 sailors were killed in the attack. The Germans later rescued four more sailors.[6]