 In March 1921, on the creation of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, "Philomel" was recommissioned as a training base.She steamed from her berth at Wellington to the dockyard at the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland.Moored alongside the training jetty, she was operated as a training facility for new recruits to the naval service, under the command of a series of officers from the Royal Navy including, for nearly six months in 1923, Commander Augustus Agar VC.