Aerial panorama, a composite of six individual photographs, of ten of the 13 ships from the first ...

Aerial panorama, a composite of six individual photographs, of ten of the 13 ships from the first Allied convoy, on the day it left Sydney. Carrying over 13 000 soldiers to the Middle East, comprising 6571 Australian troops from the 2nd AIF with the remainder from the 4th Brigade of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). Ten ships in three columns are visible. Not all pictured or identified, the ten merchant ships included Otranto, Strathaird, Sobieski, Orford, Orion, Empress of Canada, Strathnaver, Orcades, Rangitata and Dunera II. Three warships initially escorted the former mainly passenger ships from Australia and they were HMS Ramillies, HMAS Canberra and HMAS Australia, one of the warships being visible in the middle of the second column. The convoy, designated 'US.1', comprised requisitioned merchant ships, some seven of which were luxury liners which had previously been in normal service from Britain to Australian and New Zealand waters.