This 'Outbound South' series was suspended temporarily between September and February , and from April such convoys, of which there were , sailed with 'KMS' convoys as far as Gibraltar. The first of the series was OS. Typical of the series was OS. Between 22 June and 2 July six U-boats left their various bases in France with orders to rendezvous in a position to the east of the Azores islands group and form the 'Hai' i wolfpack to await the arrival of OS.
An initial 20 merchant vessels sailed in line down the estuary of the Mersey river to the end of the swept channel, where they redeployed into two lines until they were joined by eight vessels from Milford Haven, nine from the Clyde river and five from Oban, after which the convoy formed nine columns of four or five ships, which was the convoy formation. In all, therefore, 41 merchant vessels, 10 of them carrying dangerous cargoes, sailed round the north of Ireland bound for the South Atlantic.
The convoy commodore was O. Dawson, who sailed in the centre lead vessel, the 6,ton Castalia for Freetown, while the masters of the 6,ton New Texas and 6,ton New Toronto acted as vice and rear commodores respectively. The convoy included one oiler, the 7,ton Laurelwood , to refuel the escort vessels. In the event of any ship being damaged while in the convoy, the rear ships of the columns were designated as rescue ships with orders to save life and rejoin the convoy.
The normal cruising speed was 8 kt. The Liverpool contingent had been at sea for only minutes when the ton armed trawler Ophelia , which was unconnected with the convoy, was in collision with the 7,ton Ocean Honour. The trawler had to return to Liverpool for repairs, while the merchant vessel was only slightly damaged above the waterline and was therefore able to continue with the convoy.
At It was not until Home Operations About Contact. The rest of the convoy reached Freetown on 20 July.
