The Royal Canadian Navy base responsible for the Sydney operations was HMCS Protector.
[2] For a time after the entry of the United States into the war the point of origin was switched to New York City, but congestion problems there resulted in a further move, this time to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
SC convoys ran from August 1940 until May 1945,[3] although they were suspended during the summer of 1944 when a number of escort groups were diverted to cover the Normandy landings.
During this period all east-bound traffic sailed in the HX series, which ran as Fast or Slow convoys, and whose sizes were effectively doubled.
As these were slow convoys, composed of ships making 8 knots or less, they were correspondingly more vulnerable, and witnessed a disproportionate number of attacks.