She belonged to Yeoward Line, which carried passengers and fruit between Liverpool, Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

[4] In the early 1920s Aguila was joined by a pair of slightly longer sister ships, Alondra and Avoceta, completed by Caledon in April 1922[5] and January 1923.

[7] Up to 1933 Lloyd's Register records no code letters for Aguila,[3] but when the new wireless telegraph call signs were introduced for 1934, she was designated GPVD.

Three days later she left Lisbon for Las Palmas, but on 19 August the Italian submarine Barbarigo shelled her with its 100 mm (4 in) guns.

The Regia Marina vessel claimed five hits on Aguila, but in fact the liner was undamaged and reached Las Palmas on 20 August.

[8] Aguila loaded general cargo in Liverpool and embarked at least 86 Royal Navy personnel bound for Gibraltar and six civilian passengers.

[12] Aguila's naval contingent included the Convoy Commodore, Vice Admiral PE Parker DSO, and his staff.

On 17 August a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor sighted OG 71, and the next day it became the first convoy to be attacked by a U-boat wolfpack.

Bath fell behind while defending the convoy, and in the small hours of 19 August at 0205 hrs she was torpedoed and sunk by U-204 400 nautical miles (740 km) southwest of Ireland.

[14] Three minutes later U-559 attacked the main convoy about 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) west of Ushant, sinking the cargo ship Alva.

The lost members of her naval contingent are commemorated on the Royal Navy monuments at Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth.

[11] 12 of the Wrens had been based at Scarborough, North Yorkshire, where they are remembered by a memorial bench and plaque on the Lighthouse Pier that was dedicated in 1972.