[2] The initial supply runs to Tobruk were performed by the ships of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla (which included the five First World War-era destroyers of the Australian 'Scrap Iron Flotilla') operating independently.
[2] A typical run saw a destroyer spend the night loading at Alexandria, sail early in the morning for Tobruk, where the ship would arrive around midnight.
[2] The destroyer would return to Tobruk for a second evening, then head back to Alexandria.
[2] The danger of attack by air and sea prompted the admiral at Alexandria, after advice from one of the destroyer captains, to send ships in pairs: they could help protect each other, and if one were disabled or sunk, the second could provide assistance or recover survivors.
[2] During the operation of the Ferry Service, two destroyers, three sloops, and nineteen smaller vessels were lost.