My grandfather was part of this Convoy and travelled on the Queen Adelaide, Pictures were taken by him, account is from RAF 32 ASP and New Zealand 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion. I love these personal stories 18th March 1941 Ozarda and 2.A. left quayside at 08:00 hours and anchored in harbour. Ozarda left anchorage at 14:30 and proceeded in convoy. Queen Adelaide left few hours later in separate convoy. 19th March 1941 533282 LAC Crowther F.Driver Petrol fell down a hatch of the S.S. Queen Adelaide at about noon and died. Death due to fracture at base of his skull. He was buried at sea at 18:00. 20th March 1941 H.S Ozarda arrived Piracus before midnight without incident and arrived in bay. Convoy in which Queen Adelaide was travelling was attacked by 3 enemy aircraft. A tanker was hit by a bomb and set on fire. Taken from "The First Encounter" New Zealand 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion CHAPTER 3 ; The First Encounter | NZETC The battalion vehicles and their drivers, together with RAF ground crew and equipment, had sailed for Greece the previous day in the Queen Adelaide, a cargo ship of under 5000 tons, as part of a convoy of eleven vessels escorted by three warships. Usually the Queen Adelaide's only defence against air attack was an old Hotchkiss machine gun, which the New Zealanders now repaired. For this voyage her armament was reinforced by ten Bren guns of the Anti-Aircraft Platoon (under Sergeant Brundell) and a ‘Chicago piano’—four Vickers assembled on a multiple mounting—in charge of Staff-Sergeant Weeds, the battalion armourer, with five or six men to maintain the guns and ammunition. In the afternoon of the 20th the convoy was attacked by aircraft, and a tanker astern of the Queen Adelaide was struck on the bridge by two bombs, which set fire to her superstructure and put her out of control. 'She immediately lost way and drifted to the rear of the convoy,’ says Private Bayly. ‘We later heard the fire in the bridge was extinguished and that she was under control and making for Crete. The plane that bombed her was the one that swung up and then came down on the stern of Queen Adelaide….’ It met a hail of lead from the Chicago piano, fired by Weeds, and went away smoking; it plummeted into the sea some distance from the convoy. The Queen Adelaide's officers and men were delighted. ‘The captain gave us two bottles of “Black and White” and 1,000 yellow cigarettes to divide among the AA gun crews for saving his ship,’ says Weeds. ‘I was given a good nip each night by him also for the same reason.’ The voyage was otherwise uneventful, but it was slow. Rations issued for four days had to last six and a half. There were no proper cooking facilities, but the men improvised as best they could. Water was steam-heated in a four-gallon container and everyone helped himself whenever he could from tea made in biscuit tins. Some flour was given to the ship's cook, who made fresh bread, and an RAF airman produced bully-beef stew and pies all day long. The convoy reached its destination, Piraeus, the port of Athens, on the evening of 22 March. The main body of the battalion had arrived three and a half days earlier. 22nd March 1941 Personnel in M.s. Ozarda disembarked at 08:00 hours and proceeded to Daphni and accommodated with No. 33 A.S.P. Queen Adelaide arrived Piracus and berthed at 18:00 hours.
