and called at Albany, Western Australia; Fremantle; Cape Town and Las Palmas, reaching London on 3 May. On 2 June 1940, Dunedin Star left London for Queensland again. It called at Lisbon, São Vicente, Cape Verde, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns, and reached Townsville in northeastern Queensland on 18 July. On 22 June France had surrendered to Germany, which removed the powerful French Navy from the defense of Allied shipping, gave all of France's Atlantic ports and naval bases to the Kriegsmarine and its most strategic airfields to the Luftwaffe. Therefore, when Dunedin Star began its voyage home from Townsville on 21 July, it called at Rockhampton and Sydney but then turned east across the Pacific Ocean to Panama. It reached Balboa, Panama on 23 August, passed through the Panama Canal and called at Cristóbal, Colón two days later. It called at Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles before crossing the North Atlantic, reaching Avonmouth on the Bristol Channel on 10 September. Dunedin Star stayed in Avonmouth for a month, leaving on 10 October and reaching Liverpool two days later. On 1 November, it left Liverpool with Convoy WS 4, which divided into fast (WS 4F) and slow (WS 4S) sections. Dunedin Star went with WS 4F to Freetown, Sierra Leone and then continued via Durban to Suez, where it arrived on 22 December. It seems to have spent Christmas of 1940 and New Year's 1941 in Suez. On 12 January, it left for Colombo in Ceylon, where it arrived on 22 January. It made the Red Sea leg of its voyage from Suez to Aden with Convoy SW 4B, then detached and crossed the Indian Ocean unescorted. Operation Halberd By August 1941, Dunedin Star was back in Britain. On 9 August, it left the Firth of Clyde with Convoy WS 8C to Scapa Flow, returning to the Clyde on 17 August. Then it and a Blue Star sister ship, , took part in Operation Halberd to relieve the siege of Malta. On 17 September they left the Clyde with Convoy WS 011D, which at sea became Convoy WS 11X. The convoy was bound for Bombay but the ships for Operation Halberd detached in the North Atlantic and reached Gibraltar on 24 September. There eight merchant ships formed Convoy GM 2, which left the same day under heavy Royal Navy escort for Malta. On 27 September 1941, the Mediterranean Italian Regia