coast. The convoys continued to sail along the south coast after the Fall of France on 22 June 1940 and on 1 July twenty ships of Convoy OA 177G sailed from Southend-on-Sea. Next morning German aircraft attacked SS Baron Ruthven, two men being killed by machine-gun fire. Later on the 10,000 Gross register ton (GRT) Aeneas was bombed and abandoned. Most of the coasters left the convoy for local ports before another ten ocean-going ships joined the convoy from Plymouth and Falmouth and eighteen ships joined when it merged with an OB convoy from Liverpool on 2 July, parts of the convoy then turned away for Bilbao, Lisbon and Casablanca; only two ships remained when the convoy reached the Atlantic dispersal point. Prelude Convoy OA 178 assembled off Southend-on-Sea; the convoy commander was Lieutenant Commander Frederick Jones in the only escort vessel, the ; the convoy commodore was R. P. Galer, embarked in SS Peterton and the vice commodore, Commander A. B. Fasting sailed in Saluta. The convoy of 14 ocean-going merchant ships and local colliers departed on 3 July, over-flown by German aircraft.heading inland. The convoy passed the Straits of Dover during the night of 3/4 July and by dawn, German aircraft again began to pass by. The captain of Hartlepool, W. J. Rogerson, saw the Isle of Wight in the distance and By the afternoon of 4 July, OA 178 was south of Portland Bill. 4 July Portland harbour At 33 Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers of III./StG51 attacked Portland, escorted by Bf 110 heavy fighters (destroyers) of V./() and two of Bf 109s from 1./LG1. The auxiliary anti-aircraft ship (Captain H. P. Wilson Rtd) had been commissioned on 6 June 1940 and carried four twin high-angle 4-inch turrets, two quadruple 2-pounder pom-pom guns and several Vickers .50 machine guns. Foylebank had been based at the harbour for anti-aircraft defence since 9 June. When the Stukas bombed, they dived at angles of up to 90° towards the stern of the ship; at the dive-bomber eased to 45°, the pilot aligning the gun sight on the stern of the ship and opening fire, the bullets moving forwards to the stem of the ship. The pilot released the bombs as he saw the machine-gun fire pass beyond the bows and hit the water. The pilot had also set the altimeter to the local altitude above mean sea level and a