 Arriving in Malta during April at the height of the U-boat attacks, the small Japanese squadron immediately started escorting Allied troopships between Marseilles, Taranto, and ports in Egypt.For the next year and a half, the squadron took part in some 348 escort missions, involving some 750 ships and covering over 240,000 nautical miles.The squadron quickly earned such a reputation for excellent seamanship, that the Royal Navy eventually turned over two of its destroyers to be manned by Japanese crews for the duration of the war.