On 12 February the situation at Palembang was alarming enough that the officer in command of the minesweepers, including the small minesweepers and that had accompanied "Ballarat" and "Toowoomba" from Singapore, ordered the ships to sea. At the request of the Dutch authorities they provided escort for a convoy of twelve ships heading for Batavia where in the Banka Strait the convoy joined a stream of vessels fleeing Singapore with the convoy itself growing to twenty-eight ships. The convoy hugged the coast and, though still attracting air attacks, were not the focus as a convoy of large tankers taking the main route was the main target.