From 1 to 4 March, the submarines "Guglielmo Marconi", "Galileo Ferraras", "Perla" and "Archimede" sailed from Massawa for BETASOM the Italian submarine flotilla operating in the Atlantic at Bordeaux. The boats arrived from 7 to 20 May after taking on supplies from German commerce raiders in the South Atlantic. On 16 March Force D from Aden conducted Operation Appearance a landing at Berbera and the beginning of the re-conquest of British Somaliland. The Axis ships "Oder" (8,516 GRT) and "India" (6,366 GRT) sailed from Massawa on 23 March but "Shoreham" caught up with "Oder" at the Straits of Perim, the western channel of the Bab-el-Mandeb and the crew scuttled the ship; "India" took refuge in Assab. "Bertrand Rickmers" (4,188 GRT) tried to break out on 29 March but was intercepted by "Kandahar" and scuttled; "Piave" set out on 30 March but only got as far as Assab. On 31 March, three of the Italian destroyers at Massawa sortied against shipping in the Gulf of Suez. "Leone" ran aground outside Massawa and had to be sunk, after which the sortie was abandoned. departed on 1 April but was forced to turn back. On 2 April, the five remaining Italian destroyers were due to attack the fuel tanks at Port Sudan and then scuttle themselves but RAF reconnaissance aircraft from Aden spotted the ships.