The success of Operation Begum in gaining control of the seas off East Africa eased the supply of the British land forces; ships on passage to and from the Mediterranean supplemented the Red Sea Force ships in offshore operations. The German ship sailed from Kisimayu in Italian Somaliland on 31 January and rendezvoused from 14 to 17 February with the heavy cruiser "Admiral Scheer", the auxiliary cruiser "Atlantis" and three British ships taken as prizes. The carrier , en route to the Mediterranean to replace "Illustrious", formed Force K with the cruiser and in Operation Breach on 2 February 1941, dispatched Fairey Albacores to mine Mogadishu harbour, bomb the ordnance depot, airfield, the railway station, petrol tanks at Ras Sip and the customs shed. The cruisers "Shropshire", "Ceres" and "Colombo" blockaded Kisimayu and in the Red Sea, "Pantera", "Tigre" and "Leone" based at Massawa in Eritrea made another fruitless sortie.