Before leaving Tunisia, the 1st Airborne Division was divided into two-halves. The first half, consisting of the divisional headquarters, the 1st and 4th Parachute Brigade groups and the 9th Field Company, Royal Engineers, boarded the Royal Navy ships at Bizerta. The ships departed at 17:00 on 8 September, their decks loaded with the division's vehicles and stores. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham was concerned that the Italian battle fleet based at Taranto might sortie and attack the cruisers which would be unable to defend themselves adequately, overloaded as they were with troops and equipment. He therefore ordered the battleships and and their six escorting destroyers, commanded by Vice Admiral Arthur Power, to leave their base in Malta and join the flotilla. At 18:30 8 September, while the convoy was at sea, General Eisenhower broadcast the details of the Italian surrender.