The similarities between the Continental Army's historic winter campground and the Icelandic region were not just confined to a homonymous relation of their names. The bitter cold, wind, and snow and the wartime operations seemed similar—the latter in the form of daily patrols, unceasingly vigilant for any signs of the "enemy". "Tuscaloosa" and "Wichita" "stripped ship" for war, removing accumulated coats of paint, interior and exterior, floor tiling, and other inflammable and nonessential items before they set out for sea on 5 November. As the task force steamed toward Iceland, its warships were constantly alert to the possibility of an imminent sortie by the German battleship , the sister ship of the sunken "Bismarck".