In December 1939, 16,000 soldiers of the First Division of the Canadian Active Service Force under command of General A.G.L. McNaughton, were deployed to Halifax, Nova Scotia to await embarkation on seven ocean liners. As the convoy of ships set out, the main British battle fleet, on alert because of the German Deutschland battleship lurking in the Atlantic, took over escort duties. As they reached the shores of England, enshrouded in fog, the anxious troops wondered how they would be received.