 Immediately after the start of the war, the cruiser HMS "Philomel", loaned to New Zealand as a training ship, was augmented with 70 New Zealand reservists and sailed with two Royal Navy cruisers to escort the New Zealand troops sent to occupy German Samoa.Later in 1914 these three ships also escorted the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to Egypt.From January 1915, "Philomel" patrolled the Gulf of Alexandretta in the Eastern Mediterranean, supporting several landings and sustaining three fatal casualties, one being the first New Zealander killed in action in the war.