"Ramb I", "Ramb II" and "Eritrea" left Massawa around February 20, 1941, with both auxiliary cruisers heading to Nagasaki, and "Eritrea" to Kobe.After departing from Massawa, all three ships first passed by Perim evading the Royal Navy ships and Royal Air Force aircraft based at Aden and Socotra, then the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden and entered the Indian Ocean.