During early 1943, eight Australian-designed and built s were transferred to Egypt from the Indian Ocean, in preparation for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. They were part of a 3,000-ship Allied force. The corvettes arrived in the Mediterranean in May and were formed into the 21st and 22nd Minesweeping Flotillas. All eight ships survived the campaign without damage or casualties sustained in action, although experienced a near-miss from a German bomber. When the captain of enquired what damage had been sustained, the response from "Maryborough" read: "no damage except to my underpants".