sentences:  Five fast and modern cargo liners were requisitioned from civilian service, but the conversion to auxiliary minelayers , , , and was not completed until October.Lack of escorts and support problems also restricted operations until Town-class destroyers from the Destroyers for Bases Agreement became available.The first minelaying mission left port ZA on 18 October 1940, and 10,300 conventional contact mines were laid at the southern end of the Iceland-Faeroes Ridge before the end of the year.