Short answers, pulled from the story.
By late July 1942, the island of Malta faced a desperate shortage of aviation fuel with only a few weeks remaining for defending fighters. The population endured rationing with daily intakes as low as 800 calories for adult men and even less for women and children.
Vice-Admiral Neville Syfret convened a conference on the 29th of July at Scapa Flow to organize the massive escort force. The convoy sailed from the River Clyde on the night of the 3rd of August escorted by Nigeria and twelve destroyers.
At 13:15 on the 11th of August a German submarine fired four torpedoes at HMS Eagle which sank eight minutes later south of Cape Salinas. About five hundred men were lost along with all but four Sea Hurricanes and sixteen aircraft total.
Melbourne Star Port Chalmers and Rochester Castle reached Grand Harbour at Valletta where Operation Ceres began unloading immediately. Four merchant ships and a tanker ultimately reached Grand Harbour giving the island ten weeks of supply beyond existing stocks.
Feldmarschall Albert Kesselring commanded German ground forces but held no authority over Axis operations in North Africa or convoy organization to Libya. Marshal Ugo Cavallero decided the fleet could not operate without sufficient protection while the Regia Aeronautica possessed three hundred twenty-eight aircraft including ninety torpedo-bombers and one hundred fifty-one fighters.