HMAS Stuart is replenishing fuel and munitions. While Stuart replenishes, lets form up Anzac on Sirius and start the Task Group moving towards RP Oscar.

Select HMAS Sirius and HMAS Anzac by drag-selecting both units, or selecting one and then adding another to the selection by shift-clicking. Press the G key to Group the selected units together. By default the ship with the largest displacement will be set as the group lead, which is suitable in most cases. To change the lead for a group, select the group and bring up the Formation Editor (F4), then select the desired lead unit and click 'Set Group Lead'. For this exercise, leave Sirius as the group lead.

The purpose of forming groups is to keep units in defined areas to support each other. In this situation we have an essentially defenceless HVU and two escorts; and we have three potential threat sources--air, surface and submarine. The surface threat is most likely to manifest as a cruise missile attack, so it makes sense to configure our defence to protect against submarines and air threats.

Ships in a group can be assigned stations, which can (and should) be configured to optimize their effectiveness. We will set HMAS Anzac as a picket and keep HMAS Stuart in close to Sirius for point defence once its RAS is complete. HMAS Sirius will set the pace of transit as the slowest unit. Lets assign HMAS Anzac a suitable station while Stuart completes their RAS.

Select the group and bring up the Formation Editor (F4), select HMAS Anzac from the list of units and click 'Set Station (Relative Bearing)'. Now click the map near the new reference point that has appeared 25nm ahead of HMAS Sirius to set the station for HMAS Anzac. This position is just outside the first convergence zone, and still just within the maximum range of the frigates air defences--providing an overlapping field of air defences immediately ahead of the HVU as well as screening well in advance for submarines. Because we have chosen a relative bearing, the station will move if HMAS Sirius changes course. This is useful on long straight transits, but can slow a task group down while units change stations if a lot of maneuvering is conducted.

If you wish, you can change the station type to fixed bearing by selecting HMAS Anzac in the formation editor, and clicking 'Set Station (Fixed Bearing)'. It is recommended to set HMAS Anzac to sprint and drift by checking the 'Sprint and Drift' box in the Formation Editor. This means that Anzac will sprint and drift to keep pace with the lead unit while making the best use of its hull sonar.

Once you have assigned HMAS Anzac to its picket station, resume time by pressing Space or clicking 'Close & Resume'.