British preparations [ edit ] Japanese operation in the Northern Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal in 1942. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). Given the books faults I enjoyed it a lot and it fills a useful hole despite having one or two below the waterline itself.

The Royal Navy's doctrinal mistake had been in continuing to think of Carriers as supports to Battle Fleets- and not as strike forces themselves.The fleet withdrew first to Java and, following the fall of Singapore, to Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Overall, Japanese attacks on trade enjoyed some success, but after 1942 the presence of major Japanese naval units in the Indian Ocean virtually ceased. The size of the airstrike on Colombo was Somerville's first concrete evidence that the Japanese force contained more than the two carriers he expected. In the afternoon 1,122 survivors [30] from Dorsetshire's force were recovered, while maintaining a look-out for the superior enemy force with all-around air reconnaissance.

Both German and British authorities anticipated Japanese capture of Ceylon to solidify control of the Bay of Bengal and disrupt British resupply for defence of India, Australia, and perhaps the Middle East. A well co-ordinated strategy of air-sea power had given Japan, in record time, an Empire riche and more extensive than, any ever before erected in the world A more thorough, and infinite­ly more powerful air-sea combination was now tearing it apart. Admiral King requested that, during April, the Eastern Fleet should engage Japanese forces in their area and hold them there to reduce the opposition to an American seaborne assault on Hollandia and Aitape on the north coast of Netherlands New Guinea. Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages.The tonnage and number of ships sunk by Malay Force, are comparable to that of the 3-month long Operation Berlin raid conducted by two battleships of the Kriegsmarine from January to March 1941. Eastward, the deterioration was still more rapid as the Americans stepped with 700 league boots across the Pacific islands, marching on the Philippines. Although it was the largest fleet deployed by the Royal Navy prior to 1945 and played a vital part in the theatre it was sent to protect, it has no place in the popular consciousness of the naval history of the Second World War. The Indaroeng Cement Works near Padang in Sumatra which were supplying cement for pillboxes and tank traps against the threatened Allied invasion, were laid in ruins by the Eastern Fleet.