| Eastern Fleet (1941-44) East Indies Fleet (1944-52) Far East Fleet (1952-71) |
|
|---|---|
HMS Renown in 1944 with other Eastern Fleet ships |
|
| Active | 1941-1971 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Navy |
| Garrison/HQ | Trincomalee, Ceylon |
| Engagements | Loss of Prince of Wales and Repulse Indian Ocean raid Battle of Madagascar Operation Dukedom |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
James Somerville Bruce Fraser |
The British Eastern Fleet (also known as the East Indies Fleet and the Far East Fleet) was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed from 1941 to 1971. In 1904 First Sea Lord Sir John Fisher ordered that in the event of war the three main commands in the Far East, the East Indies Squadron, the China Squadron and the Australian Squadron, should all come under one command called the Eastern Fleet based in Singapore. The Commander-in-Chief on the China Station would then take command. During World War I the squadrons remained distinct commands and Eastern Fleet was used only as a general term. The three squadron structure continued until World War II and the beginning of hostilities with the Empire of Japan, when the Eastern Fleet was formally constituted on 8 December 1941, amalgamating the East Indies Squadron and the China Squadron.[1] During the war, it included many ships and personnel from other navies, including the Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal Australian Navy, the Royal New Zealand Navy and the United States Navy. With the creation of the British Pacific Fleet in 1944/1945, the Eastern Fleet became the East Indies Fleet until the end of the war, when it became the Far East Fleet and operated in all Far East areas including parts of the Pacific Ocean.
Contents |
Until World War II, the Indian Ocean had been a British "lake". It was ringed by significant British and Commonwealth possessions and much of the strategic supplies needed in peace and war had to pass across it: Persian oil, Malayan rubber, Indian tea, Australian and New Zealand foodstuffs. Britain also utilized Australian and New Zealand manpower; hence, safe passage for British cargo ships was critical.
Despite this, the Royal Navy had tended to station its older ships in the east and use the China Station and the Far East Station as a source of reinforcements for other theatres. Even when gravely threatened, the Eastern Fleet largely consisted of older capital ships too slow and vulnerable to be of use in the Atlantic or Mediterranean.
At the outbreak of World War II, the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) used auxiliary cruisers (converted merchant ships) and the Pocket Battleship Graf Spee to threaten the sea lanes and tie down the Royal Navy. In mid-1940, Italy declared war and the Italian vessels based in Italian East Africa posed a threat to the supply routes through the Red Sea. Worse was to come when the Japanese declared war in December 1941 and, after Pearl Harbor, the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse, and the occupation of Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies, there was an aggressive threat from the east.
This became reality when an overwhelming Japanese naval force operated in the eastern Indian Ocean, sinking an aircraft carrier, other warships and disrupting freight traffic along the Indian east coast. At this stage, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Sir Alan Brooke wrote:
We were hanging by our eyelids! Australia and India were threatened by the Japanese, we had temporarily lost control of the Indian Ocean, the Germans were threatening Iran and our oil, Auchinleck was in precarious straits in the desert, and the submarine sinkings were heavy.
The fear was that a concerted Japanese stroke could chase the Royal Navy from the Indian Ocean, with dire implications for India, and that German success in the Caucasus and in Egypt would threaten the Persian Gulf.
Until 1941, the main threat to British interests in the region was the presence of German commerce raiders (auxiliary cruisers) and submarines. The fleet had trade protection as its first priority and was required to escort convoys and eliminate the raiders. The Germans had converted merchant ships to act as commerce raiders and allocated supply ships to maintain them. The location and destruction of these German raiders consumed much British naval effort until the last raider - Michel - was sunk in October 1943.
On 10 June 1940, the entry of Italy into the war introduced a new threat to the oil supply routes from the Persian Gulf, which passed through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The Italians controlled ports in Italian East Africa and Tiensin, China. The Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) presence in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and the western Pacific Ocean consisted of destroyers, submarines, and a small number of armed merchantmen. The majority of these were based at Massawa in Eritrea as part of the Italian Red Sea Flotilla, primarily seven destroyers and eight submarines. During the course of 1940, the Red Sea Flotilla lost four submarines and one destroyer during early attempts to intercept British convoys in the Red Sea.
The Italian naval forces in East Africa were caught in a vice. To put to sea invited heavy British reaction, while to stay in ports threatened by British and Commonwealth forces became impossible. In 1941, during the East African Campaign, these ports were captured by the British. The Italians attempted to break out to German-occupied Europe, to the Vichy French colony of Madagascar, to Japan, to Tianjin, China, or to any other neutral port where they might find refuge.
Some of these breakout attempts were successful. Four Italian submarines successfully reached Bordeaux, two out of three of the Italian armed merchantmen reached Kobe, Japan, and a few other vessels made it to other Axis-friendly ports. The rest of the Italian vessels in East Africa were captured, sunk, or scuttled. Six Italian destroyers attempted to attack Port Suez and Port Sudan, but all six were lost due to a combination of British air and sea forces and scuttling by their own crews. In actions against the Italians, the Eastern Fleet lost two destroyers and a sloop.
The Eastern Fleet also supported British and Commonwealth ground forces in their actions in Iraq (Operation Sabine) and Iran (Operation Countenance).
Before the fall of Singapore, the Eastern Fleet's naval base at Singapore (HMNB Singapore) was part of the British Far East Command.
British Far East defence planning was based on two assumptions. The first assumption was that the United States would remain as an effective ally in the western Pacific Ocean, with a fleet based at Singapore, and that the Philippines would be available as a forward base for British warships.[2] Secondly, it was assumed that the technical capabilities and aggression of the Imperial Japanese Navy were over-estimated. In these circumstances, with the Japanese fleet engaged by the United States Navy (USN), the Admiralty sent the four obsolescent Revenge class battleships to Singapore to provide defensive fire-power and a British presence. The British assumptions were destroyed on 7 December 1941: the impact of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor denied substantial USN support to the British defence of the "Malay barrier" and made impossible the relief of American garrisons in the Philippines. Furthermore, Japanese capabilities exceeded expectations.
After the fall of France in June 1940, Japanese pressure on the Vichy authorities in French Indochina resulted in the granting of base and transit rights, albeit with significant restrictions. Despite this, in September 1940, the Japanese launched an invasion of French Indochina. The bases thus acquired in Indochina allowed extended Japanese air coverage of the invasion forces bound for Malaya and for the Dutch East Indies. In these circumstances, the Prince of Wales and Repulse were vulnerable to concerted air attacks from the Japanese bases in Indochina and, without air cover, they were sunk in December 1941. The modern aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable had been intended to be part of the squadron, but accidental damage prevented this. It's unlikely that the limited naval air cover thus available would have protected the squadron and the Indomitable might also have been a loss.
After the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse and the death of Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton assumed command of the Eastern Fleet. The fleet withdrew first to Java and, following the Fall of Singapore, to Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In March 1942, Admiral Sir James Somerville arrived in Ceylon and assumed command from Layton.
When Admiral Somerville inspected the base at Trincomalee, its deficiencies were clear to him. He found the port inadequate, vulnerable to a determined attack, and open to spying. An isolated island base with a safe, deep anchorage in a suitably strategic position was required. Addu Atoll met the requirements and it was secretly developed as a fleet anchorage. Once available, the facilities at Addu Atoll were used extensively by the Royal Navy.
The Eastern Fleet was divided into two: Force A and Force B. Force A consisted of the modernised HMS Warspite and the two available fleet aircraft carriers.[3] Force B was based on the slow Revenge class battleships of the 3rd Battle Squadron, based at the fleet's new operational base at Kilindini near Mombasa in Kenya and relatively safe from the Japanese fleet. Neither individually nor together could the two Eastern Fleet forces challenge a determined Japanese naval assault.
Following the Japanese capture of the Andaman Islands, the main elements of the Fleet retreated to Addu Atoll in Maldives. Then, following Chuichi Nagumo's Indian Ocean raid and raid on Ceylon in early 1942,[4] the Fleet moved its operational base to Kilindini near Mombasa in Kenya, as their more forward fleet anchorages could not be adequately protected from Japanese attack. The fleet in the Indian Ocean was then gradually reduced to little more than a convoy escort force as other commitments called for the more modern powerful ships.
In May 1942, the Eastern Fleet supported the invasion of Madagascar, Operation Ironclad. This was an operation aimed at thwarting any attempt by Japanese vessels to use naval bases on the Vichy French controlled territory. During the invasion, vessels of the Eastern Fleet were confronted by vessels of the French Navy (two armed merchant cruisers, two sloops, and five submarines) and submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy (I-10, I-16, I-18, and I-20 and midget submarines M-16b and M-20b).
After the departure of the main battle forces during February 1942, the Indian Ocean was left with mostly escort carriers and older battleships as the core of its naval forces. Allied advances in the Mediterranean and northern Europe during 1943 and 1944, however, released naval resources. As a result, more British aircraft carriers entered the area; plus the battlecruiser HMS Renown, battleships Howe, Queen Elizabeth, Valiant and supporting warships.
Preparations were put in hand for a more aggressive stance in the Indian Ocean and for British naval participation in the Pacific theatre. Agreement had been reached, after objections from Admiral Ernest King, but new procedures would need to be learnt by naval crews and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) aircrew. To this end, Operation Diplomat, a training exercise, took place in late March, 1944. The objective was for the fleet to rendezvous with a group of tankers (escorted by HNLMS Tromp) and practice refuelling at sea procedures. They then rendezvoused with United States Navy Task Force 58.5, the USS Saratoga and three destroyers, and returned to Trincomalee on 31 March. The U.S. task force had been detached to the Indian Ocean to bolster local air defences and also to impart necessary procedures to FAA aircrew, which was done over two or three days' intensive activity at sea. Sources for the dates of return to Trincomalee and the joint US/UK training differ.
Admiral King then 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 (now Jayapura) and Aitape on the north coast of Netherlands New Guinea. An airborne attack by the Eastern Fleet (including Task Force 58.5) on Sabang, off Sumatra was executed (Operation Cockpit). Surprise was achieved: military and oil installations were heavily damaged by the attacks, aggravating Japanese fuel shortages. The American involvement was extended to capitalise on the success with a second attack, this time on Surabaya, eastern Java, on 17 May (Operation Transom). The distances for this operation necessitated replenishment at sea. Again, the defenders were unprepared and significant damage was made to port, military and oil infrastructure. After this, on 18 May, Saratoga and her destroyers returned to the Pacific after what Admiral Somerville called "a profitable and very happy association of Task Group 58.5 with the Eastern Fleet".
At the end of August 1944, Admiral Somerville was relieved as Commander-in-Chief Eastern Fleet by Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, former Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet. Somerville had been Commander-in-Chief Eastern Fleet since March 1942. During this time, there had been friction between him and the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Theatre, Louis Mountbatten. The need for an influential military representative in Washington provided the opportunity for a change. Fraser later transferred his flag to the newly-formed British Pacific Fleet on 22 November 1944.
By this time, the Eastern Fleet included ships from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and France, and became the East Indies Fleet.
The Eastern Fleet was greatly augmented by units intended for the Pacific and, on 4 January 1945 two British carriers (HMS Indomitable and Indefatigable) made an attack on oil refineries at Pangkalan Brandon in Sumatra (Operation Lentil).
The final attacks were flown as Force 63 was en route for Sydney, Australia to become the British Pacific Fleet. Operation Meridian One and Operation Meridian Two were air attacks upon the oil refineries at Pladjoe, north of Palembang, Java and at Soengei Gerong, Sumatra. Although successful these were not as smooth as earlier attacks. Poor weather delayed fly-offs for both raids, 48 aircraft were lost or damaged and refuelling at sea was only completed with difficulty and damage due to poor weather and lack of expertise.
A number of Fleet Air Arm pilots were captured by the Japanese during the Palembang raid. These were taken to Singapore where at least some of them were executed by the Japanese military authorities.[5]
Important operations were launched in 1945 as the East Indies Fleet in the recapture of Burma, including landings on Ramree Island and Akyab and near Rangoon and diversionary operations (Operation Bishop).
On May 15–16, 1945, the British executed Operation Dukedom and the 26th Destroyer Flotilla (HMS Saumarez, Venus, Verulam, Vigilant and Virago) sank the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro in the Malacca Straits by torpedo attack.
This was the protection of merchant ships in the Indian Ocean and it was seen as the Eastern Fleet's primary role. The threats were German, Italian and Japanese submarines, German warships and Italian and German auxiliary cruisers. A substantial part of the Fleet was employed in escorting convoys and hunting submarines and surface ships and their supply vessels. For much of the war, with naval resources needed elsewhere, there were barely enough warships to perform these tasks and, without escorts, the battleships and aircraft carriers that remained could not safely be used.
After the war, the Fleet was once again based at Singapore Naval Base and took part in the Malayan Emergency and the Confrontation with Indonesia in the 1960s. By 1964 the fleet on station included HMS Victorious, HMS Centaur, HMS Bulwark, HMS Kent, HMS Hampshire, seventeen destroyers and frigates, some drawn from the Mediterranean, about ten minesweepers and five submarines.[6] Kent and Victorious helped to fill gaps in Singapore's radar cover by providing additional early warning.
The Flag Officer Second-in-Command Far East Fleet, for most of the postwar period a Rear Admiral, was based afloat, and tasked with keeping the fleet 'up to the mark operationally,' while the fleet commander, a Vice Admiral, ran the fleet programme and major items of administration 'including all provision for docking and maintenance' from his base in Singapore.[7] Jack Scatchard (1962–64), Peter Hill-Norton (1964-?), Edward Ashmore[8] and Terence Lewin, as Rear Admirals, were among those who held this appointment.
The Fleet was disbanded in 1971, and on October 31, 1971, the last day of the validity of the Anglo-Malayan Defence Agreement, the last Commander, Far East Fleet, Rear Admiral Anthony Troup, hauled down his flag.[9] That day, he took the salute aboard from RFA Stromness from his final remaining ships. Led by HMS Glamorgan, flying the flag of Flag Officer Second-in-Command Far East Fleet, the frigates HMS Scylla, HMS Argonaut, HMS Gurkha, HMS Arethusa, and HMS Danae, sailed past, along with the repair ship HMS Triumph and six Royal Fleet Auxiliaries. The Fleet was replaced by a small ANZUK naval squadron comprising British, Australian, and New Zealand ships.
During World War II, the British Eastern Fleet included, from time to time, a number of warships from other Allied nations, such as Australia (Royal Australian Navy), France (Free French Navy), the Netherlands (Royal Netherlands Navy), India (Royal Indian Navy), New Zealand (Royal New Zealand Navy), and the United States. Major ships attached to the Eastern Fleet, or where indicated, East Indies Fleet, included:
Commanders-in-Chief have included:[10]
Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet
Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Fleet
Commander-in-Chief, Far East Fleet
|
|||||