Operation Banquet (Padang)

Operation Banquet was a British naval operation in World War II, under the command of Rear Admiral Clement Moody.[1] The objective was to carry out aerial strikes on Japanese positions in and around Padang, on the southwestern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, on August 24, 1944.[1] The forces involved successfully struck the primary targets of the attack, these being the Padang airfield, the large and strategically important Indaroeng cement works, and the harbor facilities and shipping at Emmahaven.[2][3]

Operational detail

Ships involved in the operation included the aircraft carriers HMS Victorious and HMS Indomitable; battleship HMS Howe, two cruisers, including the HMS Cumberland, and five destroyers.[1][4] Archival footage of the operation held by the Imperial War Museum shows operational takeoffs and landings by Fairey Barracudas, F6F Hellcats, and Vought F4U Corsairs.[5] The operation "marked the first time the British used a two-wave attack by two fleet carriers."[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jürgen Rohwer, Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939-1945: The Naval History of World War II, page 359, 2005.
  2. ↑ Ray Sturtivant, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, pp. 124–125.
  3. ↑ Neil McCart, HMS Victorious, 1937-1969, p. 66, 1998.
  4. ↑ M. J. Whitley, Battleships of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia, page 149, 1999.
  5. ↑ OPERATION BANQUET (Allocated), Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire.
  6. ↑ H. P. Willmott, Grave of a Dozen Schemes: British Naval Planning and the War Against Japan, 1943-1945, p. 150, 1996.
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