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The Indian Ocean was a British
lake at the start of the Pacific War, but this quickly
changed. The
destruction of Force Z
and subsequent fall of Singapore
exposed the Indian Ocean to raids by Japanese
naval
forces. The British responded by transferring significant
heavy forces to
Ceylon, but these
were mostly older, obsolescent ships
— all that the British could spare from the struggle in
Europe and the
Atlantic.
As it turned out, the British and Japanese refrained from a showdown in the Indian Ocean. The British could do little more than defend India, while the Japanese hesitated to commit to a long campaign against the British while an active U.S. Pacific Fleet remained at their backs. The Japanese staged a major carrier raid in the spring of 1942, and destroyed much shipping, but turned back after failing to bring the main British fleet to battle.
As a result, the British were able to
continue shipping
troops and equipment to the African front around the Cape of Good Hope,
and to
ship oil from the
Iraqi fields back the other way; but
they were unable to seriously threaten the Japanese position in the Netherlands
East Indies until quite late
in the war.
Following the collapse of Allied
resistance in southeast Asia, the Japanese Navy decided to stage a
carrier
raid on British positions in the Indian Ocean. The strategic thinking
behind this operation was rather muddled. Yamamoto had originally
pushed a plan to seize Hawaii, but
when detailed study showed that this was beyond the resources of the
Navy, the Combined Fleet
staff worked up an alternate strategy of seizing Ceylon so as to drive Britain
completely out of Asia. However, Germany
expressed little interest in a combined effort against south Asia, and
the Japanese Army was more interested in finishing off China and preparing to move against Siberia. The Japanese Navy scaled its
plan back to a major carrier raid, which was rather pointless given
that there were now no plans for any amphibious landings and the Far East Fleet posed no real threat. Nagumo sailed with five fleet carriers and their
escorts from Staring Bay
on 26
March 1942.
Following the destruction of Force Z, the British had rushed five battleships and three cruisers to Ceylon to defend India. Though the battleships were obsolete World War I ships, the fleet was now led by a first-rate commander, James Somerville. By the time he took command, on 28 March 1942, the Far East Fleet consisted of the five battleships, eight cruisers, two modern and one ancient aircraft carrier, fifteen destroyers, and five submarines. That same day, intelligence reported the sortie by the Japanese into the Indian Ocean. Somerville was well aware that his small carrier force was no match for Nagumo's task force, and he put to sea immediately with the intention of trying to lure the Japanese into a night action where his battleships would presumably give him the advantage.
Three days of searching failed to turn up the Japanese force, and Somerville was forced to take his fleet to Addu Atoll to replenish their fresh water supply. (His old battleships had balky fresh water condensers for the boilers.) Somerville also sent the small carrier Hermes and two cruisers back to Colombo, the Hermes to embark her aircraft (which had been left behind in the rush to clear the harbor) and the cruisers for much-needed dockyard work.
Unfortunately, the Japanese were still in the area. Nagumo's force
was spotted south of Ceylon, and Somerville rushed back to try to
engage. Meanwhile Nagumo launched a massive raid against Colombo that
found few worthwhile targets. The British lost 31 aircraft and the
Japanese nine. However, by the time the strike force had landed
and rearmed, scout planes from Tone had spotted the two
British cruisers making for Colombo. They were sunk in short order.
The British located Nagumo's force later in the day and attempted to close for a night engagement. However, Nagumo headed east to avoid contact. The next morning, the roles were reversed as the British fled to the west to avoid a carrier strike. By April 6 the Japanese had given up on the British fleet and moved to attack Trincomalee. Base facilities were severely damaged, and Hermes was sunk along with escorting destroyer Vampire when they returned prematurely to the harbor. The Trincomalee radar gave warning of the raid, and for the first time in the war Nagumo's air groups suffered more casualties than they inflicted: 24 Japanese aircraft were lost, versus 11 British.
The British counterattacked with nine Blenheim bombers. These approached
from the rear, in a blind zone of Hiryu's experimental
radar, and dropped all their bombs before the Japanese fighters could react. None of the
bombs hit, and five of the bombers
were subsequently shot down.
While these operations took place, Ozawa with Ryujo
and six cruisers sank 23 merchant ships in the Bay of Bengal.
Somerville now decided to retreat to the east coast of Africa, abandoning the eastern Indian Ocean to the Japanese. He was unaware that Nagumo had already set course for Japan for a much-needed refit.
Carrier Strike Force (Nagumo) | Also
described as Kido Butai ("Strike
Force"). The aircraft strengths here are nominal values. Actual
strength was likely reduced by unreplaced combat and operational losses. |
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Elements, Carrier
Division 1 (Nagumo)
|
Kaga
was in Japan with engine trouble. |
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CV Akagi | ||||
18 A6M Zero | ||||
27 B5N Kate | ||||
18 D3A Val | ||||
Carrier Division 2 (Yamaguchi) | ||||
CV Hiryu | ||||
21 A6M Zero | ||||
21 B5N Kate | ||||
21 D3A Val | ||||
CV Soryu | ||||
21 A6M Zero | ||||
21 B5N Kate | ||||
21 D3A Val | ||||
Carrier Division 5 (Hara) | ||||
CV Shokaku | ||||
18 A6M Zero | ||||
27 B5N Kate | ||||
27 D3A Val | ||||
CV Zuikaku | ||||
18 A6M Zero | ||||
27 B5N Kate | ||||
27 D3A Val | ||||
DD Akigumo | ||||
Battleship Division 3 (Mikawa) | On loan from First Fleet | |||
BB Kongo | ||||
BB Hiei | ||||
BB Kirishima | ||||
BB Haruna | ||||
Cruiser Division 8 (Abe) | On loan from Second Fleet | |||
CA Tone | ||||
CA Chikuma | ||||
Elements, Destroyer Squadron 1 (Omori) | On loan from First Fleet | |||
CL Abukuma | ||||
Destroyer Division 17 | ||||
DD Hamakaze | ||||
DD Isokaze | ||||
DD Tanakaze | ||||
DD Urikaze | ||||
Destroyer Division 18 | On loan from DesRon2 | |||
DD Kagero | ||||
DD Shiranuhi | ||||
DD Kasumi | ||||
DD Arare | ||||
Elements,
Destroyer Squadron 4 |
On loan from Second Fleet |
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Elements,
Destroyer Division 4 |
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DD Maikaze | ||||
DD Hagikaze | ||||
Malay
Force (Ozawa) |
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CA Chokai | ||||
Cruiser Division 7 (Kurita) | ||||
CA Kumano | ||||
CA Mikuma | ||||
CA Mogami | ||||
CA Suzuya | ||||
Carrier
Division 4 (Kakuta) |
||||
CVL Ryujo |
||||
16 B5N Kate | ||||
Destroyer
Squadron 3 |
||||
CL Yura |
||||
Destroyer
Division 11 |
Replaced by DesDiv 20 on 3-4
April 1942 |
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DD Fubuki | ||||
DD Shirayuki | ||||
DD Hatsuyuki | ||||
DD Murakumo | ||||
Submarine
Force |
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SS I-2 |
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SS I-3 |
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SS I-4 |
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SS I-6 |
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SS I-7 |
Far East
Fleet (Somerville)
|
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Force A (Somerville) | Fast class |
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BB Warspite |
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Aircraft
Carriers (Boyd) |
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CV Indomitable |
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9 Sea Hurricane |
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12 Fulmar |
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24 Albacore |
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CV Formidable |
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16 Martlet |
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21 Albacore | |||||
1 Swordfish |
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Cruisers |
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CA Cornwall | |||||
CA Dorsetshire |
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CL Emerald | |||||
CL Enterprise | |||||
Destroyers |
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DD Napier |
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DD Nestor | |||||
DD Paladin |
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DD Panther | |||||
DD Hotspur |
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DD Foxhound |
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Force B
(Willis) |
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CVL Hermes | |||||
814 Squadron | |||||
12 Swordfish | |||||
Battleships |
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BB Resolution |
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BB Ramilles | |||||
BB Royal
Sovereign |
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BB Revenge | |||||
Cruisers |
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CL Dragon | |||||
CL Caledon |
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CL Jacob Van Heemskerck | |||||
Destroyers |
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|
|
|
DD Griffin |
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DD Norman |
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DD Arrow |
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DD Vampire | |||||
DD Decoy |
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DD Fortune |
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DD Scout | |||||
DD Isaac Sweers |
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Colombo |
All aircraft counts for Colombo are lower limits. |
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DD Tenedos | |||||
15 Hurricane |
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2 PBY Catalina |
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4 Fulmar |
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9 Blenheim | |||||
Trincomalee |
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6 Swordfish |
|||||
17 Hurricane | |||||
6 Fulmar |
Yamamoto intended to station a powerful cruiser-destroyer force in Burma to carry out a commerce raiding
campaign against the British in the Indian Ocean while the Japanese
Navy carried out its Second
Operation Phase against the Americans. These plans were dropped following the landings
at Guadalcanal and the
cruisers redeployed to participate in the campaign to retake
Guadalcanal.
References
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