Should Ceylon fall into enemy hands our whole military (when used in its widest sense) position in the Indian Ocean would be jeopardised and we could no longer ensure the above lines of communication.Ĥ. Supplies to China necessary for continuation of Chinese war effort depend on security in Indian Ocean.ģ. Ceylon occupies key strategic position and essential as secure base for control of our sea communications in Indian Ocean, including Middle East reinforcement route and routes to Australia, India and Burma.Ģ. Minute from Secretary of Chiefs of Staff Committee to Prime Ministerĭiversion of HMS Indomitable’s Hurricanes from Java to Ceylonġ. Somerville knew he faced the very real prospect of the war's first carrier-versus-carrier clash. En-route to Colombo, he had the air group practice what he regarded to be a vital skill: Night torpedo attack. the situation becomes really desperate'Īdmiral Somerville himself would board the freshly repaired armoured carrier HMS Formidable as it made its way eastward. Even if an invasion was supported by only a moderate force, ' the best counter is to keep an Eastern Fleet in being, and to avoid losses by attrition… if the Japanese capture Ceylon and destroy the greater part of the Eastern Fleet, then. He told the Admiralty that had no chance against the main strength of the Japanese navy. Rounding up the force was six submarines.ĭespite the apparent might of this force, Admiral Somerville quickly grasped the impossibility of his position. The light carrier Hermes had been busily engaged in anti-submarine escort duties, while HMS Indomitable had been rushing Hurricanes to the defence of Malaysia. The remaining R-class battleships, HMS Resolution and Revenge, joined their sisters in the Maldives, along with the redeployed Indomitable and eight destroyers. The heavy cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire were already there, though the latter was undergoing a refit.

Refugees from the fall of Malaya, the Dutch Heemskerck and Isaac Sweers, along with HMAS Vampire, were redeployed along with the cruisers HMS Enterprise, Dragon and Caledon. So the hero of Matapan and Calabria, HMS Warspite, was routed to Colombo via Australia after repairs in the United States. The core of his command was just the old, unmodernised battleships HMS Ramillies and Royal Sovereign.Įven as he prepared to move his flag to Colombo, Somerville was shocked at the scenario unfolding before him: ' How is it considered that two R-class under fighter cover can repel a landing? It seems to me that unless we have a balanced force we may get a repetition of Prince of Wales and Repulse'.ĭespite this realisation, Britain was simply not in a position to meet the Japanese threat head on.īut Churchill knew his political neck was on the line. If the same was to happen to Vichy-controlled Madagascar, the Cape of Good Hope could be closed.īut finding enough ships to do something about this was a cause for desperation.Īdmiral Sir James Somerville was urgently appointed as Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet. The Vichy government had already handed control of French Indo-China to the Japanese, allowing them to use its airbases against Singapore. The strategic Indian Ocean island of Madagascar was also under threat. It was obvious an attack on Ceylon was imminent. With the fall of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands along with northern Sumatra, the narrow sea lanes to Singapore and Malaysia were severed. The need for a strong British fleet in the Indian Ocean became urgently clear in the dawning days of 1942. If Ceylon fell, there was little doubt it would bring down his battered coalition government.

Just weeks earlier he'd been forced to face-down a no-confidence vote in Parliament.

As a staging post, it would allow Japan to raid the resources of India and vital oil fields of the Middle East.Ĭhurchill quickly realised that, after the loss of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, the fall of Singapore and the disaster at Darwin, this was the most dangerous moment of his political career. The fall of this, the fulcrum point of the Indian Ocean’s shipping lanes, would sever trade routes with Australia and New Zealand. On March 8, 1942, the First Sea Lord informed Prime Minister Winston Churchill that he regarded Ceylon to be Japan’s next target.Īdmiral Pound warned its loss would ‘undermine our whole strategic position in the Middle as well as the Far East' Their calculations proved almost correct. The Admiralty estimated it had just six weeks to assemble a viable defensive force for the strategic Indian Ocean island of Ceylon. Worst-case estimates projected that the Middle and Near East, the Caucasus, India and all of South East Asia would be under Axis control by September.Īll that stood in their way was the British Eastern Fleet.įour days after Singapore capitulated, the Port of Darwin in northern Australia was smashed. That the Axis would merge at some point between India and the Middle East appeared almost inevitable.

Naval actio madagascar refit