Burning Pacific: Book 5 of the Pacific Alternate Series by Max Lamirande

Author:Max Lamirande [Lamirande, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Obsidian Press
Published: 2022-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

Raid on Trincomalee part 2

Andaman Islands, Port Blair, February 15-18th, 1943

The island of Ceylon was strategically important since it commanded the Indian Ocean. It controlled access to India, the vital allied shipping routes to the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf oilfields. Ceylon held most of the British Empire's resources of rubber. It also had an important harbor and a naval base named Trincomalee, located on the island’s eastern coast. The place was also an unsinkable aircraft carrier from where the Allies could project their air power across the ocean.

The fall of Singapore in 1942 broke the United Kingdom's eastern defensive perimeter of the Bay of Bengal. It was soon followed by the occupation of Rangoon and most of Burma. Finally, the Japanese occupation of the Andaman Islands gave Japan control of the Andaman Sea, enabling ships to resupply Japanese troops in the Burma campaign for control of India and the Imperial Army's southern China ambitions. British authorities anticipated at the time (summer of 1942) that the Japanese would try to capture Ceylon to solidify control of the Bay of Bengal and disrupt British resupply for the defense of India and Australia. With the Middle East occupied by the European Axis (Italy and Germany), it wasn’t hard to foresee a link-up attempt between the three allies. Ceylon was hastily garrisoned by Australian troops returning from North Africa; Without much of an available fleet, an Indian squadron was created with two aging battleships, a few cruisers, and some destroyers.

Japanese intentions to mount a major offensive into the Indian Ocean were placed on hold near the end of the summer; strong naval forces were needed in the south Pacific against the United States, and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) refused to allocate troops for an invasion of Ceylon. In response, Grand Admiral Yamamoto sent a holding fleet to be based in the Andaman Islands under the command of Admiral Kondo. The man’s mission had broad outlines, giving him the flexibility to use his ships offensively and or defensively as he saw fit.

After sinking the British battleship Resolution and sending back Fuso to Japan for lengthy repairs, Admiral Kondo pondered for some time as to what to do next. Without a final confirmation of where the enemy fleet was, he assumed it was based in Trincomalee. The Japanese commander thus set his sights on destroying the harbor. If he didn’t have troops to take it, he figured he could put it out of action and sink some British ships while at it. His secondary aim was to disrupt British lines of communications in the Bay of Bengal and secure his own lines of supply to Rangoon, which produced precious oil for the refineries in the Home Islands.

Preparing the operation well in advance of his fleet sailing out of Port Blair, Kondo stationed reconnaissance submarines outside of the known British anchorages at Colombo and Trincomalee in Ceylon; their effectiveness was limited, and they didn’t report any major warship movement to the Japanese admiral. At

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