The British Pacific Fleet In 1944 the defeat of Nazi Germany was assured and the threat posed by the German Kriegsmarine had diminished. Tremendous efforts commenced in the United Kingdom to put together a great fleet of warships which were initially to be based on Sydney and which was of course destined to take part in the war against Japan. Some ships, particularly submarines, had for some years been operating from Fremantle in Western Australia, and a fleet had also been operating from the naval base in Trincomalee in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) This was the British Eastern Fleet later renamed the British East Indies Fleet. Scores of thousands of officers and ratings were allocated to these ships and they began fitting out these vast fleets for operations in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Residents of Sydney, Brisbane and many other Australian ports became used to seeing swarms of British sailors on their streets, in their pubs and in their dance halls. Many of these men married Australian girls and stayed in, or returned to Australia following the end of the war and their demobilisation. Their shore base in Sydney was known as HMS GOLDEN HIND. An establishment known as the British Centre close by Hyde Park was a rendezvous for many as this place provided meals and if needed a bed for the night. Dancing was also an attraction here. The BPF as it became known commenced operations against Japan initially by bombardments and air attacks from aircraft carriers whilst still on their way to Australia. These attacks were upon the Japanese occupied Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia). For their operations against Okinawa and mainland Japan the Royal Navy operated an extensive Fleet Train. This consisted of dozens of supply ships, oil fuel tankers and floating workshops, also submarine depot ships and other assorted types of vessels. The need for this Fleet Train was necessitated by the immense distances from Sydney to the areas of operations. They even took with them a Floating Dock ! The Fleet itself comprised 336 ships which included: seventeen aircraft carriers - ranging from Fleet Carriers, Light Fleet Carriers to Escort Carriers, Four Battleships, Ten cruisers, Forty destroyers (Four of which were manned by Australian crews of the RAN.) Eighteen Sloops, Thirteen Frigates, Twenty-nine Submarines, Thirty-five Minesweepers (About half manned by the RAN) many other specialist type vessels such as Hospital Ships, Salvage ships, Landing ships, Armament Carriers and among others even a Distilling ship (Not for distilling moonshine - but fresh water - the British ships carried huge quantities of rum, sadly no longer issued in the modern Royal Navy.) Bearing in mind that these figures do not include the East Indies Fleet which whilst not as large as the BPF still was a very potent force indeed comprising many more Aircraft Carriers, Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines etc; the British contribution to the assault upon Japan was very significant. The BPF became part of the United States Navy's Task Force 57 later being designated part of Task Force 37. The Fleet took part in operations against targets leading up to the final assault upon the mainland islands of Japan. These included the vicious battle for Okinawa during which all the British Fleet carriers suffered hits by Japanese Kamikaze suicide planes. However unlike their US allies the British carriers had armoured flight decks (Armoured flight decks) and following hasty repairs, the carriers were once again flying off strikes against the enemy sometimes within hours ! American carriers, having wooden flight decks either sank or were put completely out of action following similar hits. The British carriers had at any one time 300 aircraft available and these were backed up by considerable reserves for replacement of aircraft lost to enemy action or by accident. On the Carrier HMS FORMIDABLE alone these amounted to 78 aircraft. During one of the strikes a Canadian pilot Lt. Hamilton Grey 0f the RCN flying from the FORMIDABLE was awarded the Victoria Cross for his valiant efforts. Heavy attacks were carried out against targets throughout Okinawa and the Home Islands of Japan right up to the final day of the war, and upon receipt of the news of the Japanese surrender a message was sent to all ships of the fleet, that in the event of any ship still coming under attack by Japanese pilots refusing to accept their Emperors surrender orders, they were to be shot down in a friendly manner. It should be remembered that prior to coming out to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the British ships had fought long and arduous campaigns in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theatres against the navies of Germany and Italy, and in fact had been forced by circumstances to attack and disable the French fleet based in North Africa. The Royal Navy had operated in every square mile of all the world's oceans and seas from the Arctic convoys to Russia to the final surrender scene in Tokyo Bay. Both the British Pacific and East Indies Fleets became known in time as The Forgotten Fleets. In the euphoria of the victory in Europe the existence of these ships far from home was little known in Britain, and even today most Australians and Britons know little of their contribution to the final victory over Japan. This writer is proud of his own small contribution as a member of the East Indies Fleet which covered the area from the east coast of Africa to the west coast of Australia, and which played an important part in the recapture of Burma from the Japanese. Ships from this fleet took the surrender from Japanese garrisons throughout South East Asia from the Andaman Islands to Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies. I took passage home to England aboard the Midget Submarine Depot ship HMS BONAVENTURE. the vessel from which two Royal Navy men in a Midget Submarine sank the Japanese Heavy Cruiser TAKAO in the Johore Straits, both men thus earning the Victoria Cross. Many of the men of these two fleets emigrated to Australia after the war so that throughout this continent today thousands of elderly men, British and Australian, can proudly say I served with the British Pacific Fleet or The British East Indies Fleet and they march on Anzac Day with their memories. Their ranks grow thinner each year, but the survivors carry on the tradition and will continue to do so until, like their fleets, they become just a memory too. http://www.mckennas.demon.co.uk/british.htm
