The main base of the Eastern Fleet relocated to East Africa, and Ceylon was reinforced, but Somerville kept his fast carrier division, Force A, '.in Indian waters, to be ready to deal with any attempt by the enemy to command those waters with light forces only.' However, the Japanese had no short-term plans to follow up on their success, and within the year operations in the Pacific made it impossible to do so.īackground Strategic situation The Eastern Fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir James Somerville, was forewarned by intelligence and sailed from its bases prior to the raid its attempt to attack the Japanese was frustrated by poor tactical intelligence.įollowing the attack the British expected a major Japanese offensive in the Indian Ocean. Japanese aircraft carriers under Admiral Chūichi Nagumo struck Allied shipping and naval bases around Ceylon, but failed to locate and destroy the bulk of the British Eastern Fleet.

The Indian Ocean raid, also known as Operation C or Battle of Ceylon in Japanese, was a naval sortie carried out by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 31 March to 10 April 1942.

Burma, India and China Japanese invasion of Burma

Indian navy world war 2