I, absolutely, had no idea that the British Royal Navy carriers had squared off against the Imperial Japanese Navy carriers, at all!!!! WOW!!! Thank God they did what they did, otherwise, things might have turned out differently for the United States Navy!!!! Things may have been WORSE for us!!!!! Eessssshhhhh!!!! Thank you, lads, of the British Royal Navy for your little-known BUT, EXTREMELY VITAL contribution to the United States Navy's efforts in the Pacific Ocean!!!! Hand salute!!! Ready, two!!!!
Always nice to see one of the more reasonable of our transatlantic cousins commenting. Thank you Derek for carrying the torch for your country in these comments, there are far too many US commenters in most threads who do your country a great disservice. We decent types here in the UK still thank the US contribution to the destruction of 20th century militarism. Best of luck in your own current internal intrigues, we're ALL infested by corporate globalism doing its best to destroy the old world. We have to maintain the history for the future.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Well. Thank you for your kind words. I truly appreciate them. Yes. Sadly, many in my country aren't being educated anymore. They're being indoctrinated. Makes me wanna puke!!!! Listen. It took the generation from BOTH our countries to beat back what Sir Winston Churchill called the German government at the time: "the New DARK AGE OF NAZI TYRANNY!!!!" Along with the militarists in Japan!!!! But, thanks, again for your kindness.
I have noticed some rather callous and ruthless comments criticizing the RN and the RAF concerning the events chronicled in the video. While the U.S. was dealing with concerns about fighting a two ocean war, the RN was in the unenviable position of being faced with a three ocean war. What more they could have been expected to do at the time, and considering what they had to work with, I do not know. Very well made video, and much appreciated.
Anybody that criticizes the British is an idiot and obviously is an amateur in history. The British held the line ALONE till we got our pants on in America. We could not have done it without our allies.Simple as that.Well done UK, Very Well Done!!!
try and imagine what it would be like for Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. All the oceans and sea have to guard and counter attack against the enemy, you have Kriegsmarine in the North Sea, English Channel Alantic ocean with submarines attacking the merchant vessels, the Regia Marina italian navy in the mediterranean, and out of nowhere you have the japanese empire attacking you in the far east. it's amazing we survived the war, let alone won it. can't imagine the uk going through that today you, the half population will just complain and ask for peace instead of going through a little hardship.
British commanding Admiral did the right thing to not seek engagement with Japanese forces. At that stage of the war and with a far superior Japanese fleet the British Navy needed to husband their forces and buy time. Engaging with the Japanese would have resulted in more losses in capital ships and probably little damage to the Japanese fleet. I'm a Yank, but I completely support the decisions of the British Admiralty, strategically they did the right thing.
They didn't have much of a choice a large part of their strategy involved the large French fleet. It's thanks to the bravery of the French that Germany didn't get hold of the French fleet (for the most part).
You may have seen the ensign from the older Hermes. When I was 9 we toured HMS Victory at Portsmouth, where I acted as powder monkey to assist a marine in explaining how the crew of a gundeck worked. Afterward, the marine pulled a chunk off a timber and told me to put it under my jumper. I have it within reach in a showcase in my office. We were in Portsmouth to hand over a flag that my late uncle John had accidentally left with his fiancee in Capetown about 1941-42. He'd been part of a small crew doing a night attack dropping depth charges under the steering gear of the Vichy French battleship Richelieu in Dakar harbour, for which he was mentioned in dispatches. The boat's stern ensign being bright white, he'd put it in his knapsack. He later went on leave, not realising it was still in his bag, and it got left in Capetown. When the Hermes was sunk on 8 April 1942, the flag became the only thing left from the old Hermes. We retrieved it from Capetown when we were there in 1970, and when we got back to England, presented it to admiralty staff and the captain of the new HMS Hermes.
Battles in Norway sinking and wrecking 6 kreigsmarine destroyers in droback sound, take on mare regiana in the Mediterranean as well. Royal navy equivalent to uss enterprise as fighteningest ship
Thanks very much for this fascinating account. The narration by the surviving servicemen is excellent. (though auto-subtitling struggles at times) My father was a RN Petty Officer in Fleet-Salvage Division in the Indian Ocean having volunteered at 17 (October 1942) and recounted many experiences there - and many of the place-names (Trincomolee, Columbo etc) mentioned here featured in his stories. This video footage and commentaries by those involved bring true meaning and reality to me, from my Father's own accounts - related to me back in the 60s, 70s etc.
My father served throughout WW2 in the Royal Navy, first of all onboard HMS Dorsetshire, where he both assisted in the rescues of the Bismarck survivors, and a year later survived the sinking of Dorsetshire herself during the "Indian Ocean raid", he went on to serve onboard HMS Warspite at Salerno, HMS Valiant in the Indian Ocean and ended the war on a submarine tender HMS Adamant in Australia. He used at least two of his "nine lives" during the war, as during both the dive bombing attack on Dorsetshire, and the Fritz X attacks on Warspite, he was "off watch" from his stoker's station in the boiler rooms, which on both occasions mentioned effectively meant a death sentence. I grew up through the 60s and 70s listening to tales of hardship, boredom & terror, but also the camaraderie they shared from Dad and his shipmates whenever they paid a visit (usually assisted by plenty of "pusser's rum"). My greatest regret to this day is that I never recorded their stories. Unfortunately they have all now "crossed the bar" to use the words of Tennyson's poem. Thank you for presenting the stories of these wonderful men for posterity. Hopefully it will show younger generations that may see them that far from being "murderous British" as the MSM like to portray our country nowadays, these were ordinary young men, put through utterly incredible circumstances and finding the strength, both individually and collectively to come through the other side.
Another real quality addition to your channel. You keep on coming up with new information from archives. I admire the amount of work you put into this site! Thank you Jamie.
What an amazing story and a historical account of a battle that is intitled to far more recognition. I have always know of the British tangling with the IJN out there around the Asian Islands, Pacific, Indian Oceans... I was Clueless to the fact anything this big had happened.
There was a Canadian RCAF squadron of PBY Catalina’s in Ceylon. 413 squadron commanded by squadron leader Leonard Birchall. They had just arrived there after doing convoy protection duties on the arctic run to Russia called the Murmansk run. On April 4 1942 413 squadron was returning back to base in Ceylon from patrol when Birchall spotted a dot on the horizon. He ordered the rest of the squadron back to base while he went to investigate. His PBY was shot down by the Japanese but not before Birchall had made a full report on types size and coarse of the enemy fleet. The crew and especially Birchall were horribly treated by the Japanese but they claimed they’d had no time to make a report and had no idea as to the size and strength of the British fleet because they had just arrived in the area. This and the fact that the Japanese had sunk the 3 British ships on the east coast of Ceylon the Japanese felt that the way was clear for them to conquer Burma and India. St. Catherines Ontario native Len Birchall gained the moniker “Savior of Ceylon” for his action that day Birchall received the DFC and for his heroism and for his actions in captivity he was awarded the OBE. Winston Churchill proclaimed that Leonard Birchall made one of the most important single contributions to Victory.
Historian Alexander Clarke thinks that Sommerville should have engaged on night attack against the Japanese. The British have radars installed on their planes and ships which would be advantageous at night while the Japanese don't have radars. So, Clarke believes that had the British attacked, they would have sunk the Japanese carriers. Also, the British were trained for night combat so they would have had the skills and advantage!
@@impalabeeper as a Brit , sorry to have to say this , but RN carrier aircraft design/doctrine was well and truly mired in the early thirties. Of the three major naval combatant's, the RN were " the Flintstones" in carrier ops . They made their contribution later , after they had taken delivery of many US built aircraft, which replaced all British design's. They did succeed in making the F4U a viable and perhaps the most formidable carrier borne fighter of the war , however . We must accept that the US and Japan were streets ahead in Naval Aviation. Blame the RAF .
@@michellebrown4903 CAP and fighter direction was lead solely by Britain, with everyone else far behind the RN, and was probably the most important thing of war for carriers. Their damage control measure meant that their carriers would never go up in fireballs even if hit by an absurdly large number of bombs (see HMS Hermes) and was the second most important thing for carriers
My grandfather was on a merchantmen that was damaged in this raid. Limped to South Africa afterwards. This is after just escaping Singapore. Lucky man.
My father was very proud of his service. He joined up in 1939, spent a year on the minelayer Abdiel, including convoy runs and the Battle of Crete, and was in Alexandria when they heard Barham blowing up. He went to office-training school, spent much of the rest of the war 'spud-running', in support of the Army in the Med. He was on his way to the invasion of Japan in 1945, having trained for the rocket landing ships. He returned home without a scratch, unlike so many.
What I find most telling about the Japanese attitude to war during this whole thing is the fact that this isn't the only time I've heard of Japanese pilots strafing people who are already in the water, usually navies will try to rescue even the crews of enemy ships and frequently they did that if they could, to have pilots strafe at sailors who have already lost their ships really goes against all the written and unwritten rules of naval warfare.
The 5th Airforce strafed Japanese troopship survivers off New Guinea with B25's some having five 50 cals. mounted in the nose of the plane. Both sides took liberties with swimmers.
Fascinating. From a strategic pov I never quite grasped how important the Indian Ocean was and how close the U.K. had been to serious danger. I find the persistence and level of under-estimation of the IJN (and Japanese military in general) astonishing.
That was a lesson sorely learned by anyone fighting the Japanese. For us yanks after pearl, Wake and the coral sea engagements I'd say the view piont of the Japanese Armed Forces changed quickly and drastically.
By tying up the Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean Somerville bought the US time to get what was left of their own fleet organized. Somerville was wise not to endanger his Carriers with a battle because their very existence was more threatening to the Japanese then they could be in batte.
The strike arm of the US fleet, it's aircraft carriers, were intact, complete with modern planes. The US fleet was able to stop the Japanese at Coral Sea and defeat the Japanese at Midway within six months of Pearl Harbor. On the other hand the British were almost useless in the Indian Ocean. They lost the Prince of Wales, their most modern battleship and Repulse early. Their aircraft carriers were slow with obsolete planes.
@@phillipnagle9651 "Their aircraft carriers were slow". Top speed of the Illustrious class was 31 knots. USS Enterprise: 32 knots. The aircraft were indeed obsolete, as the Fleet Air Arm was controlled by the RAF until 1939, who concentrated almost exclusively on land based aircraft. You may not have noticed that at the time the RN were fighting the Battle of the Atlantic, keeping Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Tirpitz under control, and fighting for control of the Mediterranean.
@@originalkk882 the Japanese virtually invented air power at sea. The US were getting slaughtered at Midway before a squadron of American dive bombers got lost in the clouds and accidentally came across the unguarded Japanese carriers and sank them virtually unopposed, giving the returning Japanese planes nowhere to land and depleting their naval Air Force.
@@lynby6231 This is not even close. The US aircraft being shot down in the early phase of the battle were land based from Midway. The USN carrier attack was not lost and did not accidentally come across unguarded Japanese carriers. The skill and courage of Lt Comdr McClusky, commanding the USS Enterprise Air Group led to the dive bombers of VS-6 and VB-6 successful attack on two of the Japanese carriers, IJN Kaga and IJN Akagi. After searching for the Japanese at the estimated grid and bearing (based on earlier recon flights spotting the Japanese fleet) given to them prior to launch, McClusky made the astute tactical decision to search north away from Midway instead of south and closer to. This was the most likely tactical decision by Nagumo to place his fleet out of land based bomber range, whilst still in strike range of his aircraft. Whilst using the Box Search method, McClusky spotted the wake of destroyer IJN Arashi, steaming at full speed to rejoin the attacking fleet after having unsuccessfully depth-charged U.S. submarine Nautilus, which had unsuccessfully attacked the battleship IJN Kirishima. McClusky correctly assessed that the lone destroyer was returning to the fleet and followed it and launched his attack. Simultaneously, the USS Yorktown's VB-3 (also not lost in the clouds and finding their target after good navigation and search techniques) attacked IJN Soryu successfully. The Japanese fleet was not unguarded, the CAP was busy attacking the VT-3 from Yorktown who had launched their attack from low altitude.
My Grandmother and her brother was reading to go to Sunday school (in Buddhist temple) in Colombo when this happened. She loved saying stories about that day. How colombo was raided and people was fleeing Capital after this happened. ( My grandmother's family didn't) I remember having nightmares about plane bombing after hearing those stories when I was a child 😅
Well, you learn something new every day and this was a big one. I never heard this and in retrospect quite glad the Brits engaged in this action against the Japanese navy.
I for one have never or will ever call the British military, RAF and naval forces cowardly. They have proved resolute courage forever. The British Admiral displayed great sagacity and courage in his decisions. Rather than steam into a naval fight, battle pennants, flags and smoke streaming with a cutlass clenched in his teeth --- to his, his sailors and fleets assured deaths, he wisely marshaled his forces for future actions. Wise, very wise.
The U.S. was caught, yet again, with a peacetime military that was completely unprepared for war. The British fought tooth and nail while we geared up for what we should have seen coming long before. Their sacrifices were legendary, and we should all be cognizant that it might happen again. We should have each other's backs and let go of the petty sniping about past differences.
A night attack using Albacore biplanes in a torpedo attack on Nagumo`s carriers. Only the Royal Navy could come up with that one and hope to pull it off!
@@geordiedog1749 You are missing the huge daylight range difference. Albacores and Swordfish ranges weren't all that great, so the British carriers would have to get somewhat close ... in daylight ... while the Japanese aircraft had extremely long range. I've gamed this. It's almost impossible for the British to do.
Thanks for posting this. What a mess. Good decision to save the fleet to fight another day. Hard to have any respect for the Japanese with their consistent record of such atrocities.
I know war bring out the worst of us, but I still cant fathom their motivation to attack shipwrecked sailors...particularly this early in the war when everything had gone Japan’s way. 🤷♂️😢
Thats what happens when you force a feudal country to rapidly modernize. If america left japan alone, they would still be using muskets by world war I and II
The unsong heroes were the support vessels, ie Oilers/Ammunition carriers - in a way I salute the USN for taking up the fight however, they took TOO long to realise the threat, cheers Roosevelt, a sadly missed friend, sorry you never got to see the results of your efforts - I`d buy you a Pint anyday!
really would like to here your EXPERT opinion on what the US could have done otherwise. ABDAFLOAT was a huge disaster; ships, men and planes lost to no effect. Force Z a huge and idiotic mistake. Lots of blunders early in the war by all the Allies. Now before the war? I ask again what could the us did that they did not do? Besides the depression making sure there was so little funding we could not even afford to test our torpedoes, we had isolationists and pacifists fighting every defense increase. FDR was not a miracle worker.
If the British had realized the threat the Japanese posed earlier as well, they probably wouldn't have thrown away the Prince of Wales and Repulse. It wasn't just the US that thought Japan wasn't a threat. The entire Western world did.
@@gruntforever7437 I can easily answer the comment over Torpedoes - TRUST the HIGHLY trained crew that used this weapon and found it wanting. The Kriegsmarine had a similar problem, but had sorted it by Mid 1940 but you Guys didn`t seem to learn once engaged in Late 1941. FDR was the best Friend the WORLD had at this time and sadly never saw the results of his efforts - the potential of air/submarine power had not yet been realised, thank goodness the Japanese didn`t appreciate the value of RADAR!
Once again, stunningly good content using this unique and well-crafted structure👏👏👏 I guess he’s running out of actions for which there’s authentic footage and participant testimony, but Im so grateful for what we’ve already had and I just hope we get some more. 🤞🤞🙏🙏
@@ArmouredCarriers Thanks. I hope you are able to improvise somehow, just to keep the great content coming. If you have a ‘disclaimer’ caption or otherwise explain what you’ve done(eg. actors voices or related footage) then Im sure your viewers would understand. If you watch the acclaimed ‘World at War’ series the exact same artillery barrage and Stuka dive bombing sequences appear in 20 different battles😂 Not suggesting you need to go that far, but you needn’t be a purist either.
That IJN fleet was formidable. 5 carriers and 5 battleships, as well as 2 of their most powerful heavy cruisers. Somerville had already proven himself in the Mediterranean and this was additional proof of his high caliber.
Seriously what is wrong with the algorithm TH-cam! I constantly do searches for World War II Indian Ocean naval battles, as well as searches on HMS Hermes aircraft carrier. And this comes to me six months after it was originally released are you flipping kidding me really!!!!! Great video too bad TH-cam wasn’t willing to let me know when you originally released it🎉
C'mon surely you can't be disappointed with the never ending outflow of "K-pop", "anime", and "augmented reality" lifestyle channels that YT constantly "recommends for you"?
Just note that no aircraft carriers in operation in ww2 used a ramp on their deck. The ramp causes a loss in horizontal velocity, which increases the chances of a stall, and therefore decreases the maximum payload capacity of the aircraft itself. No American carriers have ever used a ramp either.
Ramps are used to allow the planes to take off and land with heavier payloads on modern carriers. This applies to VTOL aircraft but not sure about others
Sometimes you feel for the Japanese loss of life, like when capital ships sink, so many thousands died. Then you hear the stories of them trying to massacre survivors of sink ships. Which makes you change your mind Also theses atrocities were happening at the early parts of the conflict before the reported incidents of similar allied events.
It's not taught often in Western history classes... but the atrocities the Japanese perpetrated on the peoples of South East Asia, and the way they treated prisoners of war is often cited as worse than the Nazis ever were in Europe. The Holocaust was awful, no doubt, but more people in China, Korea, Philippines and Burma were straight up murdered than the Holocaust can be attributed to.
Admiral Denis Boyd commanded the carriers, and his son Andrew wrote a book about the Eastern Fleet extolling its role in the war. I have a free print-and-play game on my webpage titled Mongoose vs. King Cobra: Indian Ocean Carrier Raid, if anyone is interested. REAL hard to get the British carriers close enough for a night-time torpedo attack. I've included heightened collision possibilities if they *can* get a strike in. Think flaming (Roman) pigs among Carthagian elephants ... at night. 😈
I don't see any distinction between 'helpless' men inside a ship that's being attacked, or 'helpless' men in the water waiting to be rescued so they can get back in a ship and start fighting again. It's a bit childish to say, that one we can kill, but that one we must leave alone.
@@originalkk882 Ha ha. I spent many years sailing big yachts deep sea - sometimes single handed. However - that has nothing to do with the point in question. And the point is this : if u have an enemy that needs to be killed, why allow him the privilege of excusing himself from the fight because suddenly his circumstances have changed for the worse? A sailor saved from the water (or an airman saved by parachute) is an enemy who will be quickly be given a new ship (or plane) in which he will return and try to kill you - all over again. The protocol of not killing sailors in the water, or airmen on a parachute, or soldiers in a hospital, is actually rather childish. Why risk your life to kill an enemy, only to allow that enemy to escape and come back and kill you later?
In "Shattered Sword", Parshall and Tully remind us that the Japanese "Striking Force" was a raiding force, and that Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean, and even Nagumo's part of Midway, were all raids. Until the US Task Force 58, beginning in 1943 and 1944, it was assumed that a carrier group could not stand by and overwhelm a land position. The IJN's Indian Ocean raid was never intended to advance with the Japanese Army in Burma toward capturing India or the Indian Ocean. If nothing else, the IJN would not cooperate with the Army. It saw the IJA as almost as dangerous an enemy as the Allies. (Oh, and yet another splendid video, Armoured Carrier!)
So much as yet unseen film (even if anachronistic @ times)! Forgive my lack of enthusiasm 4 the Albacore vs the (strangely lucky) Swordfish; a disorderly herd of the former looks 2 me like air pollution. That shot of several Rs in loose formation called up the phrase 'The King's ships were at sea' 💜, w/ Rs upholding completely that WWI look. Poor old Hermes was never meant 4 anything resembling this event; she was N aviation scout prototype, & well done as such 💔. The Japanese looked very cheerful in this early period, pre Coral Sea. Again, absolutely lovely film! 💜
Greetings from America. Love this channel, lots of cool stuff to learn and digest here. I have a question for y'all. Was there some reason, outside of proximity to its own naval bases, why the US fleet never participated in any major engagements in the Indian Ocean? I could be wrong, but I don't think our navy did much west of Australia except maybe patrol here and there.
Operation Diplomat was when USS Saratoga joined with HMS Illustrious in the Indian Ocean to "teach" the RN carriers how to operate in the US style. It was returning the favour of USS "Robin", when HMS Victorious went to the Pacific to fill the carrier gap and "taught" USS Saratoga about radar-guided fighter interception. www.armouredcarriers.com/illustrious-and-saratoga Ultimately, though, the Japanese navy just wasn't all that active in the Indian Ocean. Burma and Sumatra were a Japanese army operation.
with what the americans did with troops in eruope and for the most part being to far to help in the north atlantic except for the uboat cover you provided , russia convoys the indian ocean and the pacific you kept your ships until you had a decisive advantage to do what the admirals wanted to do and you did still have losses from pearl the timing was off enough to seem like you did not help but it is a false assumption, you did what you did when you could win, so no blame there bud we all did what we could and second guessing is a bummer to anyone with common sense in the end WE won and you are part of that so tk you bud and you sailors who gave it all
Never considered British & Japanese Navel Action in the Indian Ocean. Without their presence the US Battle of the Coral Sea and subsequent engagements leading up to Midway could have resulted in different consequences. Makes you realize how formidable the Japanese Navy & Naval Air were in the early stages of the Pacif Theater in WW II. Thank God the English didn't surrender to Hitler and the USA didn't "Beg" for merch after Pearl Harbor. Thanks
16:37 my father was SBS Marine on the Cornwall and was in the magazine when she was hit - he escaped and ended up in the water with survivors. Oil from the ship affected his body particularly his ears.
I have a question: : "Due to the tropical climate in the area, the high angle radars on the Prince of Wales and Repulse became useless. " .. do you know what it refers to? It is mentionned in the Battle of Malaya.
I'm not sure you can call this a "face off" let alone an analog to Midway. The fleets didn't engage each other. Nonetheless, very compelling first hand accounts. Thank you.
PS Didn`t HMS Dragon get transferred to the VALIANT Free Polish Navy, and once totally worn out, serve on as a breakwater/blockship at Normandy/D Day? Excellent channel, no use of inappropriate film, and cheers to, in particular the RNAS, the `Scrap Iron Flotilla`s` Vampire, box of cigars!
Dragon actually had a major refit at Cammell Lairds between January and August, 1943, after being handed over to the Polish Navy. She was torpedoed and badly damaged off Normandy in July 1944, and too crippled to be worth repairing. Fortunately, most of the crew survived, and a sister ship, Danae, was handed over to the Polish Navy in October, to which they transferred. Danae was renamed 'Conrad.'
They only just mention this raid in our history books..In my opinion any person regardless of being british, canadian , sinhala, tamil who participated in defence of ceylon should be a hero in sri lanka
Who should get the credit for ending Western colonial domination of Asia? The freedom fighters of Asia. Who are these freedom fighters? Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army, Sukarno of Indonesia, Aung San of Burma, Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, Mahatma Gandhi of India and Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan. They were all united by one overriding aim described in a nutshell ' Asia for Asians'.
Seriosly....ask about tojo's heroics from chinese or koreans. They will think you as a lunatic on the spot. Search about rape of Nanking. And seriously while japan caused our freedom indirectly they never intended that. And Japanese consider everyone inferior to them at that time..Do you seriously think asia under japanese occupation would be better? And your answer is totally irrelevant to my comment..while I hate colonial powers and admire the leaders of independence movement in asia that is not the point. I consider those british and canadians who participated in defence of ceylon heros because they were protecting us from the far right nationalistic japan...
@@heshangunarathna3262 Ask the Natives of America, Australia, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Namibia and Belgian Congo and Black Africans in general, what they think of the White man and their Genocidal Crimes against Humanity, you will receive a fitting reply.
@@senakaweeraratna741 you are comparing white colonizers of 18th and 19th century against 20th century industrial barbarians..how smart of you? And pls tell me how japanese be any better than british. First of all pls tell me why are you generalising white men? Like thinking all of them are evil or something. Even in america before the revolution british kept american colonies from expanding which will only raise the tensions between natives and colonies. It was only after 1776 revolution they had manifest destiny ideology where they took all the lands from natives. And why are you saying things like this which is not connected to japanese raid against ceylon. Obviously at the moment ceylon was promised freedom after the ww2. And in an unlikely event japanese conquest we would have to give up that and instead open up brothels for japanese soldiers like they did in korea. I may hate european imperlism of past 500 years .And I know the things that led to that. But in 1942 there were no more bigger enemy of ceylonese than japanese. And if for a moment british empire had abandoned us we would be under the yoke of japanese co prospherity sphere. If you for a moment think that japanese cared about other asians then you are delusional.
@@senakaweeraratna741 Just because Japan accidentally opened the way for Brits to handover Ceylon to uneducated politicians doesn't mean you should support brutal WWII Japanese Empire. Brits also were brutal, but still Brits were much more humane in the 20th century than Japanese who even bombed a mental hospital. Would you thank N*zis because they were also a cause of the Ceylonese independence?
They had a desalination ship at their secret base in the Maldives. It's just that the R-Class was so old and designed for the frigid waters of the North Sea and North Atlantic. Their systems couldn't meet tropical demand.
Arguably the one battleground where HMS Warspite did not get scarred, did not spin those excellent 15” guns around … playing cat and mouse with the Japanese
"Britain's Midway"? They could have chosen a more fitting title. I was not familiar with this story, and I was waiting for the British fleet to somehow surprise the Japanese fleet and repulse them from the Indian Ocean. Sounds like quite the opposite. At one point in the video a sailor was speaking of the British Fleet as a deterent to the Japanese entering the western Indian Ocean. I want to learn more about this because it doesn't sound like the Japanese were deterred in any fashion. Interesting video none the less, and I respect the fight of the British to hold out during the war inspite of their initial losses.
The Indian Ocean raid was undertaken to protect a large Japanese troop convoy movement after the fall of Singapore. The Eastern Fleet did indeed act as a deterrent to Japanese ambitions in the western Indian Ocean, because such a Japanese operation would have required a major transfer of Japanese naval assets from their main area of operations, the Pacific. As a result, the Japanese never had any ambitions in the Madagascar area, if for no other reason than that the logistics involved were totally beyond their capabilities.
When you consider the fact that in almost every respect the empire/commonwealth countries in the Southern Hemisphere were nowhere near being combat ready, not even ready to take on the, at that time, Italian naval forces that were not exactly the cutting edge of sea power, if the combined vessels of the southern fleet had met the full might of the Japanese navy it could have been a total rout, British naval might was considerable, but not so considerable that it could cover both the northern and southern theatres of war, we, the allied forces at that time, had such vast areas to cover, on land, sea and in the air that we were lucky to survive. No disrespect to any of the allied forces at the time but, and there is always a but, our respective governments almost cost the demise of our nations because they FAILED COMPLETELY in maintaining the military in a position to defend ourselves, just as they are doing today, the British military as it stands could NOT fight their way out of a soggy paper bag, let alone going into any future conflict, a conflict that could, just could, be just around the corner. The loss of Hermes and her escort vessels was bad enough, but it could have been far far worse, we dodged a bullet when they attacked those vessels and not the main fleet. Admiral Somerville made exactly the right decision in deciding not to put the rest of the fleet in jeopardy.
It's certainly not a clear-cut fact. I suggest you go check Dr Alexander Clarke's youtube site. He has some very detailed and in-depth analysis of the rearmament campaigns of the 1930s. And by 1942, the Italian and German navies were all but defeated. Mostly they behaved as "fleets in being' to tie down RN forces from reinforcing the Indian Ocean and Pacific.
@@ArmouredCarriers I do apologise, I didn’t make it clear that my comment was my opinion, and your probably right that by 1942 the axis navy’s were a mere shadow of their original strength, but in the years up to then the RN was definitely not on the front foot. perhaps I was reading your reply incorrectly, it seems a little antagonistic, hopefully I am wrong, I have trouble gauging peoples feelings nowadays, to many bangs on the head and destroyed hearing, in a nutshell it’s emerging dementia.
@@allandavis8201 No, the apologies are all mine. Looking back at it, my response was overly brief and therefore very easy to see as curt. You are correct, the RN wasn't on the front foot. It was stretched very thin between the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. Australia and the Pacific was, before 1945, simply a theatre too many ... Much to the annoyance of us Aussies!
I sometimes think the HMS Prince of Wales was cursed from the outset. All the other KGV-class battleships survived the war, including service in the Pacific.
It's an oft neglected yet important battle but more comparable to Coral Sea or even Force Z. The only up side is some of the Japanese elite carrier pilots were lost, and there would be no effective replacements...
It was Adu Atoll at the bottom of the Maldives. It was set up as a secret refueling and reprovisioning base - largely because the R-class battle ships were so short ranged. But also as an "ace up the sleeve" in case of unwanted surprises.
Almost the Entire Kido Butai was there....Kaga left early and went home to Japan before Operation C. So 5 fleet cariers flush from success at Pearl Harbor and East Indies + 4 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers and lots of destroyers. No Fleet of any nation could have stood up to the Japanese in a sea fight that day. Only 80 miles away...what a show it would have been had they clashed. Luck was with Somerville and the Royal Navy that day ;)
'That day' certainly not. But Somerville was intending a night attack by radar equipped aircraft. Something against which the Japanese had no means of defence.
@@dovetonsturdee7033 That early in the war they wouldn't have been much good at night attacks, let alone co-ordinating with a radar plane. I doubt they would have achieved much even if they could have found the Kido Butai. Maybe some contact with the picket ships, posible a fix on a Heavy Cruiser but that's about it.
@@GM-fh5jp Swordfish aircraft had been equipped with radar since October, 1940. A year later, one was able to sink a U-Boat at night by this means. Why do you think that it would have been possible to fix a heavy cruiser, or a 'picket ship,' but not an aircraft carrier?
@@dovetonsturdee7033 The whole force was a pin prick in a vast black ocean, at no time did Somerville have enough info to launch that mythical attack. The positional situation of both fleets was only fully understood *after* the war when historians had access to Japanese records and human accounts of the near miss of the opposing forces.
@@GM-fh5jp Yet a reconnaissance Catalina of 413 Squadron had located Nagumo's force at 1600 on 4 April, and a second one from 205 Squadron continued sending position reports until 0615 on 5 April. At around the same time as the sinkings of Cornwall & Dorsetshire at around 1400 on the same day, Somerville launched four Albacores which narrowly missed the Japanese Carrier Division 2 at around 1500, and would have spotted it had Nagumo not made a series of course alterations. In any event, Div. 2 was spotted by the two northernmost Albacores at around 1600. By 1655, Somervillie knew the Japanese position with reasonable accuracy, and signit from Colombo told him a course and speed. In short, he was not in a position akin to that of a blindfolded man searching for a black cat in a coal cellar. He had a reasonably good idea of the location of Nagumo's force. Nagumo had no similar idea about the whereabouts of Force A. Even after being spotted by the Albacores, he did not send out a search to seek the carrier or carriers from which they had originated. In short, only by bad (or, perhaps, good) luck did Somerville's attempts to seek out the Japanese come to naught. The fact that an Albacore strike did not happen does not reduce it to a mere myth. Read 'Boyd, The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters. Seaforth Publishing, (2017)' for fuller details.
i liked the writing at the start no bull just plainly stated, and first hand accounts of those there, did not know the dutch had a ship there glad to see u put her in, 5v2 carriers he made the correct choice no cowardice there just common sense and bombing the sailors in the water by the Japanese well im not surprised since it is well known for a dark time in their history which they blank out, very well setup AC will sub
I wonder about 5:25... "2 Polish destroyers" are mentioned and that is quite surprising, cause not a single Polish warship ever operated on the Indian Ocean during WW2. At least as far as I know.
23:18, Imagine, someone u never met, and who dragged u thru the ocean by ur hair, now had you peacefully in his shoulder. Frickin Blanco supreme pizza strikes again
Correct me if i'm wrong. Apart from the Kido Butai, which was far more potent than the british carrier force (although that "night attack" thingy seems to me attractive and viable), neither Fuso class nor Ise class ships could have faced the four "R"s and their formidable 15"/42 guns with any hope of success, let alone the four Kongos that were actually in Nagumo' s fleet. In this respect admiral Somerville's fleet was by all means a force to be reckoned with. Of course, those same four ships would have been a quick job for the KB, therefore i think Somerville's behaved wisely.
The R class ships were worn out and of little value as fighting units. They looked impressive on paper, but they were assigned to the slow division which Somerville never planned to allow to see action.
@@estarriol4710 True, i know. But, all the same, The Kongos could only flee at full speed in front of them. A couple of those very accurate 15" shells on that paltry 8" side armor *could* have spelt their demise. Of course i'm just speculating: the true brunt of the japanese force was the overwhelmingly strong KB, so mine is just a rather fanciful attempt at a "what if" scenario.
@Joke Franic yes. I don’t know exactly what the FAA’s night-time capabilities were, but we know what the FAA’s overall capabilities were, and they were pretty good, despite their outdated equipment. So I wouldn’t rule out as impractical or unrealistic, a successful night attack. Just speculating, tho.
@@Riccardo_Silva They had a fair bit of experience in night operations in the Mediterranean over the previous few years, the Taranto attack being the best-known example. Trying to find a fleet at sea in the dark though was asking a lot but attacking during the day would have likely gone at least as badly as the USN`s Devastator attacks at Midway.
@@AbelMcTalisker sorry, i couldn't find solid evidence of that (still searching), but i read somewhere they had developed airborne radar supported tactics for night operation. Can you clarify this to me? I'd be most grateful!
Thank you so much for covering this to many clearly unknown action of WWII, about which I already know bizarrely in the context of my Fan Blog for Valérie Čižmárová, 'Bananas For Breakfast', where I recently celebrated the Fifty-First 'Birthday' of the recording of her 'Za sluncem, za vodou'/'Borůvek pár' ('In Sunshine, In Water'/'A Few Blueberries'), which itself was on the Twenty-Ninth Anniversary of the Easter Sunday Raid. What a shame this video didn't itself appear in time for that Eightieth Anniversary, therefore. It was quite a relief that the Japanese didn't capitalise on this clear victory, by actually invading Ceylon, which would have made this a really 'dangerous moment'. 'Bananas For Breakfast' can be found via the Gravatar link in my TH-cam user profile, if visitors to this video would like to see how a naval battle in WWII could possibly relate to Pop music in 1970s Czechoslovakia! It links, via the old 'Bananas For Breakfast' Blog post entitled 'Night Flight', to the 'Armoured Carriers' article, 'Britain's Midway', linked from this video, BTW.
What would we have done without US carrier planes? The RN was treated appallingly by the chiefs when it came to aircraft, the belief that aircraft were simply there to assist the battleships persisted until the US and Japan showed otherwise.
It makes zero sense to compare this to Midway in any way. The British wisely avoided a fight with the KB, which was far more capable than British carriers of the time as well as more numerous. Midway was a well planned ambush based on having broken Japanese codes. For a brief window, the Japanese carriers were highly vulnerable while attacking Midway, and the ambush was timed to strike at that time. The distances required an immediate sortie without delay, preventing the forming up of the entire air component. It resulted in a less coordinated attack, but one that struck at the most vulnerable time, and before the Japanese could launch their own attack. The British had no such advantage in the Indian Ocean, and wisely avoided a fight. The Japanese could not stay in the Indian Ocean, so the intact British fleet would continue to control the Indian Ocean after the Japanese fleet left.
Ceylon was mid-way between the strategic theatres of the Mediterranean and the Pacific. It was an aggressive foray by China's carriers. Sommerville was going to fight what he thought was two carriers. He changed his mind when he discovered it was five.
It was abandoned after the first try. The RN Albacores were on deck with torpedoes for most of the night after the sighting, but the two fleets passed within 80 miles of each other as the radar-equipped RN scouts couldn't find the Japanese again. After that Somerville found out the Japanese had five carriers, so he thought the odds were against him. www.armouredcarriers.com/battle-for-ceylon-hms-indomitable-formidable
Of the 5 great carrier battles, this was a sort of half-battle preview, as the Falklands almost was a carrier battle postscript (God killed the wind 4 that one).
It was probably a slip of the tongue - that pilot flew both during the war. And there were at least two Swordfish in the carriers at that point - kept because they had ASV (radar) sets fitted..
I, absolutely, had no idea that the British Royal Navy carriers had squared off against the Imperial Japanese Navy carriers, at all!!!! WOW!!! Thank God they did what they did, otherwise, things might have turned out differently for the United States Navy!!!! Things may have been WORSE for us!!!!! Eessssshhhhh!!!! Thank you, lads, of the British Royal Navy for your little-known BUT, EXTREMELY VITAL contribution to the United States Navy's efforts in the Pacific Ocean!!!! Hand salute!!! Ready, two!!!!
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and tks to u yanks for the help u gave in eruope we do remember it always
Always nice to see one of the more reasonable of our transatlantic cousins commenting. Thank you Derek for carrying the torch for your country in these comments, there are far too many US commenters in most threads who do your country a great disservice. We decent types here in the UK still thank the US contribution to the destruction of 20th century militarism. Best of luck in your own current internal intrigues, we're ALL infested by corporate globalism doing its best to destroy the old world. We have to maintain the history for the future.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Well. Thank you for your kind words. I truly appreciate them. Yes. Sadly, many in my country aren't being educated anymore. They're being indoctrinated. Makes me wanna puke!!!! Listen. It took the generation from BOTH our countries to beat back what Sir Winston Churchill called the German government at the time: "the New DARK AGE OF NAZI TYRANNY!!!!" Along with the militarists in Japan!!!!
But, thanks, again for your kindness.
I have noticed some rather callous and ruthless comments criticizing the RN and the RAF concerning the events chronicled in the video. While the U.S. was dealing with concerns about fighting a two ocean war, the RN was in the unenviable position of being faced with a three ocean war. What more they could have been expected to do at the time, and considering what they had to work with, I do not know.
Very well made video, and much appreciated.
Anybody that criticizes the British is an idiot and obviously is an amateur in history. The British held the line ALONE till we got our pants on in America. We could not have done it without our allies.Simple as that.Well done UK, Very Well Done!!!
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try and imagine what it would be like for Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. All the oceans and sea have to guard and counter attack against the enemy, you have Kriegsmarine in the North Sea, English Channel Alantic ocean with submarines attacking the merchant vessels, the Regia Marina italian navy in the mediterranean, and out of nowhere you have the japanese empire attacking you in the far east. it's amazing we survived the war, let alone won it. can't imagine the uk going through that today you, the half population will just complain and ask for peace instead of going through a little hardship.
Well spoken
British commanding Admiral did the right thing to not seek engagement with Japanese forces. At that stage of the war and with a far superior Japanese fleet the British Navy needed to husband their forces and buy time. Engaging with the Japanese would have resulted in more losses in capital ships and probably little damage to the Japanese fleet. I'm a Yank, but I completely support the decisions of the British Admiralty, strategically they did the right thing.
They didn't have much of a choice a large part of their strategy involved the large French fleet. It's thanks to the bravery of the French that Germany didn't get hold of the French fleet (for the most part).
My Father was on Warspite from the start to the end! He only spoke to me of Narvik and Matapan. Thanks for this.🇬🇧🏴
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My Grandfather was in WARSPITE & VALIANT in the Med.
@@gybb1868 His service is respected. Very brave man.🇬🇧🏴
@@gybb1868 Your grandfather
It's a hero
salute!
They should have saved the Warspite as a museum ship.
Very interesting, I served on the next Hermes, saw action in 82 in Falklands. The harrier jump jets were no larger then the Hurricanes.
You may have seen the ensign from the older Hermes. When I was 9 we toured HMS Victory at Portsmouth, where I acted as powder monkey to assist a marine in explaining how the crew of a gundeck worked. Afterward, the marine pulled a chunk off a timber and told me to put it under my jumper. I have it within reach in a showcase in my office. We were in Portsmouth to hand over a flag that my late uncle John had accidentally left with his fiancee in Capetown about 1941-42. He'd been part of a small crew doing a night attack dropping depth charges under the steering gear of the Vichy French battleship Richelieu in Dakar harbour, for which he was mentioned in dispatches. The boat's stern ensign being bright white, he'd put it in his knapsack. He later went on leave, not realising it was still in his bag, and it got left in Capetown. When the Hermes was sunk on 8 April 1942, the flag became the only thing left from the old Hermes. We retrieved it from Capetown when we were there in 1970, and when we got back to England, presented it to admiralty staff and the captain of the new HMS Hermes.
Man, warspite got around didn't she. What a ship she was.
Should have been kept as a museum.
God bless her
Should have been preserved as a museum ship and not scrapped .
Such a huge historic loss to the nation .
@@johnreed8336 Enterprise as well. Sad to see pieces of history go like that.
Battles in Norway sinking and wrecking 6 kreigsmarine destroyers in droback sound, take on mare regiana in the Mediterranean as well. Royal navy equivalent to uss enterprise as fighteningest ship
Thanks very much for this fascinating account. The narration by the surviving servicemen is excellent. (though auto-subtitling struggles at times) My father was a RN Petty Officer in Fleet-Salvage Division in the Indian Ocean having volunteered at 17 (October 1942) and recounted many experiences there - and many of the place-names (Trincomolee, Columbo etc) mentioned here featured in his stories. This video footage and commentaries by those involved bring true meaning and reality to me, from my Father's own accounts - related to me back in the 60s, 70s etc.
My father served throughout WW2 in the Royal Navy, first of all onboard HMS Dorsetshire, where he both assisted in the rescues of the Bismarck survivors, and a year later survived the sinking of Dorsetshire herself during the "Indian Ocean raid", he went on to serve onboard HMS Warspite at Salerno, HMS Valiant in the Indian Ocean and ended the war on a submarine tender HMS Adamant in Australia. He used at least two of his "nine lives" during the war, as during both the dive bombing attack on Dorsetshire, and the Fritz X attacks on Warspite, he was "off watch" from his stoker's station in the boiler rooms, which on both occasions mentioned effectively meant a death sentence. I grew up through the 60s and 70s listening to tales of hardship, boredom & terror, but also the camaraderie they shared from Dad and his shipmates whenever they paid a visit (usually assisted by plenty of "pusser's rum"). My greatest regret to this day is that I never recorded their stories. Unfortunately they have all now "crossed the bar" to use the words of Tennyson's poem.
Thank you for presenting the stories of these wonderful men for posterity. Hopefully it will show younger generations that may see them that far from being "murderous British" as the MSM like to portray our country nowadays, these were ordinary young men, put through utterly incredible circumstances and finding the strength, both individually and collectively to come through the other side.
Another real quality addition to your channel. You keep on coming up with new information from archives. I admire the amount of work you put into this site! Thank you Jamie.
What an amazing story and a historical account of a battle that is intitled to far more recognition.
I have always know of the British tangling with the IJN out there around the Asian Islands, Pacific, Indian Oceans...
I was Clueless to the fact anything this big had happened.
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Read the book: “The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters, Linchpin of Victory 1935 - 1942” by Andrew Boyd
The Royal Navy had a Pacific squadron for that very reason.
There was a Canadian RCAF squadron of PBY Catalina’s in Ceylon. 413 squadron commanded by squadron leader Leonard Birchall. They had just arrived there after doing convoy protection duties on the arctic run to Russia called the Murmansk run. On April 4 1942 413 squadron was returning back to base in Ceylon from patrol when Birchall spotted a dot on the horizon. He ordered the rest of the squadron back to base while he went to investigate. His PBY was shot down by the Japanese but not before Birchall had made a full report on types size and coarse of the enemy fleet. The crew and especially Birchall were horribly treated by the Japanese but they claimed they’d had no time to make a report and had no idea as to the size and strength of the British fleet because they had just arrived in the area. This and the fact that the Japanese had sunk the 3 British ships on the east coast of Ceylon the Japanese felt that the way was clear for them to conquer Burma and India. St. Catherines Ontario native Len Birchall gained the moniker “Savior of Ceylon” for his action that day Birchall received the DFC and for his heroism and for his actions in captivity he was awarded the OBE. Winston Churchill proclaimed that Leonard Birchall made one of the most important single contributions to Victory.
Historian Alexander Clarke thinks that Sommerville should have engaged on night attack against the Japanese. The British have radars installed on their planes and ships which would be advantageous at night while the Japanese don't have radars. So, Clarke believes that had the British attacked, they would have sunk the Japanese carriers. Also, the British were trained for night combat so they would have had the skills and advantage!
@@impalabeeper as a Brit , sorry to have to say this , but RN carrier aircraft design/doctrine was well and truly mired in the early thirties. Of the three major naval combatant's, the RN were " the Flintstones" in carrier ops . They made their contribution later , after they had taken delivery of many US built aircraft, which replaced all British design's. They did succeed in making the F4U
a viable and perhaps the most formidable carrier borne fighter of the war , however . We must accept that the US and Japan were streets ahead in Naval
Aviation. Blame the RAF .
@@michellebrown4903 The US was just as backward it took several ass kickings for them to learn what the Japanese already knew.
@@michellebrown4903 CAP and fighter direction was lead solely by Britain, with everyone else far behind the RN, and was probably the most important thing of war for carriers. Their damage control measure meant that their carriers would never go up in fireballs even if hit by an absurdly large number of bombs (see HMS Hermes) and was the second most important thing for carriers
I met Air Commodore Birchall at a mess dinner years ago. Very nice, modest, unassuming fellow.
So important to record these voices. Thank you for posting this. Great channel!
Well done I’ve enjoyed all of your excellent videos, great footage/music and stills telling the story with veterans first hand accounts. 10 out of 10.
Another outstanding piece of original work from this channel. 10/10.
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Splendid content again! One of the real gems on TH-cam.
My grandfather was on a merchantmen that was damaged in this raid. Limped to South Africa afterwards. This is after just escaping Singapore. Lucky man.
My father was very proud of his service. He joined up in 1939, spent a year on the minelayer Abdiel, including convoy runs and the Battle of Crete, and was in Alexandria when they heard Barham blowing up. He went to office-training school, spent much of the rest of the war 'spud-running', in support of the Army in the Med. He was on his way to the invasion of Japan in 1945, having trained for the rocket landing ships. He returned home without a scratch, unlike so many.
Very informative. Thanks! Hardly a "faceoff", though, happily for the British, who'd have had no chance of defeating such a large force of the IJN.
What I find most telling about the Japanese attitude to war during this whole thing is the fact that this isn't the only time I've heard of Japanese pilots strafing people who are already in the water, usually navies will try to rescue even the crews of enemy ships and frequently they did that if they could, to have pilots strafe at sailors who have already lost their ships really goes against all the written and unwritten rules of naval warfare.
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The 5th Airforce strafed Japanese troopship survivers off New Guinea with B25's some having five 50 cals. mounted in the nose of the plane. Both sides took liberties with swimmers.
@@williamcornish3175 America is an Asian invader
is not it
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Thank you for your fantastic work, as always!
My pleasure!
At 10:33 we see a beautiful PBY “Catalina” flying by a most useful aircraft and everyone loved them especially the downed Flyers !
Fascinating. From a strategic pov I never quite grasped how important the Indian Ocean was and how close the U.K. had been to serious danger. I find the persistence and level of under-estimation of the IJN (and Japanese military in general) astonishing.
That was a lesson sorely learned by anyone fighting the Japanese.
For us yanks after pearl, Wake and the coral sea engagements I'd say the view piont of the Japanese Armed Forces changed quickly and drastically.
Racism, alas.
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@@jamesbugbee6812 Nothing to do with racism.. Simply lack of experience or understanding.
@@fredsas12 Its racism. The whites always thought of themselves the only capable,intelligent enough to do things properly.
By tying up the Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean Somerville bought the US time to get what was left of their own fleet organized. Somerville was wise not to endanger his Carriers with a battle because their very existence was more threatening to the Japanese then they could be in batte.
The strike arm of the US fleet, it's aircraft carriers, were intact, complete with modern planes. The US fleet was able to stop the Japanese at Coral Sea and defeat the Japanese at Midway within six months of Pearl Harbor. On the other hand the British were almost useless in the Indian Ocean. They lost the Prince of Wales, their most modern battleship and Repulse early. Their aircraft carriers were slow with obsolete planes.
@@phillipnagle9651 "Their aircraft carriers were slow". Top speed of the Illustrious class was 31 knots. USS Enterprise: 32 knots. The aircraft were indeed obsolete, as the Fleet Air Arm was controlled by the RAF until 1939, who concentrated almost exclusively on land based aircraft.
You may not have noticed that at the time the RN were fighting the Battle of the Atlantic, keeping Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Tirpitz under control, and fighting for control of the Mediterranean.
@@originalkk882 the Japanese virtually invented air power at sea. The US were getting slaughtered at Midway before a squadron of American dive bombers got lost in the clouds and accidentally came across the unguarded Japanese carriers and sank them virtually unopposed, giving the returning Japanese planes nowhere to land and depleting their naval Air Force.
@@lynby6231 now that is divine intervention xD
@@lynby6231 This is not even close. The US aircraft being shot down in the early phase of the battle were land based from Midway. The USN carrier attack was not lost and did not accidentally come across unguarded Japanese carriers. The skill and courage of Lt Comdr McClusky, commanding the USS Enterprise Air Group led to the dive bombers of VS-6 and VB-6 successful attack on two of the Japanese carriers, IJN Kaga and IJN Akagi. After searching for the Japanese at the estimated grid and bearing (based on earlier recon flights spotting the Japanese fleet) given to them prior to launch, McClusky made the astute tactical decision to search north away from Midway instead of south and closer to. This was the most likely tactical decision by Nagumo to place his fleet out of land based bomber range, whilst still in strike range of his aircraft. Whilst using the Box Search method, McClusky spotted the wake of destroyer IJN Arashi, steaming at full speed to rejoin the attacking fleet after having unsuccessfully depth-charged U.S. submarine Nautilus, which had unsuccessfully attacked the battleship IJN Kirishima. McClusky correctly assessed that the lone destroyer was returning to the fleet and followed it and launched his attack. Simultaneously, the USS Yorktown's VB-3 (also not lost in the clouds and finding their target after good navigation and search techniques) attacked IJN Soryu successfully. The Japanese fleet was not unguarded, the CAP was busy attacking the VT-3 from Yorktown who had launched their attack from low altitude.
Thanks again for enlighten me on something I knew nothing about. You do a wonderful job👍
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A friend of mine was sunk three times. Fortunately in warm waters and used to take all his friends to the pub on his ....sinking days.
Excellent! Great archival footage and interviews with the sailors and airmen that were there! Bravo armored carrier!
My Grandmother and her brother was reading to go to Sunday school (in Buddhist temple) in Colombo when this happened. She loved saying stories about that day. How colombo was raided and people was fleeing Capital after this happened. ( My grandmother's family didn't) I remember having nightmares about plane bombing after hearing those stories when I was a child 😅
Well, you learn something new every day and this was a big one. I never heard this and in retrospect quite glad the Brits engaged in this action against the Japanese navy.
I for one have never or will ever call the British military, RAF and naval forces cowardly. They have proved resolute courage forever.
The British Admiral displayed great sagacity and courage in his decisions. Rather than steam into a naval fight, battle pennants, flags and smoke streaming with a cutlass clenched in his teeth --- to his, his sailors and fleets assured deaths, he wisely marshaled his forces for future actions. Wise, very wise.
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The U.S. was caught, yet again, with a peacetime military that was completely unprepared for war. The British fought tooth and nail while we geared up for what we should have seen coming long before. Their sacrifices were legendary, and we should all be cognizant that it might happen again. We should have each other's backs and let go of the petty sniping about past differences.
@@45CaliberCure Wish in Japanese? ?? ??
A night attack using Albacore biplanes in a torpedo attack on Nagumo`s carriers. Only the Royal Navy could come up with that one and hope to pull it off!
Doesn’t seem that bad an idea. What am I missing?
@@geordiedog1749 You are missing the huge daylight range difference. Albacores and Swordfish ranges weren't all that great, so the British carriers would have to get somewhat close ... in daylight ... while the Japanese aircraft had extremely long range.
I've gamed this. It's almost impossible for the British to do.
@@TrueSonOfOdin A Kate had a range of 608 miles. A Val had a range of 840 miles. An Albacore with torpedo had a range of 710 miles, in point of fact.
@@dovetonsturdee7033 Thanks for the correction, ds. I'll have to check my game.
Swordfish against Bismark/Taranto?
The mind boggles at the amount of fuel these fleets use amazing !
The primary source for the allies was the wells in Oklahoma and Texas. The axis had captured most of the rest.
An excellent account featuring fascinating footage and photographs. I had never seen photos taken from the flight deck of the sinking Hermes before.
"Jumping into the water I thought here we go again " That man was the luckiest RN sailor of WWII
You can hear his story about surviving the earlier sinking of HMS Repulse in my Force Z series of viceos.
@@ArmouredCarriers I will look that up that up thank you again
Thanks for posting this.
What a mess. Good decision to save the fleet to fight another day. Hard to have any respect for the Japanese with their consistent record of such atrocities.
I know war bring out the worst of us, but I still cant fathom their motivation to attack shipwrecked sailors...particularly this early in the war when everything had gone Japan’s way. 🤷♂️😢
@@hisdadjames4876
The cult of Bushido commanded such cruelty of the IJN
@@GasPipeJimmy one query I’ve always had is why did the Japanese treat German prisoners in WWI so differently.
Thats what happens when you force a feudal country to rapidly modernize. If america left japan alone, they would still be using muskets by world war I and II
@@elcidgranada3549 Who do you think the Japanese went to to learn about a modern navy after World War I?
The unsong heroes were the support vessels, ie Oilers/Ammunition carriers - in a way I salute the USN for taking up the fight however, they took TOO long to realise the threat, cheers Roosevelt, a sadly missed friend, sorry you never got to see the results of your efforts - I`d buy you a Pint anyday!
It was never a real threat to the continental US. As much threat as a hornet is to a grizzly bear.
really would like to here your EXPERT opinion on what the US could have done otherwise. ABDAFLOAT was a huge disaster; ships, men and planes lost to no effect.
Force Z a huge and idiotic mistake. Lots of blunders early in the war by all the Allies.
Now before the war? I ask again what could the us did that they did not do? Besides the depression making sure there was so little funding we could not even afford to test our torpedoes, we had isolationists and pacifists fighting every defense increase. FDR was not a miracle worker.
If the British had realized the threat the Japanese posed earlier as well, they probably wouldn't have thrown away the Prince of Wales and Repulse.
It wasn't just the US that thought Japan wasn't a threat. The entire Western world did.
Oilers launch CVs; the US Can B proud of this one acheivment. And perhaps retaining naval aviation intrinsic 2 the navy, tho' Japan did likewise.
@@gruntforever7437 I can easily answer the comment over Torpedoes - TRUST the HIGHLY trained crew that used this weapon and found it wanting. The Kriegsmarine had a similar problem, but had sorted it by Mid 1940 but you Guys didn`t seem to learn once engaged in Late 1941. FDR was the best Friend the WORLD had at this time and sadly never saw the results of his efforts - the potential of air/submarine power had not yet been realised, thank goodness the Japanese didn`t appreciate the value of RADAR!
Once again, stunningly good content using this unique and well-crafted structure👏👏👏 I guess he’s running out of actions for which there’s authentic footage and participant testimony, but Im so grateful for what we’ve already had and I just hope we get some more. 🤞🤞🙏🙏
Plenty of US footage. Not much US testimony.
Not much UK footage. Plenty of UK testimony.
Go figure.
@@ArmouredCarriers Thanks. I hope you are able to improvise somehow, just to keep the great content coming. If you have a ‘disclaimer’ caption or otherwise explain what you’ve done(eg. actors voices or related footage) then Im sure your viewers would understand. If you watch the acclaimed ‘World at War’ series the exact same artillery barrage and Stuka dive bombing sequences appear in 20 different battles😂 Not suggesting you need to go that far, but you needn’t be a purist either.
That IJN fleet was formidable. 5 carriers and 5 battleships, as well as 2 of their most powerful heavy cruisers. Somerville had already proven himself in the Mediterranean and this was additional proof of his high caliber.
*six* carriers. Five fleet one smaller.
In their own words, doesn't get better than this, thank you!
i am in my late 90s and served on the wartime ILLUSTRIOUS
HMS Warspite should be preserved in Portsmouth. Scrapping the Grand old lady was a insult and betrayal.
Not surprising when you understand the establishment is traitorous and criminal to the British peoples.
Seriously what is wrong with the algorithm TH-cam! I constantly do searches for World War II Indian Ocean naval battles, as well as searches on HMS Hermes aircraft carrier. And this comes to me six months after it was originally released are you flipping kidding me really!!!!! Great video too bad TH-cam wasn’t willing to let me know when you originally released it🎉
C'mon surely you can't be disappointed with the never ending outflow of "K-pop", "anime", and "augmented reality" lifestyle channels that YT constantly "recommends for you"?
John Moffat talking @1:56 is the Swordfish pilot credited for launching the torpedo that crippled the Bismarck.
Excellent, this should be a computer game - British fleet V Japanese Fleet in the Indian ocean.
thanks to whomever recorded this man's speaking
Had no idea this event had occurred. Just goes to show you learn something new everyday!
Interesting format for the video. Nice change from the narrated with maps approach you normally see
You always have the best stock footage.
Japan's attack on the British Royal Navy's fleet base in Ceylon (now, called Sri Lanka) was their "Pearl Harbor."
Just note that no aircraft carriers in operation in ww2 used a ramp on their deck.
The ramp causes a loss in horizontal velocity, which increases the chances of a stall, and therefore decreases the maximum payload capacity of the aircraft itself. No American carriers have ever used a ramp either.
Ramps are used to allow the planes to take off and land with heavier payloads on modern carriers. This applies to VTOL aircraft but not sure about others
America hasn't caught up yet. Still waiting for them to make a supersonic passenger plane.
Sometimes you feel for the Japanese loss of life, like when capital ships sink, so many thousands died.
Then you hear the stories of them trying to massacre survivors of sink ships. Which makes you change your mind
Also theses atrocities were happening at the early parts of the conflict before the reported incidents of similar allied events.
Exactly what I was thinking
It's not taught often in Western history classes... but the atrocities the Japanese perpetrated on the peoples of South East Asia, and the way they treated prisoners of war is often cited as worse than the Nazis ever were in Europe. The Holocaust was awful, no doubt, but more people in China, Korea, Philippines and Burma were straight up murdered than the Holocaust can be attributed to.
Admiral Denis Boyd commanded the carriers, and his son Andrew wrote a book about the Eastern Fleet extolling its role in the war.
I have a free print-and-play game on my webpage titled Mongoose vs. King Cobra: Indian Ocean Carrier Raid, if anyone is interested.
REAL hard to get the British carriers close enough for a night-time torpedo attack.
I've included heightened collision possibilities if they *can* get a strike in. Think flaming (Roman) pigs among Carthagian elephants ... at night. 😈
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War pigs!!!
22:50 helpless men in the water were considered worthy targets for bombs. I'm glad to know that such men were likely killed soon after at Midway.
I don't see any distinction between 'helpless' men inside a ship that's being attacked, or 'helpless' men in the water waiting to be rescued so they can get back in a ship and start fighting again. It's a bit childish to say, that one we can kill, but that one we must leave alone.
@@toytoy1091 Possibly you don't see a distinction because you aren't a sailor.
@@originalkk882 Ha ha. I spent many years sailing big yachts deep sea - sometimes single handed. However - that has nothing to do with the point in question. And the point is this : if u have an enemy that needs to be killed, why allow him the privilege of excusing himself from the fight because suddenly his circumstances have changed for the worse? A sailor saved from the water (or an airman saved by parachute) is an enemy who will be quickly be given a new ship (or plane) in which he will return and try to kill you - all over again.
The protocol of not killing sailors in the water, or airmen on a parachute, or soldiers in a hospital, is actually rather childish. Why risk your life to kill an enemy, only to allow that enemy to escape and come back and kill you later?
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@@toytoy1091 ✊🏼💦
In "Shattered Sword", Parshall and Tully remind us that the Japanese "Striking Force" was a raiding force, and that Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean, and even Nagumo's part of Midway, were all raids. Until the US Task Force 58, beginning in 1943 and 1944, it was assumed that a carrier group could not stand by and overwhelm a land position.
The IJN's Indian Ocean raid was never intended to advance with the Japanese Army in Burma toward capturing India or the Indian Ocean. If nothing else, the IJN would not cooperate with the Army. It saw the IJA as almost as dangerous an enemy as the Allies.
(Oh, and yet another splendid video, Armoured Carrier!)
So much as yet unseen film (even if anachronistic @ times)!
Forgive my lack of enthusiasm 4 the Albacore vs the (strangely lucky) Swordfish; a disorderly herd of the former looks 2 me like air pollution.
That shot of several Rs in loose formation called up the phrase 'The King's ships were at sea' 💜, w/ Rs upholding completely that WWI look.
Poor old Hermes was never meant 4 anything resembling this event; she was N aviation scout prototype, & well done as such 💔.
The Japanese looked very cheerful in this early period, pre Coral Sea.
Again, absolutely lovely film! 💜
Yeah, the Albacore lost out over the Swordfish through sheer reliability and resiliance. And Hermes was never more than an escort carrier.
Can you imagine re living these battles in your head , even if you were a kid of nineteen at that time , every day you would be re living it
“Air Conflicts Pacific Carriers” had a mission loosely based on this.
Greetings from America. Love this channel, lots of cool stuff to learn and digest here.
I have a question for y'all. Was there some reason, outside of proximity to its own naval bases, why the US fleet never participated in any major engagements in the Indian Ocean? I could be wrong, but I don't think our navy did much west of Australia except maybe patrol here and there.
Operation Diplomat was when USS Saratoga joined with HMS Illustrious in the Indian Ocean to "teach" the RN carriers how to operate in the US style.
It was returning the favour of USS "Robin", when HMS Victorious went to the Pacific to fill the carrier gap and "taught" USS Saratoga about radar-guided fighter interception.
www.armouredcarriers.com/illustrious-and-saratoga
Ultimately, though, the Japanese navy just wasn't all that active in the Indian Ocean.
Burma and Sumatra were a Japanese army operation.
@@ArmouredCarriers Thanks for the info. Keep up the great work on your channel!
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with what the americans did with troops in eruope and for the most part being to far to help in the north atlantic except for the uboat cover you provided , russia convoys the indian ocean and the pacific you kept your ships until you had a decisive advantage to do what the admirals wanted to do and you did still have losses from pearl the timing was off enough to seem like you did not help but it is a false assumption, you did what you did when you could win, so no blame there bud we all did what we could and second guessing is a bummer to anyone with common sense in the end WE won and you are part of that so tk you bud and you sailors who gave it all
@@jjhry177 Wish in Japanese？？？
Never considered British & Japanese Navel Action in the Indian Ocean. Without their presence the US Battle of the Coral Sea and subsequent engagements leading up to Midway could have resulted in different consequences. Makes you realize how formidable the Japanese Navy & Naval Air were in the early stages of the Pacif Theater in WW II. Thank God the English didn't surrender to Hitler and the USA didn't "Beg" for merch after Pearl Harbor. Thanks
16:37 my father was SBS Marine on the Cornwall and was in the magazine when she was hit - he escaped and ended up in the water with survivors. Oil from the ship affected his body particularly his ears.
The size of those naval shells is impressive.
The swordfish escape is amazing
Britain held the line and did the best with what they had . We should always remember what they did.
Britain was slow in preparing for war that was inevitably going to involve battles over oil fields. The top brass knew this.
Amazing footage that I've never seen before!
The shit I normally look at is American-centric, but still!
This story is amazing!!!
Thanks!
I have a question: : "Due to the tropical climate in the area, the high angle radars on the Prince of Wales and Repulse became useless. " .. do you know what it refers to? It is mentionned in the Battle of Malaya.
Humidity affecting the rather crude electronics of the era. Being first generation stuff, the hey had not figured out the need for insulation
I'm not sure you can call this a "face off" let alone an analog to Midway. The fleets didn't engage each other. Nonetheless, very compelling first hand accounts. Thank you.
face-off. : a method of beginning play (as in hockey or lacrosse) in which two opponents face each other and attempt to gain control
And to think i never thought the Germans and Japanese actually worked together in battle. And in the Indian Ocean never the less.
PS Didn`t HMS Dragon get transferred to the VALIANT Free Polish Navy, and once totally worn out, serve on as a breakwater/blockship at Normandy/D Day? Excellent channel, no use of inappropriate film, and cheers to, in particular the RNAS, the `Scrap Iron Flotilla`s` Vampire, box of cigars!
Dragon actually had a major refit at Cammell Lairds between January and August, 1943, after being handed over to the Polish Navy. She was torpedoed and badly damaged off Normandy in July 1944, and too crippled to be worth repairing. Fortunately, most of the crew survived, and a sister ship, Danae, was handed over to the Polish Navy in October, to which they transferred. Danae was renamed 'Conrad.'
Fascinating stories...Lucky they didn't have to engage enemy more than they did.
They only just mention this raid in our history books..In my opinion any person regardless of being british, canadian , sinhala, tamil who participated in defence of ceylon should be a hero in sri lanka
Who should get the credit for ending Western colonial domination of Asia? The freedom fighters of Asia.
Who are these freedom fighters?
Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army, Sukarno of Indonesia, Aung San of Burma, Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, Mahatma Gandhi of India and Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan. They were all united by one overriding aim described in a nutshell ' Asia for Asians'.
Seriosly....ask about tojo's heroics from chinese or koreans. They will think you as a lunatic on the spot. Search about rape of Nanking. And seriously while japan caused our freedom indirectly they never intended that. And Japanese consider everyone inferior to them at that time..Do you seriously think asia under japanese occupation would be better?
And your answer is totally irrelevant to my comment..while I hate colonial powers and admire the leaders of independence movement in asia that is not the point. I consider those british and canadians who participated in defence of ceylon heros because they were protecting us from the far right nationalistic japan...
@@heshangunarathna3262 Ask the Natives of America, Australia, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Namibia and Belgian Congo and Black Africans in general, what they think of the White man and their Genocidal Crimes against Humanity, you will receive a fitting reply.
@@senakaweeraratna741 you are comparing white colonizers of 18th and 19th century against 20th century industrial barbarians..how smart of you? And pls tell me how japanese be any better than british.
First of all pls tell me why are you generalising white men? Like thinking all of them are evil or something. Even in america before the revolution british kept american colonies from expanding which will only raise the tensions between natives and colonies. It was only after 1776 revolution they had manifest destiny ideology where they took all the lands from natives.
And why are you saying things like this which is not connected to japanese raid against ceylon. Obviously at the moment ceylon was promised freedom after the ww2. And in an unlikely event japanese conquest we would have to give up that and instead open up brothels for japanese soldiers like they did in korea.
I may hate european imperlism of past 500 years .And I know the things that led to that. But in 1942 there were no more bigger enemy of ceylonese than japanese.
And if for a moment british empire had abandoned us we would be under the yoke of japanese co prospherity sphere. If you for a moment think that japanese cared about other asians then you are delusional.
@@senakaweeraratna741 Just because Japan accidentally opened the way for Brits to handover Ceylon to uneducated politicians doesn't mean you should support brutal WWII Japanese Empire. Brits also were brutal, but still Brits were much more humane in the 20th century than Japanese who even bombed a mental hospital.
Would you thank N*zis because they were also a cause of the Ceylonese independence?
I'm quite surprised that the 'Eastern' fleet was almost incapacitated by a shortage of water....were there no desalination facilities in those days?
They had a desalination ship at their secret base in the Maldives. It's just that the R-Class was so old and designed for the frigid waters of the North Sea and North Atlantic. Their systems couldn't meet tropical demand.
Ships had "evaporators" to supply fresh water, but the ships boilers ALWAYS had first call on that supply.
Arguably the one battleground where HMS Warspite did not get scarred, did not spin those excellent 15” guns around … playing cat and mouse with the Japanese
Muito bom seu canal 🙋🏽♂️🙏🇧🇷🌍
Amazing!
"Britain's Midway"? They could have chosen a more fitting title. I was not familiar with this story, and I was waiting for the British fleet to somehow surprise the Japanese fleet and repulse them from the Indian Ocean. Sounds like quite the opposite. At one point in the video a sailor was speaking of the British Fleet as a deterent to the Japanese entering the western Indian Ocean. I want to learn more about this because it doesn't sound like the Japanese were deterred in any fashion.
Interesting video none the less, and I respect the fight of the British to hold out during the war inspite of their initial losses.
The Indian Ocean raid was undertaken to protect a large Japanese troop convoy movement after the fall of Singapore. The Eastern Fleet did indeed act as a deterrent to Japanese ambitions in the western Indian Ocean, because such a Japanese operation would have required a major transfer of Japanese naval assets from their main area of operations, the Pacific.
As a result, the Japanese never had any ambitions in the Madagascar area, if for no other reason than that the logistics involved were totally beyond their capabilities.
My Dad was a Royal Marine part of X Turret on HMS Resolution
HMS formidable,my fathers old ship 🇬🇧
When you consider the fact that in almost every respect the empire/commonwealth countries in the Southern Hemisphere were nowhere near being combat ready, not even ready to take on the, at that time, Italian naval forces that were not exactly the cutting edge of sea power, if the combined vessels of the southern fleet had met the full might of the Japanese navy it could have been a total rout, British naval might was considerable, but not so considerable that it could cover both the northern and southern theatres of war, we, the allied forces at that time, had such vast areas to cover, on land, sea and in the air that we were lucky to survive. No disrespect to any of the allied forces at the time but, and there is always a but, our respective governments almost cost the demise of our nations because they FAILED COMPLETELY in maintaining the military in a position to defend ourselves, just as they are doing today, the British military as it stands could NOT fight their way out of a soggy paper bag, let alone going into any future conflict, a conflict that could, just could, be just around the corner.
The loss of Hermes and her escort vessels was bad enough, but it could have been far far worse, we dodged a bullet when they attacked those vessels and not the main fleet. Admiral Somerville made exactly the right decision in deciding not to put the rest of the fleet in jeopardy.
It's certainly not a clear-cut fact. I suggest you go check Dr Alexander Clarke's youtube site. He has some very detailed and in-depth analysis of the rearmament campaigns of the 1930s.
And by 1942, the Italian and German navies were all but defeated. Mostly they behaved as "fleets in being' to tie down RN forces from reinforcing the Indian Ocean and Pacific.
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@@ArmouredCarriers I do apologise, I didn’t make it clear that my comment was my opinion, and your probably right that by 1942 the axis navy’s were a mere shadow of their original strength, but in the years up to then the RN was definitely not on the front foot. perhaps I was reading your reply incorrectly, it seems a little antagonistic, hopefully I am wrong, I have trouble gauging peoples feelings nowadays, to many bangs on the head and destroyed hearing, in a nutshell it’s emerging dementia.
@@allandavis8201 No, the apologies are all mine. Looking back at it, my response was overly brief and therefore very easy to see as curt. You are correct, the RN wasn't on the front foot. It was stretched very thin between the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. Australia and the Pacific was, before 1945, simply a theatre too many ...
Much to the annoyance of us Aussies!
I sometimes think the HMS Prince of Wales was cursed from the outset. All the other KGV-class battleships survived the war, including service in the Pacific.
I will do a video on her sinking at some point.
It's an oft neglected yet important battle
but more comparable to Coral Sea or even Force Z.
The only up side is some of the Japanese elite carrier pilots were lost, and there would be no effective replacements...
I cheekily chose "Midway" as Ceylon was mid-way between Singapore and the Mediterranean! And the Japanese brought five carriers.
I have read that some of the British fleet was hiding out at Diego Garcia which did not show up on Japanese maps !
It was Adu Atoll at the bottom of the Maldives. It was set up as a secret refueling and reprovisioning base - largely because the R-class battle ships were so short ranged. But also as an "ace up the sleeve" in case of unwanted surprises.
@@ArmouredCarriers
Thanks ! Was Diego Garcia used at all during WW2 ?
@@oceanhome2023 It was used as a flying boat station and a Royal Navy refuelling base. Mostly for anti raider and anti-submarine search ops.
@@oceanhome2023 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060028933
Almost the Entire Kido Butai was there....Kaga left early and went home to Japan before Operation C.
So 5 fleet cariers flush from success at Pearl Harbor and East Indies + 4 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers and lots of destroyers.
No Fleet of any nation could have stood up to the Japanese in a sea fight that day.
Only 80 miles away...what a show it would have been had they clashed. Luck was with Somerville and the Royal Navy that day ;)
'That day' certainly not. But Somerville was intending a night attack by radar equipped aircraft. Something against which the Japanese had no means of defence.
@@dovetonsturdee7033 That early in the war they wouldn't have been much good at night attacks, let alone co-ordinating with a radar plane. I doubt they would have achieved much even if they could have found the Kido Butai. Maybe some contact with the picket ships, posible a fix on a Heavy Cruiser but that's about it.
@@GM-fh5jp Swordfish aircraft had been equipped with radar since October, 1940. A year later, one was able to sink a U-Boat at night by this means.
Why do you think that it would have been possible to fix a heavy cruiser, or a 'picket ship,' but not an aircraft carrier?
@@dovetonsturdee7033 The whole force was a pin prick in a vast black ocean, at no time did Somerville have enough info to launch that mythical attack.
The positional situation of both fleets was only fully understood *after* the war when historians had access to Japanese records and human accounts of the near miss of the opposing forces.
@@GM-fh5jp Yet a reconnaissance Catalina of 413 Squadron had located Nagumo's force at 1600 on 4 April, and a second one from 205 Squadron continued sending position reports until 0615 on 5 April.
At around the same time as the sinkings of Cornwall & Dorsetshire at around 1400 on the same day, Somerville launched four Albacores which narrowly missed the Japanese Carrier Division 2 at around 1500, and would have spotted it had Nagumo not made a series of course alterations. In any event, Div. 2 was spotted by the two northernmost Albacores at around 1600.
By 1655, Somervillie knew the Japanese position with reasonable accuracy, and signit from Colombo told him a course and speed.
In short, he was not in a position akin to that of a blindfolded man searching for a black cat in a coal cellar. He had a reasonably good idea of the location of Nagumo's force. Nagumo had no similar idea about the whereabouts of Force A. Even after being spotted by the Albacores, he did not send out a search to seek the carrier or carriers from which they had originated.
In short, only by bad (or, perhaps, good) luck did Somerville's attempts to seek out the Japanese come to naught. The fact that an Albacore strike did not happen does not reduce it to a mere myth.
Read 'Boyd, The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters. Seaforth Publishing, (2017)' for fuller details.
i liked the writing at the start no bull just plainly stated, and first hand accounts of those there, did not know the dutch had a ship there glad to see u put her in, 5v2 carriers he made the correct choice no cowardice there just common sense and bombing the sailors in the water by the Japanese well im not surprised since it is well known for a dark time in their history which they blank out, very well setup AC will sub
Every side did similar, don't kid yourself.
I wonder about 5:25... "2 Polish destroyers" are mentioned and that is quite surprising, cause not a single Polish warship ever operated on the Indian Ocean during WW2. At least as far as I know.
Memories fade with time, I guess. Or perhaps Poles made up part of some of the crews. I'll try to check.
My Father In Law served on the "Indomitable" from 1942 until 1945. He never spoke about it. All I know is that the ship was kamikaze'd several times.
23:18, Imagine, someone u never met, and who dragged u thru the ocean by ur hair, now had you peacefully in his shoulder. Frickin Blanco supreme pizza strikes again
Rest Easy Gentlemen, We Remember You.
Correct me if i'm wrong. Apart from the Kido Butai, which was far more potent than the british carrier force (although that "night attack" thingy seems to me attractive and viable), neither Fuso class nor Ise class ships could have faced the four "R"s and their formidable 15"/42 guns with any hope of success, let alone the four Kongos that were actually in Nagumo' s fleet. In this respect admiral Somerville's fleet was by all means a force to be reckoned with. Of course, those same four ships would have been a quick job for the KB, therefore i think Somerville's behaved wisely.
The R class ships were worn out and of little value as fighting units. They looked impressive on paper, but they were assigned to the slow division which Somerville never planned to allow to see action.
@@estarriol4710 True, i know. But, all the same, The Kongos could only flee at full speed in front of them. A couple of those very accurate 15" shells on that paltry 8" side armor *could* have spelt their demise. Of course i'm just speculating: the true brunt of the japanese force was the overwhelmingly strong KB, so mine is just a rather fanciful attempt at a "what if" scenario.
@Joke Franic yes. I don’t know exactly what the FAA’s night-time capabilities were, but we know what the FAA’s overall capabilities were, and they were pretty good, despite their outdated equipment. So I wouldn’t rule out as impractical or unrealistic, a successful night attack. Just speculating, tho.
@@Riccardo_Silva They had a fair bit of experience in night operations in the Mediterranean over the previous few years, the Taranto attack being the best-known example. Trying to find a fleet at sea in the dark though was asking a lot but attacking during the day would have likely gone at least as badly as the USN`s Devastator attacks at Midway.
@@AbelMcTalisker sorry, i couldn't find solid evidence of that (still searching), but i read somewhere they had developed airborne radar supported tactics for night operation. Can you clarify this to me? I'd be most grateful!
It appears that Somerville read Sun Tzu.
Brilliant
Thank you so much for covering this to many clearly unknown action of WWII, about which I already know bizarrely in the context of my Fan Blog for Valérie Čižmárová, 'Bananas For Breakfast', where I recently celebrated the Fifty-First 'Birthday' of the recording of her 'Za sluncem, za vodou'/'Borůvek pár' ('In Sunshine, In Water'/'A Few Blueberries'), which itself was on the Twenty-Ninth Anniversary of the Easter Sunday Raid. What a shame this video didn't itself appear in time for that Eightieth Anniversary, therefore.
It was quite a relief that the Japanese didn't capitalise on this clear victory, by actually invading Ceylon, which would have made this a really 'dangerous moment'.
'Bananas For Breakfast' can be found via the Gravatar link in my TH-cam user profile, if visitors to this video would like to see how a naval battle in WWII could possibly relate to Pop music in 1970s Czechoslovakia! It links, via the old 'Bananas For Breakfast' Blog post entitled 'Night Flight', to the 'Armoured Carriers' article, 'Britain's Midway', linked from this video, BTW.
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Steampunk Catapults. Best band name ever?
LOL! Right up there in the Top Ten!
Sword fish was the Harrier of it day , it didn’t fly it hovers
Can someone please tell what was the piece of music that was used in the beginning of the video, I have heard it before but I can’t find it’s name
It’s the opening of Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Suite No. 1.
The RN stretched to its limit, facing the Japanese 1st eleven.
Thankfully only a raid, and good luck.
What would we have done without US carrier planes? The RN was treated appallingly by the chiefs when it came to aircraft, the belief that aircraft were simply there to assist the battleships persisted until the US and Japan showed otherwise.
I wonder why the island on HMS Hermes was so high.
It makes zero sense to compare this to Midway in any way. The British wisely avoided a fight with the KB, which was far more capable than British carriers of the time as well as more numerous. Midway was a well planned ambush based on having broken Japanese codes. For a brief window, the Japanese carriers were highly vulnerable while attacking Midway, and the ambush was timed to strike at that time. The distances required an immediate sortie without delay, preventing the forming up of the entire air component. It resulted in a less coordinated attack, but one that struck at the most vulnerable time, and before the Japanese could launch their own attack. The British had no such advantage in the Indian Ocean, and wisely avoided a fight. The Japanese could not stay in the Indian Ocean, so the intact British fleet would continue to control the Indian Ocean after the Japanese fleet left.
Ceylon was mid-way between the strategic theatres of the Mediterranean and the Pacific. It was an aggressive foray by China's carriers. Sommerville was going to fight what he thought was two carriers. He changed his mind when he discovered it was five.
Seems more like Pearl Harbor then Midway or even Coral Sea. Not sure this can be counted as a face off between Carriers.
It was abandoned after the first try. The RN Albacores were on deck with torpedoes for most of the night after the sighting, but the two fleets passed within 80 miles of each other as the radar-equipped RN scouts couldn't find the Japanese again.
After that Somerville found out the Japanese had five carriers, so he thought the odds were against him.
www.armouredcarriers.com/battle-for-ceylon-hms-indomitable-formidable
Of the 5 great carrier battles, this was a sort of half-battle preview, as the Falklands almost was a carrier battle postscript (God killed the wind 4 that one).
The real RN at work
They weren't Swordfish, they were Albacores
It was probably a slip of the tongue - that pilot flew both during the war.
And there were at least two Swordfish in the carriers at that point - kept because they had ASV (radar) sets fitted..
@@ArmouredCarriers I'd make that slip too, who wants to say they're flying an Albacore, isn't that a bad Mel Gibson movie?