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British Pacific and East Indies Fleets Phase 1

From the excellent VHS tapes as compiled by Roland R Smith When the battleship HOWE arrived on station at Trincomalee in August 1944 she became part of what was then still known as the Eastern Fleet and, during this same month, its C-in-C Admiral Sir James Somerville was also relieved by Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser. Some three months later the HOWE would depart for Manus via Australia and Adm. Fraser would strike a new flag as C-in-C British Pacific Fleet (BPF) while his second in command, Vice Admiral Sir John Power, became his replacement in the now newly designated East Indies Fleet (EIF). Due to the inherent complexity of commanding this new fleet Adm.Fraser was required to spend much of his time ashore at Sydney, and when the battleship KGV arrived in these waters leading a large task force under the command of Vice Adm.Sir Bernard Rawlings, he was immediately appointed 2nd in command of the BPF and the flag transferred from HOWE to the KGV. This was the largest Royal Navy fleet of the war and it faced immense difficulties, not least its logistic problems due to long sustained operational periods at sea without the support of traditional nearby naval bases. Thus came into being the `Fleet Train'. Hastily established on almost a shoe-string, it did give rise to more than one moment of great consternation as the BPF strove to fulfill its functional role as directed by the high command of the USN. Certainly the trials and tribulations of both fleet is a highly complex absorbing story and I can do no more than recommend to the viewer John Winton’s magnificent book entitled “The Forgotten Fleet” This first of two planned programmes of both the E.Indies & British Pacific Fleets is a painstaking attempt to integrate rare surviving archive film in as near chronological order as possible. Commencing in 1942 when the war situation was very precarious, we see views of the early Eastern Fleet when its mainstay of support comprised almost entirely of a number of old R Class battleships, which were no match for a Japanese carrier led task force. Some warships seen from this period are the RESOLUTION, WARSPITE, DEVONSHIRE, MAURITIUS, GAMBIA, FROBISHER, CATTERICK, NIZAM, PALADIN. There are also short sequences of the RAMILLIES, MALAYA, ILLUSTRIOUS, INDOMITABLE, HERMIONE, LOOKOUT, LAFOREY, ANTHONY re the assault on Madagascar, which had to be taken to forstall any impending Japanese occupation which would have given them complete domination in the Indian Ocean. During 1943 the E.F. kept a very low profile but the following year there arrived the RENOWN, VALIANT, QUEEN ELIZABETH, the American carrier SARATOGA and the French battleship RICHELIEU, plus other warships which nearly all appear in the combined attacks on Sumatra. Later that year we see the arrival of the HOWE and other reinforcements for the assault on Sabang, followed by her visit to Sydney. As this was taking place the major elements of the BPF were being assembled and, from a UK inspection, we follow them on their journey from Ceylon to Australia, including the raid on Palembang. The programme concludes with the commencement of the attacks associated with Sakashima One, a penetrating look of the Fleet Train base at Manus and the refuelling at sea of the main fleet during their first Pacific operation. Other highlights are far too numerous to list as also the names of all the warships to be seen. Roland R. Smith