"Eastern Fleet" redirects here. For the racehorse, see Eastern Fleet (horse).
East Indies Fleet
HMS Renown in 1944 with other Eastern Fleet ships
Active
1941–1952
Country
United Kingdom
Branch
Royal Navy
Type
Fleet
Garrison/HQ
Trincomalee Naval Base, Ceylon Singapore Naval Base (postwar)
Engagements
Loss of Prince of Wales and Repulse Indian Ocean raid Battle of Madagascar Operation Dukedom Operation Livery
Commanders
Notable commanders
James Somerville Bruce Fraser
Military unit
The Eastern Fleet, later called the East Indies Fleet, was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed between 1941 and 1952.
In 1904, the British First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir John Fisher, ordered that in the event of war the three main commands in the Far East, the East Indies Squadron, the China Station, and the Australian Squadron, should all come under one command called the Eastern Fleet based in Singapore. The Commander-in-Chief, China would then take command. During the First World War, the squadrons retained their distinct identities and 'Eastern Fleet' was used only as a general term. The three-squadron structure continued until the Second World War and the beginning of hostilities with the Empire of Japan, when the Eastern Fleet was formally constituted on 8 December 1941, amalgamating the East Indies Squadron and the China Squadron.[1]
During the war, it included many ships and personnel from other navies, including those of the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. On 22 November 1944 the Eastern Fleet was re-designated East Indies fleet and continued to be based in Trincomalee. Following its re-designation its remaining ships formed the British Pacific Fleet.[2] In December 1945 the British Pacific Fleet was disbanded and its forces were absorbed into the East Indies fleet. In 1952 the East Indies Fleet was renamed the Far East Fleet.
^Jackson, p. 289
^Hobbs, David. "THE BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET IN 1945 A Commonwealth effort and a remarkable achievement" (PDF). navy.gov.au. Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
The Eastern Fleet, later called the EastIndiesFleet, was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed between 1941 and 1952. In 1904, the British First Sea...
Eastern Fleet under the control of the Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet. The China Station then ceased as a separate command. The EastIndies Station...
The Spanish treasure fleet, or West IndiesFleet (Spanish: Flota de Indias, also called silver fleet or plate fleet; from the Spanish: plata meaning "silver")...
Dutch EastIndies. On 25 November 1941 knowing that hostile Japan actions in the Pacific was coming, Admiral Hart, commander of the Asiatic Fleet, movef...
of the Eastern Fleet had been detached to form the British Pacific Fleet, with the Eastern Fleet being renamed the EastIndiesFleet. This unit, still...
Eastern Fleet. Later the Eastern Fleet became the EastIndiesFleet. In 1952, after the Second World War ended, the EastIndiesFleet became the Far East Fleet...
the British Pacific Fleet had been established in November 1944, the ships left in the Indian Ocean became the EastIndiesFleet (Admiral Arthur Power)...
The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch EastIndies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945...
Lanka), and reorganised into the British EastIndiesFleet, subsequently becoming the British Pacific Fleet (BPF). The BPF operated against targets in...
Company rule in the Dutch EastIndies began when the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, "United East India Company"; VOC)...
Island in the Dutch EastIndies and bombed it as part of a Japanese operation to isolate resource-rich Java. The other four fleet carriers returned to...
heavily protected, the forces scheduled to reinforce the British EastIndiesFleet in late 1945 included the monitors HMS Abercrombie and Roberts which...
Dutch Expedition to the EastIndies was an expedition that took place from 1598 to 1600, one of the Dutch forays into the EastIndies spice trade that led...
bedding. Rear Admiral Alexander Madden, the second in command of the EastIndiesFleet, ordered the destroyer HMS Consort (Commander Robertson) to go from...
in the Second World War, from 1942 to 1945, seeing action with the EastIndiesFleet and reaching the rank of Lieutenant. He was the only future prime...
6): Commodore Matthew Perry, commanding the United States Navy's EastIndiesfleet, arrives in Japanese waters with four ships. 1854 (Kaei 7): Commodore...
Global Information
United Kingdom
Royal Navy