The fall of Singapore and the subsequent defeat and sinking of the battleship and the battle cruiser , punctured the propaganda of British invincibility. The credibility &amp; prestige of the British was further damaged by the sinking of the aircraft carrier and the cruisers and off Sri Lanka in early April 1942; accompanied at the same time by the virtually unopposed bombing of mainly the British colonial bases in the island and bombardment of Madras (Chennai). Such was the panic amongst the British in Sri Lanka that a large turtle which came ashore was reported by an Australian unit as a number of Japanese amphibious vehicles.