James Somerville
Sailing from Trincomalee, under the command of Admiral James Somerville, were two aircraft carriers ( and "Illustrious") with four battleships , , , and the French battleship "Richelieu", as well as six cruisers (, , , , , "Tromp"), with ten destroyers (, "Quickmatch", , , , , , , , ) supported by two submarines ("Templar", "Tantalus").