Eastern Fleet The British Eastern Fleet ( also known as the East Indies Fleet and the Far East Fleet ) was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed from 1941 to 1971 . In 1904 the First Sea Lord , Sir John Fisher , ordered that in the event of war the three main commands in the Far East , the East Indies Squadron , the China Squadron and the Australian Squadron , should all come under one command called the Eastern Fleet based in Singapore . The Commander - in - Chief on the China Station would then take command . During World War I the squadrons retained its distinct commands and ' Eastern Fleet ' was used only as a general term . The three squadron structure continued until World War II 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 . During the war , it included many ships and personnel from other navies , including from the The Netherlands , Australia , New Zealand and the United States . With the creation of the British Pacific Fleet in 1944 / 1945 , the Eastern Fleet became the East Indies Fleet until the end of the war , when it became the Far East Fleet and operated in all Far East areas , including parts of the Pacific Ocean . Background . Until World War II , the Indian Ocean had been a British " lake " . It was ringed by significant British and Commonwealth possessions and much of the strategic supplies needed in peace and war had to pass across it : i . e . Persian oil , Malayan rubber , Indian tea , Australian and New Zealand foodstuffs . Britain also utilised Australian and New Zealand manpower ; hence , safe passage for British cargo ships was critical . At the outbreak of World War II , the German Navy ( " Kriegsmarine " ) used auxiliary cruisers ( converted merchant ships ) and the " pocket battleship " " Admiral Graf Spee " to threaten the sea lanes and tie down the Royal Navy . In mid - 1940 , Italy declared war and their vessels based in Italian East Africa posed a threat to the supply routes through the Red Sea . Worse was to come when the Japanese declared war in December 1941 and , after Pearl Harbor , the sinking of " Prince of Wales " and " Repulse " , and the occupation of Malaya , Singapore and the Dutch East Indies , there was an aggressive threat from the east . This became reality when an overwhelming Japanese naval force operated in the eastern Indian Ocean , sinking an aircraft carrier , other warships and disrupting freight traffic along the Indian east coast . At this stage , the Chief of the Imperial General Staff , General Sir Alan Brooke wrote : " We were hanging by our eyelids ! Australia and India were threatened by the Japanese , we had temporarily lost control of the Indian Ocean , the Germans were threatening Iran and our oil , Auchinleck was in precarious straits in the desert , and the submarine sinkings were heavy . " Early war years . Until 1941 , the main threat to British interests in the region was the presence of German commerce raiders ( auxiliary cruisers ) and submarines . The fleet had trade protection as its first priority and was required to escort convoys and eliminate the raiders . The Germans had converted merchant ships to act as commerce raiders and allocated supply ships to maintain them . The location and destruction of these German raiders consumed much British naval effort until the last raider - " Michel " - was sunk in October 1943 . On 10 June 1940 , the entry of Italy into the war introduced a new threat to the oil supply routes from the Persian Gulf , which passed through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean . The Italians controlled ports in Italian East Africa and Tiensin , China . The Italian Royal Navy ( " Regia Marina " ) presence in the Red Sea , Indian Ocean , and the western Pacific Ocean consisted of destroyers , submarines , and a small number of armed merchantmen . The majority of these were based at Massawa in Eritrea as part of the Italian Red Sea Flotilla , primarily seven destroyers and eight submarines . Damage to British destroyers at this time included HMS " Kimberley " which was crippled by Italian shore batteries . The Italian naval forces in East Africa were caught in a vice . To put to sea invited heavy British reaction , while to stay in ports threatened by British and Commonwealth forces became impossible . In 1941 , during the East African Campaign , these ports were captured by the British . Singapore . Before the fall of Singapore , the Eastern Fleet ' s naval base at Singapore ( HM Naval Base ) was part of the British Far East Command . British defence planning in the area was based on two assumptions . The first was that the United States would remain as an effective ally in the western Pacific Ocean , with a fleet based at Singapore , and that the Philippines would be available as a forward base for British warships . Secondly , the technical capabilities and aggression of the Imperial Japanese Navy were overestimated . In these circumstances , with the Japanese fleet engaged by the United States Navy ( USN ) , the Admiralty sent four obsolescent " Revenge " - class battleships to Singapore to provide defensive firepower and a British presence . The British assumptions were destroyed on 7 December 1941 : the impact of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor denied substantial USN support to the British defence of the " Malay barrier " and made impossible the relief of American garrisons in the Philippines . Furthermore , Japanese capabilities exceeded expectations . After the fall of France in June 1940 , Japanese pressure on the Vichy authorities in French Indochina resulted in the granting of base and transit rights , albeit with significant restrictions . Despite this , in September 1940 , the Japanese launched an invasion of that country . The bases thus acquired in Indochina allowed extended Japanese air cover of the invasion forces bound for Malaya and for the Dutch East Indies . In these circumstances , the " Prince of Wales " and " Repulse " were vulnerable to concerted air attacks from the Japanese bases in Indochina and , without their own air cover , they were sunk in December 1941 . After the sinking of " Prince of Wales " and " Repulse " , Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton assumed command of the Eastern Fleet . The fleet withdrew first to Java and , following the Fall of Singapore , to Trincomalee , Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka ) . In March 1942 , Admiral Sir James Somerville arrived in Ceylon and assumed command from Layton . Indian Ocean retreat . When Admiral Somerville inspected the base at Trincomalee , its deficiencies were clear to him . He found the port inadequate , vulnerable to a determined attack , and open to spying . An isolated island base with a safe , deep anchorage in a suitably strategic position was required . Addu Atoll , in the Indian Ocean , met the requirements and it was secretly developed as a fleet anchorage . The Eastern Fleet was divided into two : Force A and Force B . Force A consisted of the modernised battleship HMS " Warspite " and two available fleet aircraft carriers . Force B was based on the slow " Revenge " - class battleships of the 3rd Battle Squadron , based at the fleet ' s new operational base at Kilindini near Mombasa in Kenya and relatively safe from the Japanese fleet . Neither individually nor together could the two Eastern Fleet forces challenge a determined Japanese naval assault . Following the Japan ese capture of the Andaman Islands , the main elements of the Fleet retreated to Addu Atoll in the Maldives . Following Chuichi Nagumo ' s Indian Ocean raid and on Ceylon in early 1942 , the Fleet moved its operational base to Kilindini near Mombasa in Kenya , as their more forward fleet anchorages could not be adequately protected from Japanese attack . The fleet in the Indian Ocean was then gradually reduced to little more than a convoy escort force as other commitments called for the more modern , powerful ships . In May 1942 , the Eastern Fleet supported the invasion of Madagascar , Operation " Ironclad " . It was aimed at thwarting any attempt by Japanese vessels to use naval bases on the Vichy French controlled territory . During the invasion , vessels of the Eastern Fleet were confronted by vessels of the French Navy and submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy . Indian Ocean strikes . After the departure of the main battle forces during February 1942 , the Indian Ocean was left with mostly escort carriers and older battleship s as the core of its naval forces . Allied advances in the Mediterranean and northern Europe during 1943 and 1944 , however , released naval resources . As a result , more British aircraft carrier s entered the area ; plus the battlecruiser , the battleships " Howe " , " Queen Elizabeth " , " Valiant " and supporting warships . Preparations were put in hand for a more aggressive stance in the Indian Ocean and for British naval participation in the Pacific theatre . Agreement had been reached , after objections from Admiral Ernest King USN , but new procedures would need to be learnt by naval crews and Fleet Air Arm ( FAA ) aircrew . To this end , Operation " Diplomat " , a training exercise , took place in late March , 1944 . The objective was for the fleet to rendezvous with a group of tankers ( escorted by HNLMS " Tromp " ) and practice refuelling at sea procedures . The ships then rendezvoused with United States Navy Task Force 58 . 5 , the aircraft carrier USS " Saratoga " and three destroyers . Admiral King requested that , during April , the Eastern Fleet should engage Japanese forces in their area and hold them there to reduce the opposition to an American seaborne assault on Hollandia ( now Jayapura ) and Aitape on the north coast of Netherlands New Guinea . An airborne attack by the Eastern Fleet ( including Task Force 58 . 5 ) on Sabang , off Sumatra was executed ( Operation " Cockpit " ) . Surprise was achieved : military and oil installations were heavily damaged by the attacks , aggravating Japanese fuel shortages . The American involvement was extended to capitalise on the success with a second attack , this time on Surabaya , eastern Java , on 17 May ( Operation " Transom " ) . The distances for this operation necessitated replenishment at sea . Again , the defenders were unprepared and significant damage was inflicted on the port and its military and oil infrastructures . " Saratoga " and her destroyers returned to the Pacific from 18 May after what Admiral Somerville called " " a profitable and very happy association of Task Group 58 . 5 with the Eastern Fleet " " . At the end of August 1944 , Admiral Somerville was relieved as Commander - in - Chief Eastern Fleet by Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser , former Commander - in - Chief Home Fleet . The Eastern Fleet was greatly augmented by units intended for the Pacific and on 4 January 1945 , two British carriers ( and " Indefatigable " ) , carried out an attack on oil refineries at Pangkalan Brandon in Sumatra ( Operation " Lentil " ) . The final attacks were flown as Force 63 was " en - route " for Sydney , Australia to become the British Pacific Fleet . Operation " Meridian One " and Operation " Meridian Two " were air attacks upon the oil refineries at Pladjoe , north of Palembang , Java and at Soengei Gerong , Sumatra . Although successful , these were not as smooth as earlier attacks . A number of Fleet Air Arm pilots were captured by the Japanese during the Palembang raid . They were taken to Singapore where at least some of them were executed by the Japanese military authorities . On May 15 – 16 , 1945 , the British carriied out Operation " Dukedom " ; the 26th Destroyer Flotilla ( , , , " Vigilant " and ) sank the Japanese heavy cruiser " Haguro " in the Malacca Straits using torpedo s . Postwar . After the war , the Fleet was once again based at the Naval Base at Singapore . It took part in the Malayan Emergency and the Confrontation with Indonesia in the 1960s . By 1964 the fleet on station included , " Centaur " , " Bulwark " , " Kent " , " Hampshire " , seventeen destroyers and frigates , ( some drawn from the Mediterranean ) , about ten minesweepers and five submarines . The Flag Officer Second - in - Command Far East Fleet , for most of the postwar period a Rear Admiral , was based afloat , and tasked with keeping the fleet ' up to the mark operationally , ' while the fleet commander , a Vice Admiral , ran the fleet programme and major items of administration ' including all provision for docking and maintenance ' from his base in Singapore . The Fleet was disbanded in 1971 , and on 31 October 1971 , the last day of the validity of the Anglo - Malayan Defence Agreement , the last Commander , Far East Fleet , Rear Admiral Anthony Troup , hauled down his flag . List of ships . During World War II , the British Eastern Fleet included , from time to time , a number of warships from other Allied nations , such as Australia , France ( Free French Navy ) , the Netherlands , India ( Royal Indian Navy ) , New Zealand and the United States . Major ships attached to the Eastern Fleet , or where indicated , East Indies Fleet , included : Commanders - in - Chief . Commanders - in - Chief have included : < br > Commander - in - Chief , Eastern Fleet Commander - in - Chief , East Indies Fleet Commander - in - Chief , Far East Fleet Flag Officers Second - in - Command . Flag Officers Second - in - Command have included :