The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942–1944: The Fleet that Had to Hide

by Charles Stephenson

The story of the British Eastern Fleet, which operated in the Indian Ocean against Japan, has rarely been told. Although it was the largest fleet deployed by the Royal Navy prior to 1945 and played a vital part in the theatre it was sent to protect, it has no place in the popular consciousness of the naval history of the Second World War. So Charles Stephenson's deeply researched and absorbing narrative gives this forgotten fleet the recognition it deserves.

British pre-war naval planning for the Far East is part of the story, as is the disastrous loss of the battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse in 1941, but the body of the book focuses on the new fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir James Somerville, and its operations against the Japanese navy and aircraft as well as Japanese and German submarines. Later in the war, once the fleet had been reinforced with an American aircraft carrier, it was strong enough to take more aggressive actions against the Japanese, and these are described in vivid detail.

Charles Stephenson's authoritative study should appeal to readers who have a special interest in the war with Japan, in naval history more generally and Royal Navy in particular.

Genres: History, World War II

336 pages, Hardcover

First published December 30, 2020

Reviews

[Wulf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written, but fundamentally flawed. Stephenson is repeating the same mistakes that many historians did 50 years ago. Therefore, this book is already outdated at the moment it was published. For a better account on the british preparations on the war against Japan and its successes and failures, just read Andrew Boyd's far superior and better researched book, Royal Navy in Eastern Waters.

[Alex Helling · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was the beginning of 1942 and the unthinkable had happened; not only had Britain’s fortress in the East Singapore fallen, but the Royal Navy fleet in the Far East had been sunk. A replacement was rapidly needed to stop the Japanese from using their much superior fleet from taking control of the Indian Ocean, and with it the heart of the British Empire. That important, if somewhat unenviable task was to fall to the Eastern fleet, for much of its existence commanded by James Somerville. It is the story of that fleet that Charles Stephenson charts in The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean 1942-44.

Pros
Providing a closer look at a lesser known aspect of WWII
Interesting look at the operational and strategic challenges facing the RN against the Japanese

Cons
Slightly bitty structure
Somewhat disappointing narrative arc

The Eastern Fleet is a fleet that is not very well known, and neither are its exploits. Unfortunately there is a reason for that; not very much happens. Despite the potential for a big clash created by that situation in the first half of 1942 it never actually happens; The Eastern fleet fought no big standup battles, and precious few of anything more minor either. In this sense the subtitle ‘The Fleet that had to Hide’ is rather appropriate.

This lack of action is reflected in the structure of the book. There are 16 chapters, excluding introduction and conclusion, the first four are on pre war developments and the general course of the war to Pearl Harbour and destruction of Force Z, from the point of the creation of the eastern fleet there are only three that are clearly about fleet operations with as many focused on the relatively minor submarine threat (compared to the Atlantic), a couple on more strategic elements and politics, and even one on spy games in India! This shouldn't necessarily be seen as a problem. Minor operations, strategic and tactical dilemmas can be interesting. Stephenson really brings into focus the balance of carrier forces between the British and Japanese explaining why the fleet had to hide. Telling the tale of the fleet chronologically ensures that there is a narrative of sorts. Stephenson does well at giving the context and the challenges that faced Somerville at each stage of his command.

A historian can't do much about his subject (and hopefully resist temptation to overly big it up!) but it is unfortunate from the point of view of telling a story that the interesting bit happens at the beginning of the fleet’s existence. As it is, we get a rather odd ending which is mostly about strategic arguments between Churchill and the British military chiefs about the role of Britain in the Indian and Pacific theatres, followed by a very brief account of a couple of minor operations. A bit of a damp squib. Since the British Pacific Fleet at the end of the war is a direct successor to the Eastern fleet I wonder whether it might not have been worthwhile having a longer book with that fleet’s exploits at Okinawa and in the final days of the war providing more for an author to get their teeth into.

However, given the not so exciting material Stephenson does a pretty good job. The pacing is decent with enough information that operations can be understood step by step with what choices were available to Somerville without becoming bogged down in the details. That said this is mostly an operational level account with strategic elements, and while it has quite a lot of quotes from participants, this mostly means from Somerville on his decisions, problems, and complaints rather than accounts of what it was like to be there. As a fleet that doesn't actually do much this is probably a wise decision. And as the account is mostly little known operations there is no need to search out new accounts to provide an alternative perspective as for most readers the whole thing will be new.

A decent high level account of a fleet and operations that I have not before known much about at all. Worth reading if interested in WWII - either in terms of the naval war, or higher strategy.

[Dud Dudley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The operations of the Royal Navy’s Eastern Fleet under the command of Admiral Sir James Somerville, which operated against the Japanese in the Indian Ocean, has received little attention from historians. Whilst it was the largest fleet deployed by the Royal Navy during world war 2 before 1945, it found itself badly outclassed by its Japanese enemy in 1942, forced to decline battle and, as Somerville wrote. “until I get a proper fleet out here I will simply have to hide, more or less.” The reason it was outclassed relates to the poor state of naval aviation in the Royal Navy when compared with the Japanese navy. The fleet air arm simply did not have, according to Somerville, “aircraft fit for sailors to fly in” whilst the Japanese did. It was necessary for the Eastern Fleet to evade the enemy rather than take more aggressive action. This book covers all these matters and then relates how improvements were gradually made with American help so that when the British Pacific Fleet was formed in 1944 from the Eastern Fleet it was able to operate in the Pacific. It is clearly written and well referenced.

[Peter Aronson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A readable but somewhat dry history of the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet in WW2. It concentrates more on how the pre-war history led to the fleet's situation in WW2 and on the personalities than on the fleet's actions as it didn't get a chance to actually accomplish very much. It does fill in this odd corner of WW2 navel history very well, though.

[Frank Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK read, but doesn’t really break any new ground on the subject.

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since they shot one of their own admirals on board one of their own ships for sailing away from an enemy in the 7 Years War- the Royal Navy has had a reputation for aggression and valour in the face of battle. But in this book- Charles Stephenson, an author on British Naval and colonial topics, tells quite a different tale of Britain's Eastern Fleet, the Pacific Fleet that had run from the Japanese, letting the Japanese dominate the Southeast Asian coastlines for much of the Pacific War. In the vast reaches of the Pacific- Britain's pre-war doctrinal mistake about both Battleships and aircraft were almost fatal- and resulted in the Imperial Fleet retiring before the Japanese Imperial Fleets. The British Admiral Somerville learned two expensive lessons when he lost the cream of his striking forces when Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by aircraft off Malaya in 1941. He realised faster than most that one needed air support for Naval maneuvers now, that his Air Force and especially Fleet Air Arm had no real answer to the Japanese modern Aircraft. Even when he did have Carrier support for his ships of the line- he understood that too few of inferior aircraft was tantamount to having no aircraft at all. Stephenson tells us this story with the aid of maps/diagrams/b/w pics making it compelling- although it is not one of the major foci of the war.

The Royal Navy's doctrinal mistake had been in continuing to think of Carriers as supports to Battle Fleets- and not as strike forces themselves. Their Carriers were small and carried too few aircraft to operate serious modern aerial strike forces. Their Fairey Fulmars and Swordfish, both far too slow for Pacific combat would need to be replaced by Sea Hurricanes, and then Seafires and the American Carrier aircraft that would allow them to revenge their fallen comrades. Thankfully control of the West coast of India, and the east coast of Africa allowed this fleet to retire and lend its Destroyers to Convoy, ASW, and Special raiding tasks- while it waited for the ETO fleets to be ready. Their exploits as the British Pacific Fleet is not covered here- but the lessons learned in this period would serve the Navy well as it operated as an adjunct to the Massive US TF 58/38 that the US fleet maintained. An interesting side of the Pacific War- a story well told.

There are some adult themes, mostly political and little graphic violence, so this is a good book for the Junior Reader over about 11/12 year with maritime interests. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military enthusiast- it's a pretty useful package. The Gamer gets several useful confrontation bits of info- as Somerville did try once to ambush the IJN- a really interesting what if battle- and also provided quite a few ships to the Madagascar Campaign- an intriguing sideshow by itself. The modeler gets a lot of build and diorama ideas- but may find this campaign of limited interest. The Military enthusiast- looking for fill out unexplored part of WWII is the real winner- as this book answers a lot of questions anyone may ever have had about the far Western Pacific region. I enjoyed the book immensely, and look forward to reading more about the Indian Ocean in WWII.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read about a subject I knew very little about. Probably won't re-read though