Easter Sunday Raid on Colombo

01The warning

After Singapore fell in February 1942, the Japanese sent their carrier force into the Indian Ocean to destroy the British Eastern Fleet. On 4 April a Catalina of the Royal Canadian Air Force, flown by Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall, sighted the carriers south of Ceylon and got off a signal before it was shot down. Somerville’s fleet was at its secret base at Addu Atoll, out of reach. Colombo cleared many ships from the harbour and its fighters were ready when the attack came early on the 5th.

02The raid and after

Dive-bombers and fighters hit the harbour, the railway workshops at Ratmalana and the airfield. The armed merchant cruiser Hector and the old destroyer Tenedos were sunk in port, and many of the defending fighters were lost. That afternoon Japanese aircraft caught the heavy cruisers Dorsetshire and Cornwall at sea and sank both. On 9 April the carriers struck Trincomalee and sank the carrier Hermes off the coast. The fleet then withdrew to the Pacific, and the Eastern Fleet fell back to East Africa for a time.