An international mix of men and ships

After four and a half years of war against Germany and the Axis forces, Britain began to assemble fighting forces to operate against the Japanese in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Officially formed in November 1944 these were the new British Pacific Fleet (BPF) and the restructured Eastern Fleet which became the East Indies Fleet (EIF).

Both the BPF and EIF comprised of combat vessels from Commonwealth countries and merchant mariners from many more nations. The BPF was a truly international mix of men and ships collected together over a period of fourteen months. Operating under unfamiliar conditions it provided a British striking force to participate alongside the US Pacific Fleet in its operations against mainland Japan. The EIF was to operate against the Japanese in the Indian Ocean, Burma, Sumatra and Malaya.

Areas covered in these pages:

It is hoped to provide a list of all the resources that comprised each of the two fleets, and where possible to include potted histories and other information in the following areas:

Warships
Auxiliaries
Naval air squadrons
Shore base

Navigating around this site

Please use the navigation bar at the top of each page to move around the site; all main pages are accessible from this bar. Navigation within sub pages is via the 'next ' 'top' and 'back' links at the foot of each page. Other active links will be available in drop down menus as the mouse pointer rolls over them. For simplicity each fleet is split into two separate index pages, one for ships (including shore bases) and Air Squadrons (both front and second-line units).

Content last modified on 29 March 2018

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