Operation Stab

Operation Stab was a British led naval deception during World War II in order to try and distract Japanese units for the upcoming Guadalcanal campaign by US forces.

Operation Stab
Part of the Pacific Theatre of World War II
Date21 July 1942 – 4 August 1942
Location
Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean
Result Limited British success.
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 Netherlands		 Japan
Commanders and leaders
James Somerville Unknown
Units involved
1 battleship
2 carriers
4 light cruisers
6 destroyers
1 minelayer
2 corvettes
2 sloops
1 aux vessel
2 tankers
10 transport ships		 Unknown
Casualties and losses
4 aircraft destroyed
4 dead		 1 aircraft destroyed
9 dead
British losses were due to accidents.

The operation

Having received a request from Admiral King to provide a distraction for Operation Watchtower,[1][2] Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville decided on a fake invasion force, which were to sortie towards the Andaman Islands in an effort to draw Japanese forces to the area. Somerville himself would be shadowing with 'Force A' consisting of the battleship HMS Warspite, aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious and HMS Formidable, light cruisers HMS Birmingham, HMS Effingham, HMS Mauritius and HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck and destroyers HMS Inconstant, HMAS Napier, HMAS Nizam, HMAS Norman and HNLMS Van Galen.[3]

Units started to assemble along the Indian coast and at Ceylon from 21-25 July, with a start date of 1 August. 'Force A' sortied early on the 30th after reports of Japanese cruisers being seen.[4] The three dummy fleets set sail on 1 August from Vizagapatam ('Force V'), Madras ('Force M') and Trincomalee ('Force T'), this last force contained the RFA tankers Appleleaf and Broomdale.[5]

On the evening of the 1st 'Operation Spark' was carried out, this was a faked plain language SOS message from one of the ships reporting a collision and unable to move. The diversion forces then turned to return to port. Somerville stayed nearby for some hours but as no Japanese attacks or movements developed, and his heavy ships were required for Operation Stream Line Jane he decided to end the operation and return to port.

Aftermath

While the operation was carried out successfully and without combat losses, the Japanese failed to take the bait and no significant naval or air units were redeployed – although the seaplane tender Sagara Maru was sent to the islands on the 4th[6][7] and a bomber unit sent to reinforce Sabang[6] so it could be said to have been a minor success.

Several Japanese planes were spotted, and one Mavis was shot down by a Martlet from Formidable,[3][4] for the loss of two Martlets and two Fulmars due to accidents and engine failure.[6]

References
  1. Gray, Edwyn (1990). Operation Pacific. pp. 137.
  2. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Australian War Memorial, 1968. 1963. pp. 126.
  3. "HMS Warspite, British battleship, WW2". www.naval-history.net. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  4. "Stab (i) | Operations & Codenames of WWII". codenames.info. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  5. "Operation Stab". historicalrfa.org. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  6. Donald A Bertke, Gordon Smith, Don Kindell (2014). World War II Sea War, Vol 6: The Allies Halt the Axis Advance. pp. 487–488.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. "Japanese Auxiliary Seaplane Tenders". www.combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 24 February 2019.

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