HMS Petard (G56) - The Far East, Part Two

The Far East, Part Two

Petard went into dry dock once more in Alexandria before passing through the Suez Canal, arriving in Trincomalee back at full war readiness.

In Operation Zipper, the planned re-occupation of Malaya, Petard was to be point ship. The Japanese surrender, following the atomic attacks at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, meant that such operations would not be necessary. Despite their capitulation, it was not clear that all the Japanese forces would obey the surrender order, or indeed, knew about it. As a result, ships like the Petard maintained a high state of readiness. That caution seemed to be justified when, a week after VJ (Victory over Japan) day, the second 'yellow' air raid warning of the day was shown to be for a solitary Japanese reconnaissance machine, which flew off when approached by nearby carrier-borne aircraft.

Petard was kept busy with the aftermath of war; for instance she led the cruiser Cleopatra and the Royal Indian Navy cruiser Bengal through a narrow swept channel in the Malacca Strait, which had been marked by three Indian Navy minesweeper flotillas, towards Singapore. Her guns and men with rifles, were kept busy, firing many rounds at the floating mines that were released. Petard was ordered to intercept a Japanese destroyer that turned out to be called rather chillingly, Kamikaze. Taking a despatch case from the Japanese ship and ignoring a request for a receipt, she sailed back to the Cleopatra. She was then part of a force which included the cruiser Cumberland, which was sent to Batavia, in the Dutch East Indies.

On her way back to Singapore after yet another escort mission, Petard ran into a tornado, which resulted in thousands of disoriented birds using the ship as a temporary perch. She was also involved in the uprising in Java; at one point ferrying Japanese POWs from Tandjongh Priok to an island near Singapore.

In all, Petard crossed the equator eight more times in the area of the Dutch East Indies before sailing once again to Trincomalee in late March 1946. Over two months later, she returned to Portsmouth.