HMS Ramillies (07) - Return To The Indian Ocean: Target India

Return To The Indian Ocean: Target India

Ramillies was a part of a British fleet put together hurriedly in March 1942 under Admiral James Somerville in an attempt to prevent Japanese naval forces from cutting the sea lanes to India. The scratch fleet consisted of two aircraft carriers and three old Revenge-class battleships. They did not encounter the main part of the Japanese fleet, which withdrew after causing great destruction to Allied shipping, including sinking an aircraft carrier and several other smaller warships.

In May 1942 Ramillies was still in the Indian Ocean and was sent to cover the Allied invasion of Madagascar. On 29 May 1942, a reconnaissance plane from the Japanese submarine I-10 spotted Ramillies at anchor in Diego Suarez harbour. Ramillies changed berth after the plane was seen. However, the Japanese submarines I-16 and I-20 launched two midget submarines, one of which, commanded by Lieutenant Saburo Akieda, managed to penetrate the harbour and to fire its two torpedoes. The first torpedo severely damaged Ramillies at about 20:25; the second sank the oil tanker British Loyalty at 21:20. Lieutenant Akieda came under depth charge attack from the corvettes Genista and Thyme but managed to beach his submarine and flee inland with Petty Officer Masami Takemoto. Both were killed in a firefight with Royal Marines three days later.

Ramillies was reported sunk by the Japanese, but in fact was merely severely damaged. She was towed to Durban for temporary repairs, then in August 1942 she returned to Plymouth under her own steam and was back in service in June 1943. The Royal Navy's senior constructor was sent out to Madagascar to assess the damage inflicted by the torpedo. His report noted that even though the ship was almost 30 years old, she had withstood severe damage that would have likely sunk a newer ship and her survival was a testament to her original sound construction and design.

While in drydock, an additional 2-inch (51 mm) of steel was added to the main deck over the magazines. This reflected the lessons from the sinking of the Hood as well as of the effectiveness of dive bombers at the Battle of Midway. Four 6-inch (152 mm) guns were replaced by two more four-barrelled anti-aircraft pompoms, this reflected the awareness of a greater risk posed by aircraft than by smaller surface vessels. It was ironic that Ramillies faced such a surface attack later in the war. Fortunately the remaining 6-inch (152 mm) guns were sufficient to handle it.