15 January 1942. Singapore.
RAF Seletar had been on high alert since the early hours of the morning. The arrival of Hurricanes flown off HMS Ark Royal and Formidable meant that just about every RAF fighter on Singapore Island were involved in Combat Air Patrols to make sure the new arrivals could set down and be dispersed without enemy interference. These CAPS including the first operational Tomahawk squadron (No 3 Squadron RAAF). The exception was the six surviving Sea Hurricanes of HMS Ark Royal which flew back to their ship. Landing shortly after the other aircraft were launched, they were quickly turned around so that there was some extra fighter protection for the aircraft carrier. The surviving Swordfish from HMS Ark Royal, along with four RAAF Hudsons, had flown out, the Hudsons to guide the Hurricanes from their launch points to the airfields and the Swordfish to re-join the carrier. HMS Ark Royal (with 24 Hurricanes) and Formidable (with 48 Hurricanes) had approached to within the range of the Hurricanes which were flown off, meeting up with the Hudsons who guided them to the three airbases that were waiting for them. No 30 Squadron landed at Seletar, 135 and 136 Squadrons landed at RAF Sembawang and No 258 Squadron landed at RAF Tengah.
The lessons of the ‘Club Runs’ to Malta had been implemented on Singapore, so that although the Hurricanes were configured for ferrying, they retained their guns and some limited ammunition just in case. Of the seventy-two aircraft that were due to launch, four failed to take off for various mechanical reasons, another two were forced to ditch and were lost with their pilots, five had problems with their landings, though only one of these was written off. The Japanese had taken the bait of some cruisers and destroyers which had made a show off the coast north of Penang bombarding the area around Alor Star. The ships had arrived during the night, fired off their main guns for a few minutes and then dashed back out to sea. A squadron of Dutch Buffaloes operating out of Medan on Sumatra were on hand to protect the ships as they withdrew at high speed.
It took most of the morning for the Japanese bombers to react to the bombardment and send off reconnaissance aircraft. The ships were well out of range by the time a strike could be launched. It was later in the afternoon that Japanese aircraft appeared heading towards Singapore, but no air raid occurred, they attacked the rail line around Kuala Lumpur instead.
The sixty Hurricanes that arrived safely were somewhat less that Air Vice Marshall Pulford had expected. There had been two issues. Although HMS Ark Royal and Formidable had plenty of experience of flying off Hurricanes to Malta, the restrictions of how many aircraft they could carry meant that HMS Formidable carried the great number of Hurricanes, while HMS Ark Royal retained enough Swordfish, SeaHurricanes and Fulmars for protection and limited strike potential. The other two squadrons expected to be sent to Singapore (No 17 and 232) had been unloaded at Ceylon and were moving by stages to Rangoon to reinforce the defenders of Burma.
Under the cover of the air umbrella Admiral Phillips wanted to bring part of his force into Singapore, rather than going all the way back to Ceylon for refuelling. The arrival of HMS Nelson and Warspite, with HMS Ark Royal, the cruisers Exeter and Gloucester, the destroyers HMS Electra, Express, Encounter, Greyhound, Jupiter, Juno, Kashmir and Kelly was a sight to behold. The ships would be refuelled and sail to Pontianak to pick up the two Indian Battalions, then rendezvousing with elements of the Dutch fleet, they would sail to Balikpapan. Once the troops were off-loaded the fleet would attempt to confront any Japanese force in the Makassar Straight.
The rest of Phillips’ fleet, led by HMS Prince of Wales, would sail back to Ceylon with the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, which would then carry on, returning to the Mediterranean. HMS Indomitable was expected to arrive at Ceylon around the end of March, followed by HMS Illustrious in April or May. HMS Hermes was still under refit at Durban and would be available around the same time as HMS Indomitable. By that time all the carriers would be carrying Martlet fighters for protection. The arrival of the four old R Class battleships at Ceylon would be complete around the same time as the two aircraft carriers.