Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 28. Chapters: British Pacific Fleet, List of Eastern Fleet ships, Mediterranean Fleet, 835 Naval Air Squadron, Force H, 2nd Escort Group, Home Fleet, Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit, 750 Naval Air Squadron, 3rd Battle Squadron, B-6 Escort Group, B-7 Escort Group, 700 Naval Air Squadron, B-2 Escort Group, 36th Escort Group, 2nd Battle Squadron, Battlecruiser Squadron, 5th Escort Group, Force K, 14th/17th Minesweeper Flotilla, 792 Naval Air Squadron, Force Z, 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron. Excerpt: The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944. Its main base was at Sydney, Australia, with a forward base at Manus Island. The British Pacific Fleet was, and remains, the most powerful conventional war fleet assembled by the Royal Navy. By VJ Day it included four battleships, eighteen aircraft carriers, eleven cruisers and many smaller warships and support vessels. Despite this, it was dwarfed by the forces that the United States had in action against Japan. While the British fleet was not critical to the war in the Pacific, it did participate in and protect the flank of the final Allied drive against Japan in 1945. Following their retreat to the western side of the Indian Ocean in 1942, British naval forces did not return to the South West Pacific theatre until 17 May 1944, when an Anglo-American carrier task force implemented Operation Transom, a joint raid on Surabaya, Java. The U.S. was liberating British territories in the Pacific and extending its influence. It was therefore seen as a political and military imperative to restore a British presence in the region and to deploy British military assets directly against Japan. The British government were determined that British territories, such as Hong Kong, should be recaptured by British forces. The British establishment, however, was not unanimous on the commitment of the BPF. Churchill, in particular, argued against it, not wishing to be a visibly junior partner in what had been exclusively the United States' battle. (The Australian and New Zealand forces that were active had been absorbed into US command structures.) He also considered that a British presence would be unwelcome and should be concentrated on Burma and Malaya. Naval planners, supported by the Chiefs of Staff, believed that such a commitment would strength