April 1942 (2)

USS Tenedos

1-6 April – off the coast of Ceylon ( now known as Sri Lanka), the Japanese sank the USS Tenedos in Columbo Harbour during an air attack.  As the Japanese Blitz raged on, enemy troops made amphibious landings on Bougainville in the Solomons and in the Admiralty Islands.  On the coast of India, the enemy attacked Vizagapatam and Cocanada.

5-9 April – as Bataan fell, the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean, also was facing humiliation.  Five WWI battleships led by HMS Warspite and 3 carriers had been sent to protect the shipping to Burma.  As church bells rang out over the bay for Easter in Ceylon, Japanese aircraft bombed the installations at Columbo Harbour.  Six Zeros were shot down at the cost of 20 RAF planes

Thirty-one hits on HMS Dorsetshire lifted her out of the water and she sank.  HMS Cornwall received 8 hits, rolled over…