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Operation Lentil (battle of the beans) was an air raid by British carrier-based aircraft on oil installations at
Table of actions by Royal Navy
Operation Lentil : Operations of WW2
Operation Lentil (battle of the beans) was an air raid by British carrier-based aircraft on oil installations at Pangkalan Brandan
Pangkalan Brandan (or Pangkalanbrandan) (''Pangkalanberandan'') is a port town in Langkat Regency, North Sumatra province, Indonesia, forty miles north west of Medan, close to the boundary with Aceh. The area's population is estimated at aroun ...
, an important centre for Indonesian oil production on Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
on 4 January 1945. It was part of the larger Operation Outflank
Operation Outflank was the first combat operation of the British Pacific Fleet (BPF). It was a series of raids by the Fleet Air Arm on the oil refineries and storage facilities of the Empire of Japan on the island of Sumatra:
* Operation Robson ...
, and its aim was to disrupt fuel supplies to Japanese forces in the Pacific.
Attacking force
Three aircraft carriers, and , were escorted by four cruisers ( HMS ''Suffolk'', , and ) and eight destroyers, which included the 25th Flotilla ( (leader), , , ) and the 27th Flotilla ( (leader), , and ). In terms of aircraft numbers, it was the Royal Navy's heaviest assault on the Japanese to date, with the three carriers embarking a total of 88 fighter planes. Despite the lack of discipline from some of the fighter pilots, who abandoned their main mission of protecting the bombers to engage in dogfights with the enemy, the attack was pronounced a moderate success and gave way to follow-up attacks on Japanese oil production in Sumatra, under the codenameOperation Meridian
During World War II, Operation Meridian was part of Operation Outflank, a series of British air attacks directed at Japanese-held oil refineries on Sumatra. Meridian had two phases: ''Meridian One'' on 24 January 1945 and ''Meridian Two'' on 2 ...
.
The attack was done under the command of then rear-admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarded ...
Philip Vian
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Philip Louis Vian, & Two Bars (15 July 1894 – 27 May 1968) was a Royal Navy officer who served in both World Wars.
Vian specialised in naval gunnery from the end of World War I, and subsequently received sever ...
, who was in charge of the British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. The fleet was composed of empire naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944 from the remaining ships ...
's air operations. A high proportion of the pilots were New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
ers.
Further reading
* A detailed account of the operations of the Royal Navy in the Pacific in 1944–1945 was published in 1969 as "Task Force 57" by Peter C Smith. Republished by Crecy Publishing Manchester third edition 2001. * John Winton, The Forgotten Fleet:The British Navy in the Pacific 1944–1945, Coward McCann, 1970 * Jurgen Rohwer, Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945, Naval institute press, 2005,External links
Table of actions by Royal Navy
Operation Lentil : Operations of WW2
References