Location
Lat 6° 55' 55N Long 79° 50' 52E Colombo is located on the western coast of Western Province in Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Borders Colombo Harbor (Port of Colombo). Today, Colombo is the largest city and national capital of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The executive and judicial capital is Colombo. The administrative capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte also known as simply Kotte.
Wartime History
During World War II, an Allied shipping route spanned from Colombo across the Indian Ocean to Fremantle and vice versa. This route was targeted by both German and Japanese submarines.
On April 5, 1942 at dawn, a force of 125 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) carrier aircraft (36 D3A Val dive bombers, 53 B5N Kate bombers and 36 A6M2 Zeros) under the command of Commander Mitsuo Fuchida from Akagi attack Colombo targeting the harbor as their principal target. Admiral Nagumo kept the rest of his force, approximately another 180 aircraft, in reserve as a second wave, to be launched once Fuchida had confirmed the location of the Eastern Fleet, his principle target. RAF launched two squadrons of RAF Hurricanes and two Navy Fulmars to intercept. The Eastern Fleet was not in port, but the Japanese sank two heavy cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Cornwall, destroyer HMS Tenedo and several merchant vessels.
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Last Updated
February 2, 2023
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