Operation Balsam was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

naval operation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, from 10–20 June 1945,Jürgen Rohwer, ''Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two'', page 423, 2005. under the command of Commodore

Geoffrey Oliver Admiral Sir Geoffrey Nigel Oliver (22 January 1898 – 26 May 1980) was a Royal Navy officer during the Second World War. Early career The oldest son of a botanist, Professor Francis Wall Oliver, Geoffrey Oliver was educated at Durnford Prepar ...

. The third in a string of similar missions, the objectives were the

naval bombardment Naval gunfire support (NGFS), also known as naval surface fire support (NSFS), or shore bombardment, is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of sever ...

and aerial strikes on

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese airfields in

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 list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

, Japanese vessels in the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

, and

aerial reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or Strategy, strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including Artillery observer, artillery spott ...

.Edwyn Gray, ''Operation Pacific: The Royal Navy's War Against Japan, 1941–1945'', page 238, 1990.

Operational detail

Naval forces involved sailed from

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

on 14 June 1945.Admiralty War Diaries of World War 2: Eastern Fleet - January to October 1945
Ships involved included the escort carriers , , ; cruisers and ; and five destroyers, , , , , and . The carriers transported

Grumman F6F Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...

s of 804 Squadron and 808 Squadron, and

Supermarine Seafire The Supermarine Seafire is a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire fighter adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. It was analogous in concept to the Hawker Hurricane variants#Sea Hurricanes, Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised aircraft ...

s of 809 Squadron.John Winton, ''The Forgotten Fleet: The British Navy in the Pacific, 1944–1945'', page 215, 1970. Flights were restricted to photo-reconnaissance over southern Malaya for the first few days of the active operation, on 18 and 19 June. One account describes how the fighter pilots "were growing restless on a diet of undiluted

CAPS Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

, but Commodore Oliver reassured them they would have an opportunity to 'leave their cards'". On 20 June, the fighters engaged in their first offensive sorties against the airfields at

Lhokseumawe Lhokseumawe (; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ), is the second largest city (by population, after Bandar Aceh, Banda Aceh) in Aceh province, Indonesia, having recently overtaken Langsa. The city covers an area of 181.06 square kilometres, and had a popu ...

Medan Medan ( , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of North Sumatra. The nearby Strait of Malacca, Port of Belawan, and Kualanamu International Airport make Medan a regional hub and multi ...

and

Binjai Binjai (English: or , Jawi script, Jawi: ), formally Kota Binjai (Binjai City), is an independent city in the North Sumatra province of Indonesia, bordered by Deli Serdang Regency to the east and Langkat Regency to the west. Binjai is connected ...

. The results were reported as follows:

References

Operation balsam - Codenames : Operation of WW2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balsam, Operation World War II operations and battles of the Southeast Asia Theatre Naval aviation operations and battles World War II aerial operations and battles of the Pacific theatre Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom Naval battles and operations of World War II involving the United Kingdom