Operation Penzance

'Penzance' was a British naval undertaking by elements of Admiral Sir Arthur Power’s East Indies Fleet to intercept and destroy Japanese naval and merchant ships off the coast of Burma (30 March/5 April 1945).

The ships involved were the destroyers Racehorse, Redoubt, Rocet and Rotherham of Force 62, which departed Trincomalee in Ceylon on 30 March and during the morning of 2 April carried out reconnaissance of Narcondam island with a view to assessing its suitability as a fuel and ammunition dump for the light craft of the Arakan Coastal Forces.

During the nights of 1/2 April and 2/3 April, Force 62 swept the Tenasserim coast between Mergui and Amherst, sinking one 100-ft (30.5-m) auxiliary coaster and one junk. The ships undertook a gunfire bombardment of the Japanese radar station on Great Coco island on 4 April and arrived at Akyab on 5 April.