Operation Dundee (i)

'Dundee' (i) was a British naval deception undertaking by the London Controlling Section to conceal the destination of a powerful force of warships (November 1943/January 1944).

The naval force comprised battleships, aircraft carriers, destroyers and a miscellany of escort vessels which were being despatched on 1 December via the Mediterranean Sea and Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean, where a major amphibious assault was being considered for implementation in the spring of 1944.

The object of 'Dundee' (i) was to persuade the Japanese to reinforce the area round Timor in the occupied East Indies and at the same time discourage them from sending further strength into the Bay of Bengal area by suggesting that the British had promised neutral Portugal that Portuguese Timor was to be liberated, by Australian and US forces with British naval support, in exchange for the Allied right to base air and naval forces in the Azores islands group as agreed in 'Alacrity'.

The movement of the British warships through the Mediterranean was integrated with 'Oakfield'.