Operation Pedal

'Pedal' was British carrierborne air attack on Japanese facilities at Port Blair and other locations in the Andaman islands group in the Bay of Bengal (19/21 June 1944).

The operation was led by Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Power, second-in-command of Admiral Sir James Somerville’s Eastern Fleet, and the ships involved were the fleet carrier Illustrious, the battle-cruiser Renown, ther light cruisers Ceylon, Kenya and Nigeria, and the destroyers Quality, Quickmatch, Quilliam, Racehorse, Raider, Relentless, Roebuck and Rotherham, as well as the submarines Clyde and Tantivy for the air/sea rescue role. The ships departed Trincomalee in Ceylon on 19 June.

The weather over the Andaman islands was poor, and the British carrierborne aircraft (15 Barracuda torpedo/level bombers escorted by eight Vought Corsair fighters) were therefore able to inflict only insignificant damage.