Indian Ocean Sea battle

[Mike Cecil]

A very interesting and fascinating article, thanks Mike.

As the article says, the Japanese were not nearly as effective as the Germans when it came to the use of surface raiders. There was a great fear that, with the outbreak of the war in the Pacific, the Japanese would interdict the vital supply lines between North America and Australia, a fear that was heightened when the SS Vincent was sunk to the east of Pitcairn Island on 12 Dec 1941 by two Japanese surface raiders. But overall, the disruption of the NA to Aust route just didn't eventuate in the Pacific, while the Germans sank several very valuable cargoes in the Caribbean that were destined for Australia. I suppose the Germans had plenty of practical experience to draw on from their WW1 raider exploits. Japanese submarines were reasonably effective at disrupting Australian coastal shipping.
Mike