Preparations for a British Pacific Fleet with its main base at Sydney went forward during 1944. Nevertheless, while plans for a British Pacific Fleet went forward, the Eastern Fleet, as has been told, carried out several operations during 1944. The Admiralty's view, from wide experience in the Mediterranean, was that attacks on targets such as were suggested by Admiral King were unprofitable unless there was some definite objective to be achieved, and were a misuse of fleet carriers and naval aircraft. 1 In January 1944 he represented that if the proposed British force for the Pacific was aggressively employed in the Indian Ocean against Japanese airfields, port installations, and the shipping and oil targets it could reach, it would tie down a large number of Japanese aircraft and contribute more to operations in the Pacific than if it were moved immediately into the latter ocean. Moreover, Admiral King, Commander-in-Chief United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, regarded the war in the Pacific as entirely an American affair and was known to have a rooted aversion to a British fleet operating with the Americans in the drive toward Japan. The organisation and maintenance of such a fleet presented a major problem of logistics. AT the beginning of 1944 preparations were being made by the Admiralty to send a British fleet to the Pacific to take an active part in operations against the Japanese.
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