0930 Hours, 20 January 1943, Force A, Eastern Fleet, 370 Miles Southwest of Port Blair, Bay of Bengal – The radar sets on HMS Valiant, HMS Devonshire, and USS Phoenix picked up the inbound raid between 70 and 80 miles out. There were currently 28 fighters over the task force with one Wildcat from Copahee down with engine trouble and a Martlet from Hermes out with collapsed landing gear. Four more Sea Hurricanes leapt off the deck of HMS Avenger as soon as first detection was reported while her remaining four fighters were held back with their pilots in the cockpits.
When the incoming strike got within 40 miles, eight Martlets and eight Wildcats were ordered to intercept. Their job was to tie down the fighter escort and within five minutes the 16 British and American Grumman made fighters were diving on the Japanese formation’s escorting Zeroes from head on.
The appearance of the combat air patrol and the resulting furball prompted the strike leader to divide his 16 torpedo bombers into four plane sections. The Betties began descending while separating to make some semblance of a multi-axis attack with a single shotai of Zeroes that managed to avoid the dogfight that was now behind them remaining at 15,000 feet to keep watch over the attacking bombers. HMS Avenger’s Sea Hurricanes were vectored on to the diverging radar contacts in two plane sections while her last four fighters were launched and the three remaining Wildcats and single Martlet remained overhead.
The three Zeroes that remained with the Betties managed to jump a pair of Sea Hurricanes, sending both into the water and the Zeroes were in turn bounced by Copahee’s last three Wildcats with two Zeroes and a single Wildcat going down in flames. The remaining five pairs of Sea Hurricanes engaged the Betties that were rapidly heading for the deck to deny the fighters maneuvering room, but eight bombers were still shredded by the Hurricanes’ 20mm cannons. The lone Martlet from Hermes’ still over the task force claimed two more Betties as did Avenger’s last four Hurricanes. The four Betties that survived the fighters were now hugging the waves and were met with a hail of anti-aircraft fire as they approached the task force. Two fell the ships’ guns and a third crashed when it ran into a wall of water thrown up by HMS Devonshire’s main battery. Only one Betty survived and Devonshire easily evaded its torpedo. As the fighters disengaged, half the escorting Zeroes had been shot down as well while the combat air patrol lost a total of three Sea Hurricanes, four Martlets, and four Wildcats with six of the pilots getting picked up by the destroyers.
As the all clear was sounded and fighters began returning to their carriers the mood on the many of the Allied warships was a combination of relief and confusion. Veterans of previous engagements, particularly those over the summer could not help but notice that the attacking force was much smaller than what they had faced in that past. Onboard HMS Valiant, Captain Ashmore turned to Admiral Somerville and said, “Is that all the bastards have to throw at us? Do you think they might be starting to get thin?” Somerville did not have an answer but he agreed that it was something the intelligence section needed to look into.
