Royal Navy Operations

When the Brunei revolt broke out, the initial military response by the British was not very urgent but once the extent of the emergency had become apparent then spearhead units were required. These units were moved from Singapore by air. Then it became the task of the Royal Navy to continue the rapid build up of troops, armoured vehicles, aircraft, and other weapons of war. This it did by using all available ships to their maximum capacity. H.M.S. Albion, escorted by H.M.A.S. Vendetta took 40 Commando to Borneo arriving Dec 14th and disembarking 40 to Kutching.

In addition, the 6th Minesweeping Squadron carried out operations supporting the land forces in a variety of ways. During the assault on Limbang by 42 Commando, the civilian craft used were manned by officers and men from H.M.S. Fiskerton and H.M.S. Chawton, "Ton" class minesweepers. Prior to sailing, frantic repairs and servicing had to be carried out before the Marines' dawn assault on the town of Limbang.

At one stage in the Borneo confrontation, there was a force of some sixteen ships operating in the waters around
Borneo, most of them coming from the 6th Minesweeping Squadron, whose tasks were to hunt, stop, and search small boat traffic. The minesweepers were carrying about 200 troops at a time and were particularly used in the third division of Sarawak, where the River Rejang was navigable up to and beyond the capital, Sibu. Important though such roles were, the Royal Navy's primary task during confrontation was to guard the West Malaysian coastline against incursion by groups of Indonesian regulars, saboteurs, and terrorists. During the peak period of confrontation, Navy ships were on patrol continuously, for over 700 days and nights, and intercepted 90% of the known attempts to infiltrate into West Malaysia by sea.

The brunt of these patrols were borne by the small ships of the inshore flotilla, which were averaging 21 days a month at sea. Two incidents, out of the normal humdrum patrolling, occurred in 1965 when in the first incident, three coastal minesweepers intercepted and caught three armed sampans, all of whom had been trying to get into Southeast Johore, and during the fire fight eight Indonesian soldiers were killed and 19 captured. The second incident occurred on the Borneo side of the water when H.M.S. Puncheston stopped and searched a local boat that was carrying a huge quantity of arms and ammunition that was destined for the CCO.

The effective use of British sea power played a big part in preventing the confrontation from being escalated to an all-out war. In the Borneo waters, the Royal Navy exerted pressure quietly and efficiently.

The Whirlwind and Wessex helicopters, from 845 and 846 Naval Air Squadrons, were a most important part of the Royal Navy's effort. The pilots, aircrew, and ground staff, were in the thick of it, often operating from bases well inside the interior of Sarawak. The forward base of 845 Royal Naval Helicopter Squadron was at Nanga Ghat, well over a hundred miles from their ship, H.M.S. Albion.

"READY AYE READY"

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