In August 1944 the British Pacific Fleet did not exist. Six months later it was strong enough to launch air attacks on Japanese territory, and by the end of the war it constituted the most powerful force in the history of the Royal Navy, fighting as professional equals alongside the U.S. Navy in the thick of the action. How this was achieved by a nation nearing exhaustion after five years of conflict is a story of epic proportions in which ingenuity, diplomacy and dogged persistence all played a part. This groundbreaking work describes the background, creation and expansion of the British Pacific Fleet from its first tentative strikes to its impact on the immediate post-war period. The book is the first to demonstrate the British Pacific Fleet's impressive achievement.