Dispatches from Operation HIGHMAST No. 4 – The UK Carrier Strike Group in Japan

It is quite a sight – the Royal Marines band in full whites playing the fleet flagship into Japan’s capital city with 1,600 sailors, marines, soldiers and aviators manning the rails. With its high rises and reclaimed islands, Tokyo Bay is unrecognisable from the scenes 80 years ago as the Pacific War came to an end. HMS Prince of Wales played its part in the commemorations for VJ Day 80 – the end of the Second World War – with representation from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) at a commemoration service on board.1Andrew Boyd, The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters: Linchpin of Vict…