An item referred to the magazine U.S.R. dated 25 August 1938 reporting that England showed a lot of interest for the naval base at Singapore, but hardly anything was said about the naval base at Trincomalee, Ceylon. This eldest British base in the Far East was of great strategically importance with her two harbours supplying an excellent berthing place for a very large fleet. Further was an airbase under construction and were the defence works thoroughly strengthened. Probably was the East Asiatic fleet in the near future to be increased on large scale and the Admiralty could for diplomatic reasons prefer stationing extra ships at Trincomalee in stead at Singapore.
