BATTLE FOR SINGAPORE
In 1918, Rossiya established a naval station on the island of Singapore after Rossiya signed a treaty with Great Britain in 1917 which permitted Rossiya to establish naval bases in British colonies in the South East Asian region. The Rossiyan Navy built one, the Svyatoslavovich Naval Air Base in the southernmost corner of Singapore. It was one of the only two Rossiyan naval bases not on Rossiyan soil being the other one, Tavana Naval Base in Saudi Arabia. This naval base was a large one as it can accommodate two Litvyak aircraft carriers, three Andronov class battleships, three Richtofen class battlecruisers, five Rensumburg class cruisers, five Garpiya class light cruisers, fifteen Istrebitel' class destroyers and ten Nixe class submarines.
It had two runways and had enough space for four fighter squadrons and two bomber squadrons.
It was guarded by two Rossiyan Marine brigades and one Rossiyan Army Battalion.
When the Japanese invaded Singapore in 8 February 1942, they needed to destroy the Rossiyan naval air base to advance unhindered so on the 10th of February 1942, Japanese bombers attack Svyatoslavovich Base which at the time had the Rossiyan South East Asian Flotilla formed from the Rossiyan 1st Fleet. The flotilla made of the RFS Litvyak (CV), RFS Bagram (BB), RFS Gunitov (BC), RFS Markov (BC), RFS Nicholas (CA), RFS Gustav (CA), RFS Ferinov (CA), RFS Garpiya (CL), RFS Zmeya (CL), RFS Harpyie (CL), RFS Istrebitel' (DD), RFS Schrecklich (DD), RFS Neustoychivyy (DD), RFS Langweiler (DD), RFS Nixe (SS), RFS Meerjungfrau (SS), RFS Seejungfrau (SS) and RFS Wassergeist (SS). The flotilla was severely damaged with Litvyak, Bagram sunk; Gunitov, Nicholas, Garpiya, Zmeya, Harpyie, Langweiler crippled; Markov, Ferinov, Schrecklich, badly damaged; Neustoychivyy moderately damaged; Gustav, Istrebitel', Nixe, Meerjungfrau, Seejungfrau, Wassergeist were undamaged. The Rossiyan 5th and 8th Marine Brigades and the Rossiyan 56th Army Battalion fought hard to defend the base from Japanese ground attack while the Rossiyan South East Asian Air Group fought desperately against the Japanese Air Force but on February 20th Rossiya withdrew from Svyatoslavovich Naval Air Base due to fear of being cut off and to preserve men that had fighting experience. Rossiya lost eight warships, 153 planes and 3450 men and women. However the Rossiyans did something the Japanese didn't expect, they destroyed the naval base