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The 'Sinking of ''Prince of Wales'' and ''Repulse''' was a World War II naval engagement which illustrated the effectiveness of aerial attacks against naval forces that were not protected by air cover and the resulting importance of including an aircraft carrier in any major fleet action.
The action took place east of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang where the British battleship HMS ''Prince of Wales'' and battlecruiser HMS ''Repulse'' were attacked by Imperial Japanese Navy land-based bombers and torpedo bombers.

Contents

Background

Deployment

Axis Preparations

Hostilities Commence

Departure

Return to Singapore

The Japanese air attack

After the action

Effects of the sinking

The ships today

References

Notes

Books

Web

Background

Both ships were sent to Singapore in December 1941, to serve as a deterrent to Japanese aggression. First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound felt that Singapore could not be adequately defended, unless the Royal Navy sent the majority of its capital ships there to achieve parity with the estimated nine Japanese battleships. That was unacceptable as the British were at war with Germany and Italy. However, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was optimistic about the improving situation in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean and allocating two ships to the colony's defense was seen as a compromise. Furthermore, the US Navy would agree to send its Pacific Fleet with its eight battleships to Singapore in the event that hostilities with Japan broke out.[1]
The original British plan had called for a larger fleet which included the new ''Illustrious''-class aircraft carrier ''HMS Indomitable'' for air cover, although the plan had to be revised when Indomitable was damaged en route.

Deployment

What was then designated as 'Force G', consisting of the modern battleship ''Prince of Wales'', the World War I era battlecruiser ''Repulse'', and the four destroyers HMS ''Electra'', HMS ''Express'', HMS ''Encounter'', and ''HMS Jupiter'', arrived at Singapore on 2 December, 1941. They were then re-designated 'Force Z'. The new carrier, ''Indomitable'' was allocated to Force G, but whilst working up off Bermuda she had run aground in the entrance to Kingston harbour on November 3 1941 ^[2]. ''Indomitable'' required 12 days of dry dock repairs in Norfolk, Virginia and was able to take no further part in the action. They spent a few days there with shore leave and refit, while waiting for orders. On 1 December, it was announced that Sir Tom Phillips had been promoted to full Admiral, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Fleet. A few days later, ''Repulse'' started on a trip to Australia with the HMS ''Vampire'', and HMS ''Tenedos'', but the force was recalled to Singapore to assemble for possible operations against the Japanese.
Also at Singapore were the light cruisers HMS ''Durban'', HMS ''Danae'', HMS ''Dragon'', and ''HMS Mauritius'', and the destroyers HMS ''Stronghold'', ''Encounter'', and ''Jupiter''. The heavy cruiser HMS ''Exeter'', Dutch light cruiser ''Java'', 2 more British destroyers (''Scout'' and ''Thanet''), and 4 United States destroyers (''Whipple'', ''John D. Edwards'', ''Edsall'', and ''Alden'') would be there within 3 days.
Though ''Durban'' and ''Stronghold'' were available, Admiral Philips decided to leave them at Singapore because they were not as fast as the other units. Additionally, ''Danae'', ''Dragon'', ''Mauritius'', ''Encounter'', and ''Jupiter'' were also at Singapore, but were under repair and not ready to sail.

Axis Preparations

The plans for the British to defend Singapore fell into the hands of the Axis when the ''S.S. Automedon'' was boarded by the German Raider ''Atlantis'' in the Indian Ocean, on November 11, 1940. The Germans discovered the documents and sent them to the Japanese.[2]
Furthermore, Winston Churchill publicly announced that the ''Prince Of Wales'' and ''Repulse'' were to be sent to Singapore as a deterrent to the Japanese. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto sent 36 Betty torpedo bombers to reinforce the existing Kanoya Naval Force and Genzan Air Corps, whose pilots began training vigourously for an attack on the two capital ships.[3]

Hostilities Commence

Early in the morning of 8 December (Singapore time), Singapore came under attack by Japanese aircraft. ''Prince Of Wales'' and ''Repulse'' shot back with anti-aircraft fire; no planes were shot down, and the ships sustained no damage. The Japanese made their landings on Malaya on 8 December 1941 (Singapore time), and the British land forces were hard pressed.
Around that time, news came in that Pearl Harbor had been attacked and that eight US battleships has been sunk or disabled. Pre-war planning had presumed that the US Pacific fleet would have moved to Singapore to reinforce the British ships when war broke out but that could now not be done. Philips had concluded in an earlier discussion with US General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Thomas C. Hart that his two capital ships were of insufficient strength to confront the Japanese.[4]
However, with the Japanese threatening to overrun Malaya, Philips was pressed to use his ships in an offensive role and he assembled his flotilla to intercept and destroy Japanese invasion convoys in the South China Sea. Churchill and his cabinet had suggested that Force Z be used as "fast fleeting menace" or "rogue elephants", similar to the German battleship Bismarck, but they lacked a preordained battle plan.
[5]
Admiral Philips knew the local Royal Air Force unit could not guarantee air cover for his ships as they were equipped with limited numbers of aging fighters and their airfields were threatened by the Japanese land attacks. He elected to proceed anyway because he thought that Japanese forces could not operate so far from land. He also thought that his ships were relatively immune from fatal damage via air attack, since up to that point, no capital ship at sea had ever been sunk by air attack. The largest unit which had been sunk by aircraft alone up to this time was a heavy cruiser.

Departure

Force Z, consisting of the ''Prince of Wales'', ''Repulse'', ''Electra'', ''Express'', ''Vampire'', and ''Tenedos'', sailed from Singapore at 1710 on 8 December.
At 0713 on 9 December, Force Z passed the Anamba Islands to the east, and turned to a new course of 330 degrees, later changing to 345 degrees. Force Z was spotted by Japanese submarine ''I-65'' at 1400 on 9 December, which shadowed the British ships for five hours, radioing their positions. The British ships were unaware that they were being shadowed by the submarine. After this report, Vice Admiral Ozawa, in command of the invasion force, ordered most of his warships to escort the empty transports back to Cam Ranh Bay in Indo-China.
The message of the ''I-65'' confirming the presence of the British battleships reached the 22nd Air Flotilla Headquarters two hours later. At that time their aircraft were in the process of loading bombs for an attack on Singapore Harbour, but they switched to torpedoes as quickly as possible. The bombers were not ready until 1800 hours.
About 1730, just a half hour before sunset, the force was spotted by 3 Aichi E13A seaplanes (Jake), which had been catapulted off the Japanese cruisers Yura, Kinu and Kumano escorting the transports. These aircraft continued shadowing until sunset (1809 hrs local time). At about 1830, ''Tenedos'' was detached to return to Singapore, because of her limited fuel capacity.
A night attack was attempted by the Japanese bombers because of fear that the British battleships will find their invasion force, but bad weather prevented them from finding the ships and they returned to their airfields at Thu Dau Mot and Saigon about midnight.

Return to Singapore

That night, one of the Japanese search aircraft dropped a flare over the Japanese heavy cruiser ''Chokai'', having mistaken it for the battleship ''Prince of Wales''. After this, the Japanese force of six cruisers and several destroyers turned away to the northeast. The flare was also seen by the British force, which feared they had been identified and then turned away to the southeast. At this point, the forces were approximately 5 miles apart, but did not sight each other, and the Japanese force was not picked up on the radar of the ''Prince Of Wales''. At 2055, Admiral Philips cancelled the operation, saying that they had lost the element of surprise, and ordered the force to return to Singapore.
On the way back, they were spotted and reported by the Japanese submarine ''I-58''. ''I-58'' reported that it had fired 5 torpedoes and missed, and then lost sight of the force 3 hours later. The British force did not see the torpedoes, and never knew they had been attacked.
The report from the ''I-58'' reached the 22nd Air Flotilla Headquarters at 0315, and ten bombers of the Genzan Air Corps were dispatched at 0600 to conduct a sector search for the ships. The Flotilla left their airfields about an hour later, and were ordered to proceed to the best estimated position of the ships.

The Japanese air attack

The next morning, 10 December, they received a report of Japanese landings at Kuantan, a town on the east coast of Malaya, halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu. Force Z headed in that general direction. At 0515, objects were spotted on the horizon. Thinking that they were the invasion force, Force Z turned towards them. They turned out to be a trawler towing barges. At 0630, ''Repulse'' reported seeing an aircraft shadowing the ships. At 0718, ''Prince Of Wales'' catapulted off a Supermarine Walrus reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft flew to Kuantan, saw nothing, reported back to the ''Prince of Wales'', and flew to Singapore. ''Express'' was sent to investigate the area, finding nothing. At 1005, ''Tenedos'' reported that she was being attacked by Japanese aircraft, about 140 miles southeast of Force Z. The attack was by nine Mitsubishi G3M 'Nell' twin-engined medium bombers from the Genzan Air Corps from the 22nd Air Flotilla based at Saigon which were armed with one 500 kg (1,102 lb) armor-piercing bomb. But they mistook the destroyer for a battleship and wasted their attack with all bombs scoring no hits. At 1015, more Japanese aircraft spotted the ships, after Force Z failed to find any Japanese invasion forces and was heading back south.
At 1113 hours, the fleet was attacked by three waves of Japanese planes the first being the high-level bombers from the Mihoro Air Corps which was made up of 17 Nell bombers with 500 kg (1,102 lb) bombs, as well as eight Nells with two 225 kg (500 lb) bombs. They scored just one hit on the hangar deck area of the ''Repulse'', which started a small fire. Then at about 1140 hours came the first of the torpedo bombers made up of 16 Nells from the Genzan Air Corps. The ''Prince of Wales'' suffered one hit leading to flooding and loss of steerage and power to some of the turrets. Another high altitude attack by bombers aimed at the ''Repulse'' passed without damage. A second attack by eight torpedo bombers from the Mihoro Air Corps attacked the ''Repulse'' from two directions. But she avoided all the torpedoes and continued to steam. The third and final attack by 26 Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty' torpedo bombers from the Kanoya Air Corps, a detachment from the 21st Air Flotilla also based near Saigon, struck from several directions. ''Repulse'' was hit by four more torpedoes in this attack, the first jamming the rudder. The Captain ordered the crew overboard, the ''Repulse'' listed heavily to port over a period of about six minutes, finally rolling over and sinking at 1223.
''Prince of Wales'' was hit by at least six torpedoes, one hit in particular from the second attack causing fatal damage. An unseen torpedo struck her aft on the port side near the A-bracket of the port-outer shaft. This caused the shaft to dislodge and, still spinning at high speed before it could be stopped, it tore through much of the internal supports and bulkheads that sealed the shaft tunnel. Water rushed in through the damaged passage, flooding 'B' engine room, 'Y' boiler room, the central auxiliary machinery room, 'Y' action machinery room, the port diesel dynamo room and a number of compartments aft. This single hit had three crippling effects. Firstly, it caused a 10 degree list to port, jamming the 5.25-inch turrets and meaning that those on the port side were unable to depress low enough to engage the attackers.
Secondly, it denied ''Prince of Wales'' much of her auxiliary electrical power that was vital for internal communications, ventilation, the steering gear and pumps and that the 5.25-inch and 2-pounder gun mountings relied on to train and elevate. All but S1 and S2 5.25 inch turrets were almost unmanagable, a factor compounded by the list, their crews unable even to drag them round manually using chains. The crews also had difficulty bringing the heavy 2-pounder mountings into manual operation. Thirdly, the extensive internal flooding and shaft damage left the ship under power of only the starboard engines and able to make only 15 knots at best, and with her electric steering unresponsive the ship was virtually unmaneuverable. She was still able to fire at a high level bombing attack with S1 and S2 turrets at 12:41, the bombs straddling her but not penetrating the deck armour. HMS ''Express'' came alongside to take off wounded and non-fighting crew. The order to abandon ship was then given and she capsized to port and sank at 1318.
Due to the skill of the Repulse's commanding officer, William G. Tennant, the battlecruiser had managed to dodge 19 torpedoes. However, the ''Repulse'' did not have the anti-torpedo blisters, that her sister ship HMS ''Renown'' had received, so she sank soon after the torpedo hits with heavy casualties.
The Japanese had achieved 11 hits out of 49 torpedoes launched, and three Japanese aircraft were shot down during the attack: one Nell torpedo bomber from the Genzan Air Group, and two Betty torpedo bombers from the Kanoya Air Group. The air cover assigned to Force Z, Brewster Buffaloes of the Australian No. 453 Squadron, arrived over the force just as the ''Prince of Wales'' sank. The ten aircraft caught a Japanese bomber which stayed behind to observe results, but it managed to escape as they gave chase.^[3]

After the action

The destroyers ''Electra'' and ''Vampire'' moved in to rescue survivors of ''Repulse'', while ''Express'' rescued survivors of the ''Prince Of Wales''. 840 sailors were lost, 513 on ''Repulse'' and 327 on ''Prince Of Wales''. Even after they were rescued, some survivors of the ''Repulse'' manned Action Stations on ''Electra'', to free the ''Electra'' sailors to rescue more survivors. In particular, ''Repulse'' gunners manned the 'X' and 'Y' 4.7-inch (120 mm) mounts, and the ship's dentist of the ''Repulse'' even assisted the ''Electra's'' medical teams with the wounded. In total, nearly 1,000 survivors of the Repulse were rescued, of which ''Electra'' saved 571. ''Vampire'' rescued 9 officers, 213 ratings, and 1 civilian war correspondent from ''Repulse'', and 2 sailors from ''Prince Of Wales''. Admiral Phillips and Captain John Leach, commanding officer of the ''Prince Of Wales'', were among the lost as they chose to go down with the ship. Captain William G. Tennant of the ''Repulse'' was rescued by ''Vampire''. The senior survivor of ''Prince Of Wales'' was Lt Cdr A. G. Skipwith, the ship's First Lieutenant, who was rescued by ''Express''. Three Japanese planes were shot down, and 1 more was so damaged that it crashed on landing.
On the way back to Singapore with the survivors, ''Express'' passed the ''Stronghold'' and the 4 American destroyers heading north. ''Express'' signalled that the action was over, but the ships continued on and searched the area where the 2 large ships sank, looking for more survivors. None were found. While returning to Singapore from this search, ''Edsall'' boarded the fishing trawler that was towing boats that was sighted by Force Z that morning. The trawler was identified as the ''Shofu Fu Maru'', and was taken to Singapore where the crew was interned.

Effects of the sinking

The next morning after the battle, Prime Minister Churchill received a phonecall at his bedside from Sir Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord.
Singapore had essentially been reduced to a land base after both capital ships were lost, and that was also the Royal Navy's greatest matériel lost in a single engagement. Combined with the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, this left the Allies with no operational capital ships in the Pacific Theatre ^[4].
The two ships were the first capital ships actively defending themselves to be sunk solely by airpower while steaming on the open sea. This incident demonstrated the vulnerability of even the most modern surface ships to the potency of air attack and drove home the necessity of air cover to protect against such an incident. The Genzan Air Corps would attempt a torpedo attack on USS ''Lexington'' in early 1942, but they lost seventeen aircraft to the carrier's combat air patrol and anti-aircraft guns.

The ships today

The wrecks of the two ships were found after the war, ''Repulse'' in 183 feet (56 m) of water, and ''Prince of Wales'' in 223 feet (68 m). Both are in a nearly upside-down position. Buoys were attached to the propeller shafts, and flags of the Royal Navy are attached to the lines and are regularly changed by divers. The Royal Navy considers the wrecks to be Crown property. The ''Prince of Wales' bell was removed from the wreck by British technical divers Gavin Haywood and George McClure 2002 using closed circuit mixed-gas rebreathers in a combined recovery operation with the Royal Navy in response to fears that it would be stolen by unauthorised divers and is now on display at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool.

References

Notes

1. 3 aircraft were shot down in the attack, 1 crash-landed later, and 2 scout aircraft failed to return from their missions.
2. Martin Middlebrook & Patrick Mahoney, ''Battleship; The Loss of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse'', Penguin History, 1979, ISBN 0-14-02-3469-1
3. http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/pilot.html
4. http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/sinking2.html

Books

★ Richard Hough, ''The Hunting of Force Z: the brief, controversial life of the modern battleship and its tragic close with the destruction of the "Prince of Wales" and "Repulse"''.

★ Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney, ''Battleship: The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse'', (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1979). Contains details of the attack and damage sustained, and tables of survivors and losses.

★ Samuel Eliot Morison, ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II'', Volume III, "The Rising Sun in the Pacific".

★ Horodyski, Joseph M. “British Gamble In Asian Waters.” Military Heritage. December 2001. Volume 3, No. 3: 68-77 (sinking of the British battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse by Japanese on 10 December 1941 upon U.S. entry into World War Two).

★ Jack Greene, ''War at Sea, Pearl Harbor to Midway'', 1988. (The Malayan Campaign). Combined Books. ISBN 0-8317-1257-0.

★ V. E. Tarrant, ''King George V class Battleships'', Arms and Armour Press, 1991, ISBN 1-85409-524-2

★ Alan Matthews, ''Sailors' Tales: Life Onboard HMS Repulse During World War Two'' ISBN 0-9531217-0-4

Web

★ Order of battle

★ Force Z Survivors Association

★ Personal Reports by Crew

★ London Gazette Officers reports