Prince of Wales and Repulse sinking of

Prince of Wales and Repulse sinking of (see Map 66). In an attempt to deter Japan from entering the war, this British battleship and battle-cruiser were sent to Singapore in October 1941. The carrier Indomitable should have joined them to provide air cover, but she had been damaged by running aground in the British West Indies. Her absence, and that of other intended components of the force, turned a doubtful political decision into a dangerous enterprise. The ships, designated Force Z, were under the overall command of Admiral Tom Phillips and were at Singapore on 8 December when the Japanese began their highly successful Malayan campaign. Both ships were deployed immediately with three destroyer escorts to cut the supply lines of Yamashita's Twenty-Fifth Army which had begun landing in Thailand and northern Malaya. But when surprise could not be achieved, nor cover by aircraft provided, the force turned back.

Phillips was then informed by Singapore that a further landing was taking place at Kuantan, close to his position. Assuming that he had to act on this information, and that air cover would automatically be provided, he altered course to investigate. His assumptions were wrong, and, ironically, he kept wireless silence to maintain a surprise that was never necessary as there were no landings. By failing to signal his intentions, he ruled out the possibility of receiving fighter cover which might conceivably have saved his ships.

The British force was first sighted by a Japanese submarine on 9 December and, though contact was subsequently lost, a second submarine sighted them early next morning and reconnaissance aircraft spotted them at 1015 the next morning. There followed a series of devastating bomb and torpedo attacks by aircraft of Rear-Admiral Matsunaga Sadaichi's First Air Force based in French Indo-China. They attacked at 1115 but Phillips still kept wireless silence and an emergency message, dispatched by Repulse, was not sent until 1158, too late for the air cover that was scrambled to help. Repulse was sunk first, at 1233, followed by Prince of Wales at 1320, and 840 men, including Phillips, lost their lives. Following Taranto, the day of the invincibility of the surface capital warship had now finally passed. See also sea power.

Bibliography

Marder, A. , Old Friends, New Enemies, Vol. 1 (Oxford, 1981).
Middlebrook, M., and and Mahoney, P. , Battleship (London, 1977).