The sinking of the Prince of Wales & Repulse : the end of the battleship era

366 Pages·2014·1.91 MB·english

by  Mahoney

THE SINKING
OF THE
PRINCE OF WALES
& REPULSE
Other books by Martin Middlebrook
The First Day on the Somme*
The Nuremberg Raid*
The Kaiser’s Battle*
The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission*
The Peenemünde Raid*
The Falklands War*
Convoy SC122 & HX229*
The Berlin Raids*
Firestorm Hamburg*
The Argentine Fight for the Falklands*
The Middlebrook Guide to the Somme Battlefields*
(with Mary Middlebrook)
The Bruckshaw Diares (ed.)
Everlasting Arms (ed.)
Arnhem 1944*
Your Country Needs You*
Captain Staniland’s Journey
The War Dead of Twyning Parish
The Bomber Command War Diaries*
*Denotes titles in print with Pen & Sword Books Ltd
THE SINKING
OF THE
PRINCE OF WALES
& REPULSE
THE END OF THE BATTLESHIP ERA

MARTIN MIDDLEBROOK
PATRICK MAHONEY

Pen & Sword
MARITIME
First published in Great Britain in 1977 by Allan Lane
Republished in 2004 by Leo Cooper
and reprinted in this format in 2014 by
PEN & SWORD MARITIME
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley, South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright © Martin Middlebrook & Patrick Mahoney, 1977, 2004, 2014
ISBN 978 1 84415 075 5
The right of Martin Middlebrook & Patrick Mahoney to be identified
as Authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.
Printed and bound in England
By CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Aviation, Atlas,
Family History, Fiction, Maritime, Military, Discovery, Politics, History,
Archaeology, Select, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe True Crime,
Military Classics, Wharncliffe Transport, Leo Cooper, The Praetorian Press,
Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Frontline Publishing
For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
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CONTENTS

List of Maps and Text Figures
List of Plates
Introduction
1   ‘A Sword at Our Hearts’
2   ‘Sinister Twilight’
3   ‘A Decisive Deterrent’
4   Force G
5   The Voyage East
6   Singapore
7   The Sweep
8   Kuantan
9   The First Round
10   The Lull
11   The Final Round
12   ‘Abandon Ship’
13   The Rescue
14   The Aftermath
15   An Analysis
16   The Years that Followed
Appendices 1–6
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index
List of Maps and Text Figures
Maps
1. The Japanese War Plans
2. The Japanese invasion of Malaya and Siam
3. The submarine 1.65’s sighting of Force Z
4. The diversion to Kuantan

Text figures
1. Prince of Wales in first torpedo attack
2. Prince of Wales: extent of initial horizontal flooding in hold level
List of Plates
1. Admiral Phillips with Winston Churchill (Associated Press)
2. H.M.S. Repulse in 1939 (Radio Times Hulton Picture Library)
3. and 4. The launching of H.M.S. Prince of Wales (Central Press Photos)
5. H.M.S. Repulse in convoy (Imperial War Museum)
6. Anti-aircraft gun on H.M.S. Repulse (Dr S. G. Hamilton)
7. Engine-room scene in H.M.S. Prince of Wales (Imperial War Museum)
8. Arrival of H.M.S. Prince of Wales at Cape Town (Cape Times)
9. Admiral Phillips with Rear-Admiral Palliser (Imperial War Museum)
10. H.M.S. Prince of Wales arriving at Singapore (Imperial War Museum)
11. and 12. H.M.S. Prince of Wales and H.M.S. Repulse sail from Singapore (Imperial War Museum)
13. H.M.S. Tenedos (Wright and Logan)
14. H.M.S. Express (Wright and Logan)
15. H.M.S. Electra (Wright and Logan)
16. H.M.A.S. Vampire (Wright and Logan)
17. Pom-poms and 5.25-in. guns on H.M.S. Prince of Wales ( Imperial War Museum)
18. Interior of 5.25-in. gun turret (Imperial War Museum)
19. Japanese submarine 1.65 (Imperial War Museum)
20. Japanese aircrews (United States Navy Department)
21. Mitsubishi G3M2 – the ‘Nell’ (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries)
22. Formation of Mitsubishi G4M1 – the ‘Betty’ (United States Navy Department)
23. H.M.S. Repulse under bombing attack (Imperial War Museum)
24. H.M.S. Prince of Wales listing (Imperial War Museum)
25. Survivors leaving H.M.S. Prince of Wales (Imperial War Museum)
26. German battleship Blücher sinking at the Battle of the Dogger Bank, January 1915 (Imperial War
Museum)
27. and 28. Brewster Buffalo fighters of 453 Squadron R.A.A.F. (Imperial War Museum)
29. and 30. H.M.S. Repulse survivors aboard H.M.S. Electra (Keystone)
31. Captain W. Tennant and Canon J. S. Bezzant aboard H.M.S. Vampire (Associated Press)
32. David Low cartoon (The Low Trustees)
33. Ensign secured to wreck of H.M.S. Repulse (Private)
34. Plymouth Naval Memorial (Robert Chapman)