10th December 1941. the battleship HMS Prince of Wales & battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk off Malaya by Japanese land based torpedo bombers. The first time that battleships, at sea and free to manouvere and defend themselves had been sunk soley by aircraft. Prince of Wales was a brand new battleship, with "it was thought" formidable AA defences. Only 3 Japanese aircraft were shot down in the attack. This was the day that the reign of the battleship was proven to be well and truly over! Above , shows Repulse leaving Singapore on her final mission, below, HMS Prince of Wales
I think the 'fate of two' at The Naval Battle off Malaya,could have been avoidable.Keeping radio-silence,Admiral Phillips[commander force Z] declined air support.This costs much. I don't know why,even unable to understand the 'Doctrine of Radio-Silence'.The same Doctrine followed by Capt Kuroshima in the Battle of Midway...became foundered.You see,for the both operations required air-coverage,highly. If HMS Express [H61~20th Mine laying Destroyer/E class,also engaged in Dunkirk]wasn't in vicinity,rescued the survivors of Wales ,[where Electra and Vampire engaged for Repulse,a total of thousand survivors]I sure for the far low numbers of survivor.. HMS Express engaged in crew transfer from listing Wales ..
Admiral Phillips should not have maintained radio silence once he had been spotted off Kuantan on 10th December. Why did he not call for fighters? as he died in the action one can only speculate, we know from survivors testaments that, he believed that he was beyond the range of Japanese Torpedo bombers and faced only high level bombers which he knew he could fight off. As a sailor, it is likely that he did not want to call on the RAF for help when he felt it wasn't needed. My critisism of him is that he did not have to call for fighters, but should have let Singapore know where he was and what was happening.
I agree in the aspect of him probably wanting to call after the attack started, letting other know the enemy is on top of you and winning is probably one of the best tactical things to do. However, it is my opinion that he might have wanted to keep radio silence for he did not want to alert the enemy of his presence. As hindsight being 20/20, we know that it did not matter if he got on the comms or not. Still, I can see and understand why didn't hop on the mic and call for fighters.
Though Philips intended to stop further Japanese landings off Malaya coast and his proceedings was as per,an intercepted Jap radio-message made him turned towards Kuantan .... Japs are preparing disembark at Port Kuantan .... He turned his fleet towards Kuanton and planned to launch attack by dawn. Up to this stage,I think these were 'known and controllable moments' to Force Z Commander Philips; meanwhile,about 22:50/55, He spotted by I-58 and a torpedo been charged immediately.For time being,it was his 'fate',he saved,due to his speed and of changed course[not certain].This widely 'miss' didn't brought any ALARM to Force Z. In an immediate ,I-58 reported the finding to rear Admiral M Sadaichi's 22nd air flotilla .They launched 76 aircraft insearch of Force Z. It was then the 'hidden and uncontrollable moments' to Force Z Commander. Flyers had a strict order not to return Singapore until or unless The Findings being confirmed and destroyed.During this fight-run,they had hardly any drop-tanks ,enable them to return.After a long search,almost they were about to report..' no findings'... suddenly a reconnaissance aircraft Ensign H Masame spotted Them by 10:40-45 at the Gulf of Siam .The Japs were surprised enough to see These capital ships ... without any air cover.Probably this Jap invasion made Philips surprised, too.For him,if he even tried to be under air-cover,I think it wont be fruitful and moreover almost impossible to get it there.So he went with his gun battery. Torpedo bombers immediately started with their ordinance, projectiles and without any hesitation,till their mission over by 13:00.
I was reading an interesting interrogation regarding Force Z. I feel to share it here for those who are interested. www.forcez-survivors.org.uk (sailors tales). Thanks.
