6. The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse
While not many people might recall the harrowing incident of 10 December 1941, when the Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk near Kuantan on the east coast of Malaya by Japanese torpedoes and bombs, the dreadful attack
Following Japanese invasion fleet north of Malaya, the British were determined to stop the invasion. The British Force Z which consisted of one battleship, one battlecruiser and four destroyers sailed towards Malaya to contain the situation. To have complete radio silence, the force’s commanders decided to sail without any air support. This was a terrible mistake. Their mission did not go as planned and on their way back to Singapore, they were attacked in open waters by the Japanese.
Even though the British were confident in the ships’ anti-aircraft defenses, the Japanese, on spotting Force Z quickly made an attack plan. With little knowledge on conducting a bombing attack on ships in the open water, the Japanese decided to launch 85 aircraft to attack the force. Their first attack using the G3M medium bombers was not successful. However, their second wave of G3Ms was carrying torpedoes yielded the fruits, and they managed to sink the ship, killing 840 British sailors. Only 18 Japanese aviators died during the attack.