The Destruction of Force Z
On 10 December 1941 two of Britain's largest  and most powerful warships - the new battleship 'Prince of Wales' and the battlecruiser 'Repulse' - were sunk by Japanese torpedo aircraft off the coast of Malaya.
Thisbattle - one of the most critical naval actions of the Twentieth Century - as much as any event presaged the dissolution of the British Empire and the end of European supremacy in the East.
TheForce Z catastrophe simultaneously brought to a spectacular - and tragic - close the epoch of the gun-armed capital ship.

'Prince of Wales'The battlecruiser 'Repulse'
'Prince of Wales'The 'Repulse'

Escorting destroyers

The attacking Japanese aircraft

The Destruction of Force Z - a timeline

Three Accounts of the Battle
_____________
The Battle of the Philippine Sea,  19-20 June 1944

The Battle for Leyte Gulf,  23-26 October 1944

Dave James' Naval & Aviation Pages
 
e-mail:

 compass@dircon.co.uk


Accounts of the Battle

Samuel Eliot Morison - from "History of US Naval Operations in World War II"

Captain S.W. Roskill - from "The Navy at War 1939-45"

Corelli Barnett - from "Engage the Enemy More Closely"

Return to Head of Page


The Japanese Aircraft

Mitsubishi G3M 'Nell'Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty'

Return to Head of Page