10/12/2021
09/12/41
We last saw Force Z as it sailed out of Singapore on the evening of 8th Dec on the hunt for a Japanese invasion fleet reported off Kota Bahru
The British are picked up and shadowed by an I-Boat on the afternoon of the 9th but due to weather conditions a contact report isn't sent off for a few hours. By the time medium bombers flying off from the airfields around Saigon reach the target area the rapidly fading light prevents the Japanese from spotting the British ships. Meanwhile the IJN is also busy trying to get at Force Z, Adm Kondo's Distant Cover Group comprising two BBs, Kongo and Haruna move into the Gulf of Thailand in an attempt to intercept Force Z but also fail to make contact, the closest point both fleets will come to each other sometime in the night of 9 Dec 1941 is reported to be just 15 miles.
While all of this is happening, the only inkling that Force Z has that the Japanese are out there is the sighting of 3 Japanese reconnaissance aircraft towards evening. Adm Phillips will decide to call off the hunt for the Japanese invasion fleet due to the sighting of Force Z by the Japanese. As the fleet is on their way home Phillips will receive the following signal at 2235hrs. "Enemy reported landing Kuantan". Phillips makes the fateful decision to head west towards the Kuantan.
10/12/41
0600hrs
Japanese scout planes set aloft well before the suns comes up, scouting for the bombers that will follow behind them an hour later. Due to poor visibility they will not spot their quarry until their return legs.
0700hrs
First light sees a scout plane sent from HMS Prince of Wales to recon Kuantan, no Invasion fleet sighted. At about the same time, 84 Bettys and Nells will climb into the early morning skies to begin the hunt for the British ships.
0800hrs
Force Z arrives off Kuantan about an hour after the scout plane has made its pass and HMS Express is dispatched to for a closer look, she reports "all as quiet as a wet Sunday afternoon". Force Z moves further out to sea to continue its interrupted trip home. The Japanese bombers are reaching the end point of their southern legs and start on their homeward legs still having not spotted the British.
1015hrs
A C5M Babs of the 22nd Air Flotilla spots Force Z on the return leg of her search and radios its report back to Saigon. Force Z also sights the Babs at the same time and and goes to Action Stations.
1045hrs
The Bettys and Nells of Mihoro, Kanoya and Genzan Air Groups receive the Babs sighting report while on their homeward legs, they change course for Force Z.
1113hrs
The bombers of 22nd Air Flotilla arrive over Force Z, low on fuel, they will not wait to make coordinated attacks but will attack by flights of 9 as individual flights arrive on scene.
1144hrs
The first few flights are equipped with bombs and while they do score some hits the Japanese bombs are generally smaller than their Allied equivalents and the BB and BC shrug off the hits that do manage to land. Both capital ships also manage to avoid or comb torpedo attacks. However, the weight of numbers begins to tell and the ships cannot keep dodging forever. HMS Prince of Wales is struck by a torpedo at 1144hrs, the first of four torpedo hits but the one which proves to be catastrophic, the torpedo strikes where her outer port propeller exits the hull, this causes extensive flooding between several compartments due to loss of watertight integrity as well as loss of electrical power. PoW begins to list to port, loses ability to steer & the use of some of her AA guns.
1158hrs
HMS Repulse sends signal "Any British Man-of-War, enemy aircraft bombing. My position 134 NYTW 22 x 09"
1204hrs
Singapore War Room receives message of 1158hrs. It is the first time anyone has heard from Force Z since departure on 8 Dec
1215hrs
453 Sqd RAAF was tasked to provide CAP over Force Z and was on standby but because of radio silence no was aware of Force Z's position until it was too late. The first of 10 Buffalos from 453 is in the air by 1215hrs, just 10 minutes after receipt of Repulse's message
1220hrs
25 Bettys attack both Repulse and Prince of Wales nearly simultaneously. The decisive moment in the attack has arrived
1223hrs
With her earlier loss of power and heavy flooding, Prince of Wales unable to take significant avoiding action, struck by 3 torpedoes in rapid succession.
In stunning display of seamanship by Capt Tennant, HMS Repulse has till now avoided or combed at least 19 torpedoes but her time has come. Repulse manages to comb a set of torpedoes but is blindsided from another angle in a classic hammer and anvil attack. Repulse is struck by at least 4 torpedoes. Not as modern as Prince of Wales she in unable to mitigate damage well, her steering jams and begins to rapidly take on water. Capt Tennant gives the order to abandon ship.
1233hrs
Repulse rolls over at approximate position 3-43N, 104-24½E. 513 of her 1,309 crew will go down with her
1244hrs
Prince of Wales is straddled by a group of level bombers, hit by one bomb which explodes in the Cinema Flat where 300 wounded were being taken care of.
1250hrs
Prince of Wales drifts, out of control and mortally wounded. HMS Express comes alongside and begins to take men off.
circa 1315hrs
Prince of Wales's list to port begins to increase rapidly.
1318hrs
The first of 453 Squadron's Buffalos arrives over Force Z but the last Japanese bombers are long gone. The Buffalos are left to keep watch on the surviving screening destroyers pick up the hundreds of men from both capital ships who have managed to get off their sinking ships before they went under.
1320hrs
HMS Prince of Wales capsizes to port, in position 3-33-36N, 104-28-42E. Of her crew of 1612 men; 327 are lost. Among the dead were Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, CinC of the Eastern Fleet, and her CO, Captain John C. Leach. Rescue operations will take hours to complete with the survivors of Force Z reaching Singapore just before midnight.
