An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 31 tain Tennant sent an emergency radio signal to Singapore stating that Force Z was under attack, the first indication that the naval authorities there had of the attack. After evading high-level Japanese bombers, Captain Tennant reduced the speed of HMS Repulse to 20 knots and brought her nearer to the Prince of Wales, but still received no response to his signals. Then the two British ships came under attack from Japanese tor- pedo planes. At a range of 2,500 yards, the planes launched their torpedoes, one of which struck the Repulse amidships, but she maintained her speed while putting up a hail of anti-aircraft fire. In the same attack, the Prince of Wales was struck by two more torpedoes, rendering her unmanoeuvrable and reducing her speed to 8 knots. Then the Repulse came under attack again from all directions, sustaining four torpedo hits and devel- oping a heavy list to port. Certain that his ship could not survive the damage, Captain Tennant ordered everyone on deck and then gave the order to prepare to abandon ship and launch the Carley floats. As the crew went through well-rehearsed drills, over 200 men waited on the starboard side for the order to leave the ship, which was given when the ship's list reached 30 degrees. While swimming to the Car- ley floats, many men choked to death in the oil that had escaped from the ship's ruptured oil tanks. As the men struggled in the oil- covered water, the Japanese aircraft overhead refrained from strafing the survivors in recognition of their gal- lantry and in part out of sympathy for the Royal Navy, which had been used as a pre-war model to develop the Imperial Japanese Navy. Shortly afterwards, at 12.33pm, when her list reached 70 degrees to port, the Repulse rolled over and sank. Admiral Phillips, on board the Prince of Wales, which was still afloat and steaming at 8 knots, ordered the destroyers Electra and Vampire to pick up the survivors – 42 of- ficers, including Captain Tennant, out of 66, and 754 out of 1,040 ratings – in an operation that was unmolested by the Japanese as they focused on sinking the Prince of Wales. Around 12.45pm, nine Japanese bomb- ers attacked the Prince of Wales and while only one bomb landed on the ves- sel it was enough to render her a fatal blow as she was already filling rapidly with water from the previous attacks, despite the best efforts of her damage- control parties. The destroyer HMS Express eased alongside her starboard side and took off the wounded. By 1.10pm she was settling rapidly in the water, so Captain Leech gave the order to abandon ship. However, Admiral Phillips and Captain Leech opted to go down with her and ten minutes later she slipped beneath the waves. Ninety out of her 110 officers and 1,195 out of 1,502 ratings were rescued. Minutes later, 11 Australian Buffalo aircraft arrived on the scene causing an approaching formation of Japanese bombers to jettison their bombs and return to base. Coming on the heels of the losses at Pearl Harbour, the loss of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse was a ma- jor shock to the British and American authorities as these were the first two capital warships to be sunk in open sea, despite possessing an array of anti-air- craft armament. Their loss highlighted the vulnerability of warships to attack by aircraft and the need for them to be provided with air cover at sea to deter attacks from enemy aircraft based on land or on aircraft carriers. HMS 'Repulse,' bottom right, and HMS 'Prince of Wales' under Japanese air attack on 10th December 1941. Photo: National Museum of the US Navy HMS Prince of Wales (left rear) and HMS Repulse (right rear) under Japanese air attack 10th December 1941, as a destroyer desperately manoeuvres in the foreground. Force Z under attack. Escaping from HMS Prince of Wales.

• Cover