HMS Prince of Wales (1939)
Encyclopedia
HMS Prince of Wales (pennant number
53) was a King George V-class
battleship
of the Royal Navy
, built at the Cammell Laird
shipyard in Birkenhead
, England. She was involved in several key actions of the Second World War, including the battle of Denmark Strait against the Bismarck
, operations escorting convoys in the Mediterranean, and her final action and sinking
in the Pacific
in 1941.
Prince of Wales first encountered the Germans while being outfitted in her drydock, being attacked and damaged by German aircraft. She was heavily involved in the first contact
with the German battleship Bismarck
and the cruiser Prinz Eugen
, and landed a critical hit on Bismarck, causing her to make the ill fated decision to return to port. Prince of Wales suffered heavy damage during the engagement and had to return to Rosyth
to be repaired. Prince of Wales transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill
to the Newfoundland Conference
with US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
.
On 25 October 1941 Prince of Wales departed for Singapore
to join Force Z
, a British naval detachment. She docked there on 2 December with the rest of the force, and on 2:11 on 10 December Force Z was dispatched to investigate reports of Japanese landing forces at Kuantan. On arriving there they found the reports to be false. At 11:00 that morning Japanese bombers and torpedo aircraft began their assault on Force Z. In a second attack at 11:30 torpedoes struck Prince of Wales on the port side, wrecking the outer propeller shaft and causing the ship to take on a heavy list. A third torpedo attack developed against Repulse
but she managed to avoid all torpedoes aimed at her. A fourth attack by torpedo-carrying Type 1 "Bettys"
sank Repulse at 12:33. Six aircraft from this wave attacked Prince of Wales, with four of their torpedoes hitting the ship, causing flooding. Finally a 500 kg bomb hit the catapult deck, penetrated through to the main deck and exploded, tearing a gash in the port side of the hull
. At 13:15 the order was given to abandon ship and at 13:20 Prince of Wales sank; Vice-Admiral
Tom Phillips and Captain
John Leach were among the 327 fatalities.
Prince of Wales and Repulse were the first capital ships to be sunk solely by air power on the open sea (albeit by land-based rather than carrier-based aircraft), a harbinger of the diminishing role this class of ships was subsequently to play in naval warfare. The wreck lies upside down in 223 feet (68 m) of water, near Kuantan
, in the South China Sea
.
extended the ban on battleship construction introduced in 1922, and by 31 December 1936 it was realised that Britain was woefully short of modern battleships. During this period the Admiralty
set in motion plans for the construction of a new battleship class, resulting in the drawing up of designs for the King George V class. The proposed ships were projected to have limited armament as the Washington Treaty
was still in effect. Because of the urgent need for battleships the Admiralty did not have enough time to re-work the plans to a more suitable 16-inch main gun arrangement.
Prince of Wales was laid down
at Cammell Laird
's shipyard in Birkenhead
on 1 January 1937 and was launched on 3 May 1939. She was still fitting out when war was declared in September, causing her construction schedule, and that of her sister
King George V
to be accelerated. The late delivery of gun mountings caused delays in her outfitting however.
During early August 1940, while she was still being outfitted and in a semi-complete state, Prince of Wales was attacked by German aircraft. One bomb fell between the ship and a wet basin wall, narrowly missing a 100-ton dockside crane, and exploded underwater below the bilge keel
. The explosion took place about six feet from her port side in the vicinity of the after group of 5.25-inch guns. Buckling of the shell plating
took place over a distance of 20 to 30 feet (9.1 m), rivets were sprung and considerable flooding took place in the port outboard compartments in the area of damage, causing a ten-degree port list. The flooding was severe, due to the fact that final compartment air tests had not yet been made and the ship did not have her pumping system in operation.
The water was pumped out through the joint efforts of a local fire company and the shipyard, and Prince of Wales was later dry docked for permanent repairs. This damage and the problems in the deliveries of her main guns and turrets delayed her completion. As the war progressed there was an urgent need for capital ships, and so her completion was advanced by postponing compartment air tests, ventilation tests and a thorough testing of her bilge, ballast
and fuel-oil systems.
36727 long tons (37,316.5 t) as built and 43786 long tons (44,488.8 t) fully loaded. The ship had an overall length of 745 in 163 in (231.22 m), a beam
of 103 feet (31.4 m) and a draught of 29 feet (8.8 m). Her designed metacentric height
was 6 in 1 in (1.85 m) feet at normal load and 8 in 1 in (2.46 m) feet at deep load.
She was powered by Parsons
geared steam turbine
s, driving four propeller shafts. Steam was provided by eight Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boiler
s which normally delivered 100000 shp, but could deliver 110000 shp at emergency overload.
This gave Prince of Wales a top speed of 28 knots (15.2 m/s). The ship carried 3542 long tons (3,598.8 t) of fuel oil. She also carried 180 long tons (182.9 t) of diesel oil, 256 long tons (260.1 t) of reserve feed water and 444 long tons (451.1 t) of freshwater. At full speed Prince of Wales had a range of 3100 nautical miles (5,741.2 km) at 27 knots (14.7 m/s).
. The 14-inch guns were mounted in one Mark II twin turret forward and two Mark III quadruple turrets, one forward and one aft
. The guns could be elevated 40 degrees and depressed 3 degrees. Training arcs were: turret "A", 286 degrees; turret "B", 270 degrees; turret "Y", 270 degrees. Training and elevating was done by hydraulic drives, with rates of two and eight degrees per second, respectively. A full gun broadside
weighed 15950 pounds (7,234.8 kg), and a salvo
could be fired every 40 seconds. The secondary armament consisted of 16 QF 5.25 inches (133.4 mm) Mk I guns which were mounted in eight twin mounts, weighing 81 tons each. The maximum range of the Mk I guns was 24070 yards (22,009.6 m) at a 45-degree elevation, the anti-aircraft ceiling was 49000 feet (14,935.2 m). The guns could be elevated to 70 degrees and depressed to 5 degrees. The normal rate of fire was ten to twelve rounds per minute, put in practice the guns could only fire seven to eight rounds per minute.
Along with her main and secondary batteries Prince of Wales carried 32 QF 2 pdr 1.575 inches (40 mm) Mk.VIII
"pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns. She also carried 80 UP projectors
, which were short range rocket firing anti-aircraft weapons used extensively in the early days of the Second World War by the Royal Navy.
Hood
and six destroyers were ordered to take station south of Iceland
and intercept the German battleship Bismarck
if she attempted to break out into the Atlantic. Captain
John Leach knew that main-battery breakdowns were likely to occur, since Vickers Armstrongs technicians had already corrected some that took place during training exercises in Scapa Flow
. These technicians were personally requested by the captain to remain aboard. They did so and played an important role in the resulting action.
The next day Bismarck, in company with the heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen
, were reported heading south-westward in the Denmark Strait
. At 20:00 Vice-Admiral
Lancelot Holland
, in his flagship
Hood, ordered the force to steam at 27 knots, which it did most of the night. His battle plan called for Prince of Wales and Hood to concentrate on Bismarck, while the cruisers Norfolk
and Suffolk
would handle Prinz Eugen. However the two cruisers were not informed of this plan because of strict radio silence. At 02:00, on 24 May, the destroyers were sent as a screen to search for the German ships to the north and at 02:47 Hood and Prince of Wales increased speed to 28 knots and changed course slightly to obtain a better target angle on the German ships. The weather improved, with ten-mile (16 km) visibility and crews were at action stations by 05:10.
At 05:37 an enemy contact report was made and course was changed to starboard to close range. Neither ship was in good fighting trim. Hood, designed twenty-five years earlier, lacked adequate horizontal protection and would have to close the range quickly, as she would become progressively less vulnerable to plunging shellfire at shorter ranges. She had completed an overhaul in March and her crew had not been adequately retrained. Prince of Wales, with thicker armour, was less vulnerable to 15-inch shells at ranges greater than 17000 feet (5,181.6 m), but her crew had also not been trained to battle efficiency. The British ships made their last course change at 05:49, but they had made their approach too fine (the German ships were only 30 degrees on the starboard bow) and their aft
turrets could not fire. Prinz Eugen, with Bismarck astern had the Prince of Wales and Hood slightly forward of the beam and both ships could deliver full broadside
s.
At 05:33, despite seas breaking over the bows, Prince of Wales opened fire on Bismarck at 20,000 yards. There was some confusion among the British as to which ship was Bismarck and thirty seconds earlier Hood had mistakenly opened fire on Prinz Eugen. Hoods first salvo straddled the enemy ship, but Prinz Eugen, in less than three minutes, scored 8-inch-shell hits on Hood. The first shots by Prince of Wales – two three-gun salvoes at ten second intervals – were 1,000 yards over. The turret rangefinders on Prince of Wales could not be used because of spray over the bow
and fire was instead directed from the 15 feet (4.6 m) rangefinders in the control tower.
The third salvo was a straddle and about that time two decisive hits were made on Bismarck. One shell holed her bow and caused Bismarck to lose 1,000 tons of fuel oil, mostly to salt-water contamination. The other fell short, and entered Bismarck below her side armour belt, the shell exploded and flooded the auxiliary boiler machinery room and forced the shutdown of two boilers due to a slow leak in the boiler room immediately aft. The loss of fuel and boiler power were decisive factors in the Bismarcks decision to return to port. In Prince of Wales, "A" turret ceased fire after the first salvo due to a defect. After a brief lull, fire continued with three guns, but sporadic breakdowns occurred until the decision to turn away was made. At this time "A" turret was jammed.
Both German ships initially concentrated their fire on Hood and destroyed her with salvoes of 8- and 15-inch shells. An 8-inch shell hit the boat deck and struck a ready service locker for the UP rocket projectors and a fire blazed high above the first superstructure deck. At 05:58 at a range of 16,500 yards, the force commander ordered a turn of 20 degrees to port to open the range and bring the full battery of the British ships to bear on Bismarck. As the turn began, Bismarck straddled Hood with her third and fourth four-gun salvoes and at 06:01 the fifth salvo hit her, causing a large explosion. Flames shot up near Hood's masts, then an orange-coloured fireball and an enormous smoke cloud obliterated the ship. On Prince of Wales, it seemed that Hood collapsed amidships and the bow and stern could be seen rising as she rapidly settled. Prince of Wales made a sharp starboard turn to avoid hitting the debris and in doing so further closed the range between her and the German ships. In the four minute action, Hood, the largest battlecruiser in the world, had been sunk, with the loss of all but three of her 1,418 officers and men.
Prince of Wales fired unopposed until she began a port turn at 05:57, when Prinz Eugen opened fire on her. After Hood exploded at 06:01, the Germans opened intense and accurate fire on Prince of Wales, with 15-inch, 8-inch and 5.9-inch guns. A heavy hit was sustained below the waterline as Prince of Wales manoeuvred through the wreckage of Hood. At 06:02, a 15-inch shell struck the starboard side of the compass platform and killed the majority of the personnel there. The navigating officer was wounded, but Captain Leach was unhurt. Casualties were caused by the fragments from the shell's ballistic cap and the material it dislodged in its diagonal path through the compass platform.
Following repairs at Rosyth
, Prince of Wales transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill
across the Atlantic for a conference with US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
. On 5 August Roosevelt boarded the cruiser USS Augusta
from the presidential yacht
Potomac
. Augusta proceeded from Massachusetts to Placentia Bay
and Argentia in Newfoundland in company with the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa
and five destroyers, arriving on 7 August. On 9 August Winston Churchill arrived in the bay aboard Prince of Wales, escorted by the destroyers HMS Ripley
, HMCS Assiniboine and HMCS Restigouche. At Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Roosevelt transferred to the destroyer USS McDougal
to meet Winston Churchill on board Prince of Wales. The conference continued from 10 to 12 August aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta, and at the end of the conference, the Atlantic Charter
was proclaimed. Following the signing of the charter Prince of Wales arrived back at Scapa Flow on 18 August.
, in the Mediterranean. On 24 September Prince of Wales formed part of Group II, led by Vice-Admiral Alban Curteis
and consisting of the battleships Prince of Wales and Rodney, the cruisers Kenya, Edinburgh, Sheffield
and Euryalus
and twelve destroyers. The force provided an escort for Operation Halberd
, a supply convoy from Gibraltar
to Malta
. On 27 September the convoy was attacked by Italian aircraft, with Prince of Wales shooting down several with her 5.25 inches (133.4 mm) guns. Later that day there were reports that units of the Italian Fleet were approaching. Prince of Wales, the battleship Rodney and the aircraft carrier were despatched to intercept, but the search proved fruitless. The convoy arrived in Malta without further incident and Prince of Wales returned to Gibraltar, before sailing on to Scapa Flow, arriving there on 6 October.
, there to rendezvous with the battlecruiser HMS Repulse
and the aircraft carrier . Indomitable however ran aground off Jamaica
a few days later and was unable to proceed. Calling at Freetown
and Cape Town
to refuel and generate publicity, Prince of Wales also stopped in Mauritius
and the Maldive Islands. Prince of Wales reached Colombo
, Ceylon
, on 28 November, joining Repulse the next day. On 2 December the fleet docked in Singapore. Prince of Wales then became the flagship of Force Z
, under the command of Vice-Admiral
Sir Tom Phillips
Japanese troop convoys were sighted on 6 and 8 December – the day after the Pearl Harbour attack
– and Singapore was raided by Japanese aircraft. In response Prince of Waless anti-aircraft batteries opened fire but scored no hits and had no effect on the Japanese aircraft. A signal was received from the Admiralty
in London ordering the British squadron to commence hostilities and that evening, confident that a protective air umbrella would be provided by the RAF
presence in the region, Admiral Phillips set sail. Force Z at this time comprised the battleship Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser Repulse, and the destroyers , , and .
The object of the sortie was to attack Japanese transports at Kota Bharu
, but in the afternoon of 9 December a Japanese submarine spotted the British ships and in the evening they were detected by Japanese aerial reconnaissance. By this time it had been made clear that no RAF fighter support would be forthcoming. At midnight a signal was received that Japanese forces were landing at Kuantan in Malaya. Force Z was diverted to investigate. At 02:11 on 10 December the force was again sighted by a Japanese submarine and at 08:00 arrived off Kuantan, only to discover that the reported landings were a diversion.
At 11:00 that morning the first Japanese air attack began. Eight Type 96 "Nell"
bombers dropped their bombs close to Repulse, one passing through the hanger roof and exploding on the 1-inch plating of the main deck below. The second attack force, comprising seventeen "Nells" armed with torpedoes, arrived at 11:30, divided into two attack formations. Despite some reports to the contrary Prince of Wales was struck by only one torpedo, although this was to eventually prove fatal, while Repulse managed to avoid the seven torpedoes aimed at her, as well as bombs dropped minutes later by a further formation of six "Nells". The torpedo struck Prince of Wales on the port side aft, abaft Y Turret, wrecking the outer propeller shaft on that side and destroying bulkheads to one degree or another along the shaft all the way to B Engine Room; which in turn caused rapid uncontrollable flooding and put the entire electrical system in the after part of the ship out of action. Lacking effective damage control, she immediately took on a heavy list.
A third torpedo attack developed against Repulse and once again she succeeded in avoiding any hits, but she was hit several times by a fourth attack from torpedo-carrying Type 1 "Bettys"
, and sank at 12:33. Six aircraft from this wave then attacked Prince of Wales, hitting her with three torpedoes, causing further damage and flooding. Finally, a 500 kilograms (1,102.3 lb) bomb hit the catapult deck, penetrated through to the main deck and exploded there, causing many casualties in the make-shift aid centre in the Cinema Flat. Several other bombs from this attack were very 'near misses', indenting the hull, popping rivets and causing hull plates to ‘split’ along the seams and intensifying the flooding. At 13:15 the order to abandon ship was given and at 13:20 Prince of Wales capsized and sank; Vice-Admiral Phillips and Captain Leach were among the 327 fatalities.
Prince of Wales and Repulse were the first capital ships to be sunk solely by airpower on the open sea (albeit by land-based rather than carrier-based aircraft), a harbinger of the diminishing role this class of ships was to play in naval warfare thereafter. It is often pointed out, however, that a contributing factor to the sinking of Prince of Wales was her surface scanning radar
being inoperable, depriving Force Z of one of its most potent early-warning devices and the early critical damage she sustained from the first torpedo. Another factor which led to Prince of Wales's demise was the additional loss of dynamos depriving Prince of Wales of many of her pumps. Further electrical failures left parts of the ship in total darkness and added to the difficulties of her damage repair parties as they attempted to counter the flooding.
The British Director of Naval Construction's report on the sinking also claimed that the ship's anti-aircraft guns could have "inflicted heavy casualties before torpedoes were dropped, if not preventing the successful conclusion of attack had crews been more adequately trained in their operation.
, just prior to the 60th anniversary of her sinking. The ship's bell was manually raised using closed-circuit mixed-gas rebreathers in 2002 by British technical divers Gavin Haywood and George McClure with the permission of the Ministry of Defence
and blessing of the Force Z Survivors Association. It was restored, then presented for permanent display by First Sea Lord
and Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Alan West
, to the Merseyside Maritime Museum
in Liverpool. It is currently traditional for every passing Royal Navy ship to perform a remembrance service over the site of the wrecks.
In May 2007, Expedition ‘Job 74’, a dedicated survey of the exterior hull of both HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, and carrying Explorers Club Flag No. 118, was conducted by a private group of technical divers using closed circuit mixed-gas rebreathers. Considered by historians and naval enthusiasts worldwide as the most comprehensive hull survey on the wrecks to date, the expeditions findings sparked considerable interest among naval architects and marine engineers around the world; as they detailed for the first time the true nature of the damage to HMS Prince of Wales and the exact location and number of torpedo hits. Consequently, the findings contained in the initial expedition report and later supplementary reports were analysed by the SNAME (Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers) Marine Forensics Committee and a resultant paper was drawn up entitled “Death of a Battleship: A Reanalysis of the Tragic Loss of HMS Prince of Wales”. This paper was subsequently presented at a meeting of RINA (Royal Institution of Naval Architects) and IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology) members in London by Mr. William Garzke, one of the authors of the paper and himself a respected naval architect and the co-author of a trilogy of WWII battleship books.
Pennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
53) was a King George V-class
King George V class battleship (1939)
The King George V-class battleships were the most modern British battleships used during World War II. Five ships of this class were built and commissioned: King George V , Prince of Wales , Duke of York , Howe , and Anson .The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limiting all of the number,...
battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, built at the Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
shipyard in Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, England. She was involved in several key actions of the Second World War, including the battle of Denmark Strait against the Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
, operations escorting convoys in the Mediterranean, and her final action and sinking
Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse
The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a Second World War naval engagement that took place north of Singapore, off the east coast of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang where the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and...
in the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
in 1941.
Prince of Wales first encountered the Germans while being outfitted in her drydock, being attacked and damaged by German aircraft. She was heavily involved in the first contact
Battle of the Denmark Strait
The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a Second World War naval battle between ships of the Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine, fought on 24 May 1941...
with the German battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
and the cruiser Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
, and landed a critical hit on Bismarck, causing her to make the ill fated decision to return to port. Prince of Wales suffered heavy damage during the engagement and had to return to Rosyth
Rosyth
Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....
to be repaired. Prince of Wales transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
to the Newfoundland Conference
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a pivotal policy statement first issued in August 1941 that early in World War II defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. It was drafted by Britain and the United States, and later agreed to by all the Allies...
with US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
.
On 25 October 1941 Prince of Wales departed for Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
to join Force Z
Force Z
Force Z was an Allied naval detachment consisting of the battleship , the battlecruiser , and four destroyers, , , , and . Initially an aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was included, but she ran aground in the Caribbean, and was not replaced by HMS Hermes which was regarded as too slow.A renamed...
, a British naval detachment. She docked there on 2 December with the rest of the force, and on 2:11 on 10 December Force Z was dispatched to investigate reports of Japanese landing forces at Kuantan. On arriving there they found the reports to be false. At 11:00 that morning Japanese bombers and torpedo aircraft began their assault on Force Z. In a second attack at 11:30 torpedoes struck Prince of Wales on the port side, wrecking the outer propeller shaft and causing the ship to take on a heavy list. A third torpedo attack developed against Repulse
HMS Repulse (1916)
HMS Repulse was a Renown-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
but she managed to avoid all torpedoes aimed at her. A fourth attack by torpedo-carrying Type 1 "Bettys"
Mitsubishi G4M
The Mitsubishi G4M 一式陸上攻撃機, 一式陸攻 Isshiki rikujō kōgeki ki, Isshikirikkō was the main twin-engine, land-based bomber used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. The Allies gave the G4M the reporting name Betty...
sank Repulse at 12:33. Six aircraft from this wave attacked Prince of Wales, with four of their torpedoes hitting the ship, causing flooding. Finally a 500 kg bomb hit the catapult deck, penetrated through to the main deck and exploded, tearing a gash in the port side of the hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
. At 13:15 the order was given to abandon ship and at 13:20 Prince of Wales sank; Vice-Admiral
Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)
Vice admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It equates to the NATO rank code OF-8 and is immediately superior to rear admiral and is subordinate to the full admiral rank.The Royal Navy has had vice admirals since at least the 16th century...
Tom Phillips and Captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
John Leach were among the 327 fatalities.
Prince of Wales and Repulse were the first capital ships to be sunk solely by air power on the open sea (albeit by land-based rather than carrier-based aircraft), a harbinger of the diminishing role this class of ships was subsequently to play in naval warfare. The wreck lies upside down in 223 feet (68 m) of water, near Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
, in the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
.
Construction
The Terms of the 1930 Treaty of LondonLondon Naval Treaty
The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated submarine warfare and limited naval shipbuilding. Ratifications were exchanged in London on October 27, 1930, and the treaty went...
extended the ban on battleship construction introduced in 1922, and by 31 December 1936 it was realised that Britain was woefully short of modern battleships. During this period the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
set in motion plans for the construction of a new battleship class, resulting in the drawing up of designs for the King George V class. The proposed ships were projected to have limited armament as the Washington Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
was still in effect. Because of the urgent need for battleships the Admiralty did not have enough time to re-work the plans to a more suitable 16-inch main gun arrangement.
Prince of Wales was laid down
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
at Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
's shipyard in Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
on 1 January 1937 and was launched on 3 May 1939. She was still fitting out when war was declared in September, causing her construction schedule, and that of her sister
Sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...
King George V
HMS King George V (41)
HMS King George V was the lead ship of the five British King George V-class battleships of the Royal Navy. Laid down in 1937 and commissioned in 1940, King George V operated during the Second World War as part of the British Home and Pacific Fleets...
to be accelerated. The late delivery of gun mountings caused delays in her outfitting however.
During early August 1940, while she was still being outfitted and in a semi-complete state, Prince of Wales was attacked by German aircraft. One bomb fell between the ship and a wet basin wall, narrowly missing a 100-ton dockside crane, and exploded underwater below the bilge keel
Bilge keel
A bilge keel is used to reduce the hull's tendency to roll. Bilge keels are employed in pairs . A ship may have more than one bilge keel per side, but this is rare. Bilge keels increase hydrodynamic resistance to rolling, making the ship roll less...
. The explosion took place about six feet from her port side in the vicinity of the after group of 5.25-inch guns. Buckling of the shell plating
Shell plating
Shell plating is the outer-most structure on the hull of a steel or aluminum ship or boat. It is the structural element that renders the hull watertight.- Strakes :...
took place over a distance of 20 to 30 feet (9.1 m), rivets were sprung and considerable flooding took place in the port outboard compartments in the area of damage, causing a ten-degree port list. The flooding was severe, due to the fact that final compartment air tests had not yet been made and the ship did not have her pumping system in operation.
The water was pumped out through the joint efforts of a local fire company and the shipyard, and Prince of Wales was later dry docked for permanent repairs. This damage and the problems in the deliveries of her main guns and turrets delayed her completion. As the war progressed there was an urgent need for capital ships, and so her completion was advanced by postponing compartment air tests, ventilation tests and a thorough testing of her bilge, ballast
Ballast tank
A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water.-History:The basic concept behind the ballast tank can be seen in many forms of aquatic life, such as the blowfish or argonaut octopus, and the concept has been invented and reinvented many times by...
and fuel-oil systems.
Description
Prince of Wales displacedDisplacement (ship)
A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...
36727 long tons (37,316.5 t) as built and 43786 long tons (44,488.8 t) fully loaded. The ship had an overall length of 745 in 163 in (231.22 m), a beam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 103 feet (31.4 m) and a draught of 29 feet (8.8 m). Her designed metacentric height
Metacentric height
The metacentric height is a measurement of the static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre . A larger metacentric height implies greater stability against overturning...
was 6 in 1 in (1.85 m) feet at normal load and 8 in 1 in (2.46 m) feet at deep load.
She was powered by Parsons
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North England, on the River Tyne.-History:The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for...
geared steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s, driving four propeller shafts. Steam was provided by eight Admiralty 3-drum water-tube boiler
Water-tube boiler
A water tube boiler is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which heats water in the steam-generating tubes...
s which normally delivered 100000 shp, but could deliver 110000 shp at emergency overload.
This gave Prince of Wales a top speed of 28 knots (15.2 m/s). The ship carried 3542 long tons (3,598.8 t) of fuel oil. She also carried 180 long tons (182.9 t) of diesel oil, 256 long tons (260.1 t) of reserve feed water and 444 long tons (451.1 t) of freshwater. At full speed Prince of Wales had a range of 3100 nautical miles (5,741.2 km) at 27 knots (14.7 m/s).
Armament
Prince of Wales mounted 10 BL 14 inches (356 mm) Mk VII gunsBL 14 inch Mk VII naval gun
The BL 14 inch Mk VII naval gun was designed for the ships of the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. This gun armed the King George V class battleships.-Background:...
. The 14-inch guns were mounted in one Mark II twin turret forward and two Mark III quadruple turrets, one forward and one aft
Aft
Aft, in naval terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning, towards the stern of the ship, when the frame of reference is within the ship. Example: "Able Seaman Smith; lay aft!". Or; "What's happening aft?"...
. The guns could be elevated 40 degrees and depressed 3 degrees. Training arcs were: turret "A", 286 degrees; turret "B", 270 degrees; turret "Y", 270 degrees. Training and elevating was done by hydraulic drives, with rates of two and eight degrees per second, respectively. A full gun broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
weighed 15950 pounds (7,234.8 kg), and a salvo
Salvo
A salvo is the simultaneous discharge of artillery or firearms including the firing of guns either to hit a target or to perform a salute.Troops armed with muzzleloaders required time in which to refill their arms with gun powder and shot...
could be fired every 40 seconds. The secondary armament consisted of 16 QF 5.25 inches (133.4 mm) Mk I guns which were mounted in eight twin mounts, weighing 81 tons each. The maximum range of the Mk I guns was 24070 yards (22,009.6 m) at a 45-degree elevation, the anti-aircraft ceiling was 49000 feet (14,935.2 m). The guns could be elevated to 70 degrees and depressed to 5 degrees. The normal rate of fire was ten to twelve rounds per minute, put in practice the guns could only fire seven to eight rounds per minute.
Along with her main and secondary batteries Prince of Wales carried 32 QF 2 pdr 1.575 inches (40 mm) Mk.VIII
QF 2 pounder naval gun
The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...
"pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns. She also carried 80 UP projectors
Unrotated Projectile
The Unrotated Projectile, or UP, was a short range rocket-firing anti-aircraft weapon developed for the Royal Navy to supplement the 2 pounder Pom-Pom gun due to a critical lack of close-range anti-aircraft weapons. It was used extensively by British ships during the early days of World War II...
, which were short range rocket firing anti-aircraft weapons used extensively in the early days of the Second World War by the Royal Navy.
Action with Bismarck
On 22 May 1941, Prince of Wales, the battlecruiserBattlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
Hood
HMS Hood (51)
HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. One of four s ordered in mid-1916, her design—although drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction—still had serious limitations. For this reason she was the only ship of her class to be...
and six destroyers were ordered to take station south of Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and intercept the German battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
if she attempted to break out into the Atlantic. Captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
John Leach knew that main-battery breakdowns were likely to occur, since Vickers Armstrongs technicians had already corrected some that took place during training exercises in Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
. These technicians were personally requested by the captain to remain aboard. They did so and played an important role in the resulting action.
The next day Bismarck, in company with the heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
, were reported heading south-westward in the Denmark Strait
Denmark Strait
The Denmark Strait or Greenland Strait |Sound]]) is an oceanic strait between Greenland and Iceland...
. At 20:00 Vice-Admiral
Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)
Vice admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It equates to the NATO rank code OF-8 and is immediately superior to rear admiral and is subordinate to the full admiral rank.The Royal Navy has had vice admirals since at least the 16th century...
Lancelot Holland
Lancelot Holland
Vice Admiral Lancelot Ernest Holland, CB commanded the British force in the Battle of Denmark Strait in May, 1941 against the German battleship Bismarck. Holland was killed during the battle.-Early life:...
, in his flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
Hood, ordered the force to steam at 27 knots, which it did most of the night. His battle plan called for Prince of Wales and Hood to concentrate on Bismarck, while the cruisers Norfolk
HMS Norfolk (78)
HMS Norfolk was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy; along with her sister ship , she was part of a planned four-ship subclass.She served throughout the Second World War....
and Suffolk
HMS Suffolk (55)
HMS Suffolk was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy, and part of the Kent subclass. She was built by Portsmouth Dockyard, Portsmouth, UK), with the keel being laid down on 15 November 1924...
would handle Prinz Eugen. However the two cruisers were not informed of this plan because of strict radio silence. At 02:00, on 24 May, the destroyers were sent as a screen to search for the German ships to the north and at 02:47 Hood and Prince of Wales increased speed to 28 knots and changed course slightly to obtain a better target angle on the German ships. The weather improved, with ten-mile (16 km) visibility and crews were at action stations by 05:10.
At 05:37 an enemy contact report was made and course was changed to starboard to close range. Neither ship was in good fighting trim. Hood, designed twenty-five years earlier, lacked adequate horizontal protection and would have to close the range quickly, as she would become progressively less vulnerable to plunging shellfire at shorter ranges. She had completed an overhaul in March and her crew had not been adequately retrained. Prince of Wales, with thicker armour, was less vulnerable to 15-inch shells at ranges greater than 17000 feet (5,181.6 m), but her crew had also not been trained to battle efficiency. The British ships made their last course change at 05:49, but they had made their approach too fine (the German ships were only 30 degrees on the starboard bow) and their aft
Aft
Aft, in naval terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning, towards the stern of the ship, when the frame of reference is within the ship. Example: "Able Seaman Smith; lay aft!". Or; "What's happening aft?"...
turrets could not fire. Prinz Eugen, with Bismarck astern had the Prince of Wales and Hood slightly forward of the beam and both ships could deliver full broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
s.
At 05:33, despite seas breaking over the bows, Prince of Wales opened fire on Bismarck at 20,000 yards. There was some confusion among the British as to which ship was Bismarck and thirty seconds earlier Hood had mistakenly opened fire on Prinz Eugen. Hoods first salvo straddled the enemy ship, but Prinz Eugen, in less than three minutes, scored 8-inch-shell hits on Hood. The first shots by Prince of Wales – two three-gun salvoes at ten second intervals – were 1,000 yards over. The turret rangefinders on Prince of Wales could not be used because of spray over the bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
and fire was instead directed from the 15 feet (4.6 m) rangefinders in the control tower.
The third salvo was a straddle and about that time two decisive hits were made on Bismarck. One shell holed her bow and caused Bismarck to lose 1,000 tons of fuel oil, mostly to salt-water contamination. The other fell short, and entered Bismarck below her side armour belt, the shell exploded and flooded the auxiliary boiler machinery room and forced the shutdown of two boilers due to a slow leak in the boiler room immediately aft. The loss of fuel and boiler power were decisive factors in the Bismarcks decision to return to port. In Prince of Wales, "A" turret ceased fire after the first salvo due to a defect. After a brief lull, fire continued with three guns, but sporadic breakdowns occurred until the decision to turn away was made. At this time "A" turret was jammed.
Both German ships initially concentrated their fire on Hood and destroyed her with salvoes of 8- and 15-inch shells. An 8-inch shell hit the boat deck and struck a ready service locker for the UP rocket projectors and a fire blazed high above the first superstructure deck. At 05:58 at a range of 16,500 yards, the force commander ordered a turn of 20 degrees to port to open the range and bring the full battery of the British ships to bear on Bismarck. As the turn began, Bismarck straddled Hood with her third and fourth four-gun salvoes and at 06:01 the fifth salvo hit her, causing a large explosion. Flames shot up near Hood's masts, then an orange-coloured fireball and an enormous smoke cloud obliterated the ship. On Prince of Wales, it seemed that Hood collapsed amidships and the bow and stern could be seen rising as she rapidly settled. Prince of Wales made a sharp starboard turn to avoid hitting the debris and in doing so further closed the range between her and the German ships. In the four minute action, Hood, the largest battlecruiser in the world, had been sunk, with the loss of all but three of her 1,418 officers and men.
Prince of Wales fired unopposed until she began a port turn at 05:57, when Prinz Eugen opened fire on her. After Hood exploded at 06:01, the Germans opened intense and accurate fire on Prince of Wales, with 15-inch, 8-inch and 5.9-inch guns. A heavy hit was sustained below the waterline as Prince of Wales manoeuvred through the wreckage of Hood. At 06:02, a 15-inch shell struck the starboard side of the compass platform and killed the majority of the personnel there. The navigating officer was wounded, but Captain Leach was unhurt. Casualties were caused by the fragments from the shell's ballistic cap and the material it dislodged in its diagonal path through the compass platform.
Atlantic Charter meeting
Rosyth
Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....
, Prince of Wales transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
across the Atlantic for a conference with US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. On 5 August Roosevelt boarded the cruiser USS Augusta
USS Augusta (CA-31)
USS Augusta was a Northampton-class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy, notable for service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during World War II, and for her occasional use as a presidential flagship carrying both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman under wartime conditions...
from the presidential yacht
Presidential yacht
Presidential yacht may refer to a naval vessel of a country's navy that would be specially used for by the country's President. It is common for a vessel to be designated as the Presidential yacht during a fleet review.Specific vessels include:...
Potomac
USS Potomac (AG-25)
USS Potomac , formerly the USCGC Electra, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential yacht from 1936 until his death in 1945. It is one of only three still existing presidential yachts. On August 3, 1941, she played a decoy role while Roosevelt held a secret conference to develop the Atlantic...
. Augusta proceeded from Massachusetts to Placentia Bay
Placentia Bay
Placentia Bay is a body of water on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It is formed by Burin Peninsula on the west and Avalon Peninsula on the east. Fishing grounds in the bay were used by native people long before the first European fishermen arrived in the 16th century. For a time, the...
and Argentia in Newfoundland in company with the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa
USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37)
USS Tuscaloosa was a United States Navy New Orleans-class heavy cruiser.She was laid down on 3 September 1931 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Co., launched on 15 November 1933, sponsored by Mrs. Thomas Lee McCann, the wife of Lieutenant Thomas L...
and five destroyers, arriving on 7 August. On 9 August Winston Churchill arrived in the bay aboard Prince of Wales, escorted by the destroyers HMS Ripley
USS Shubrick (DD-268)
The third USS Shubrick was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy, where she served as HMS Ripley during World War II.-As USS Shubrick:...
, HMCS Assiniboine and HMCS Restigouche. At Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Roosevelt transferred to the destroyer USS McDougal
USS McDougal (DD-358)
The second USS McDougal was a in the United States Navy. She named for Rear Admiral David Stockton McDougal.McDougal was laid down by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, 18 December 1933; launched 17 July 1936; sponsored by Miss Caroline McDougal Neilson; and commissioned 23...
to meet Winston Churchill on board Prince of Wales. The conference continued from 10 to 12 August aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta, and at the end of the conference, the Atlantic Charter
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a pivotal policy statement first issued in August 1941 that early in World War II defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. It was drafted by Britain and the United States, and later agreed to by all the Allies...
was proclaimed. Following the signing of the charter Prince of Wales arrived back at Scapa Flow on 18 August.
Mediterranean duty
In September following the meeting with President Roosevelt Prince of Wales was assigned to Force HForce H
Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940 to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean that had been removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany....
, in the Mediterranean. On 24 September Prince of Wales formed part of Group II, led by Vice-Admiral Alban Curteis
Alban Curteis
Admiral Sir Alban Thomas Buckley Curteis KCB CVO DSO was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Senior British Naval Officer, Western Atlantic.-Naval career:...
and consisting of the battleships Prince of Wales and Rodney, the cruisers Kenya, Edinburgh, Sheffield
HMS Sheffield (C24)
HMS Sheffield was one of the Southampton sub class of the Town-class cruisers of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She took part in actions against several major German warships. Unlike most Royal Navy ships of her time, her fittings were constructed from stainless steel instead of the...
and Euryalus
HMS Euryalus (42)
HMS Euryalus was a Dido-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built at Chatham Dockyard UK), with the keel being laid down on 21 October 1937. She was launched on 6 June 1939, and commissioned 30 June 1941. Euryalus was the last cruiser that Chatham Dockyard built.-Mediterranean Service:-Second...
and twelve destroyers. The force provided an escort for Operation Halberd
Operation Halberd
-Summary:During World War II, Operation Halberd was a British naval operation in September 1941 to escort a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta....
, a supply convoy from Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. On 27 September the convoy was attacked by Italian aircraft, with Prince of Wales shooting down several with her 5.25 inches (133.4 mm) guns. Later that day there were reports that units of the Italian Fleet were approaching. Prince of Wales, the battleship Rodney and the aircraft carrier were despatched to intercept, but the search proved fruitless. The convoy arrived in Malta without further incident and Prince of Wales returned to Gibraltar, before sailing on to Scapa Flow, arriving there on 6 October.
Far East
On 25 October Prince of Wales and a destroyer escort left home waters bound for SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, there to rendezvous with the battlecruiser HMS Repulse
HMS Repulse (1916)
HMS Repulse was a Renown-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
and the aircraft carrier . Indomitable however ran aground off Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
a few days later and was unable to proceed. Calling at Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
and Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
to refuel and generate publicity, Prince of Wales also stopped in Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and the Maldive Islands. Prince of Wales reached Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, on 28 November, joining Repulse the next day. On 2 December the fleet docked in Singapore. Prince of Wales then became the flagship of Force Z
Force Z
Force Z was an Allied naval detachment consisting of the battleship , the battlecruiser , and four destroyers, , , , and . Initially an aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was included, but she ran aground in the Caribbean, and was not replaced by HMS Hermes which was regarded as too slow.A renamed...
, under the command of Vice-Admiral
Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)
Vice admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It equates to the NATO rank code OF-8 and is immediately superior to rear admiral and is subordinate to the full admiral rank.The Royal Navy has had vice admirals since at least the 16th century...
Sir Tom Phillips
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
– and Singapore was raided by Japanese aircraft. In response Prince of Waless anti-aircraft batteries opened fire but scored no hits and had no effect on the Japanese aircraft. A signal was received from the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
in London ordering the British squadron to commence hostilities and that evening, confident that a protective air umbrella would be provided by the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
presence in the region, Admiral Phillips set sail. Force Z at this time comprised the battleship Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser Repulse, and the destroyers , , and .
The object of the sortie was to attack Japanese transports at Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu is a city in Malaysia, is the state capital and Royal City of Kelantan. It is also the name of the territory in which Kota Bharu City is situated. The name means 'new city' or 'new castle/fort' in Malay. Kota Bharu is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, and lies...
, but in the afternoon of 9 December a Japanese submarine spotted the British ships and in the evening they were detected by Japanese aerial reconnaissance. By this time it had been made clear that no RAF fighter support would be forthcoming. At midnight a signal was received that Japanese forces were landing at Kuantan in Malaya. Force Z was diverted to investigate. At 02:11 on 10 December the force was again sighted by a Japanese submarine and at 08:00 arrived off Kuantan, only to discover that the reported landings were a diversion.
At 11:00 that morning the first Japanese air attack began. Eight Type 96 "Nell"
Mitsubishi G3M
The Mitsubishi G3M was a Japanese bomber used during World War II.-Design and development:...
bombers dropped their bombs close to Repulse, one passing through the hanger roof and exploding on the 1-inch plating of the main deck below. The second attack force, comprising seventeen "Nells" armed with torpedoes, arrived at 11:30, divided into two attack formations. Despite some reports to the contrary Prince of Wales was struck by only one torpedo, although this was to eventually prove fatal, while Repulse managed to avoid the seven torpedoes aimed at her, as well as bombs dropped minutes later by a further formation of six "Nells". The torpedo struck Prince of Wales on the port side aft, abaft Y Turret, wrecking the outer propeller shaft on that side and destroying bulkheads to one degree or another along the shaft all the way to B Engine Room; which in turn caused rapid uncontrollable flooding and put the entire electrical system in the after part of the ship out of action. Lacking effective damage control, she immediately took on a heavy list.
A third torpedo attack developed against Repulse and once again she succeeded in avoiding any hits, but she was hit several times by a fourth attack from torpedo-carrying Type 1 "Bettys"
Mitsubishi G4M
The Mitsubishi G4M 一式陸上攻撃機, 一式陸攻 Isshiki rikujō kōgeki ki, Isshikirikkō was the main twin-engine, land-based bomber used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. The Allies gave the G4M the reporting name Betty...
, and sank at 12:33. Six aircraft from this wave then attacked Prince of Wales, hitting her with three torpedoes, causing further damage and flooding. Finally, a 500 kilograms (1,102.3 lb) bomb hit the catapult deck, penetrated through to the main deck and exploded there, causing many casualties in the make-shift aid centre in the Cinema Flat. Several other bombs from this attack were very 'near misses', indenting the hull, popping rivets and causing hull plates to ‘split’ along the seams and intensifying the flooding. At 13:15 the order to abandon ship was given and at 13:20 Prince of Wales capsized and sank; Vice-Admiral Phillips and Captain Leach were among the 327 fatalities.
Aftermath
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
being inoperable, depriving Force Z of one of its most potent early-warning devices and the early critical damage she sustained from the first torpedo. Another factor which led to Prince of Wales's demise was the additional loss of dynamos depriving Prince of Wales of many of her pumps. Further electrical failures left parts of the ship in total darkness and added to the difficulties of her damage repair parties as they attempted to counter the flooding.
The British Director of Naval Construction's report on the sinking also claimed that the ship's anti-aircraft guns could have "inflicted heavy casualties before torpedoes were dropped, if not preventing the successful conclusion of attack had crews been more adequately trained in their operation.
The Wreck
The wreck lies upside down in 223 feet (68 m) of water at 3°33′36"N 104°28′42"E. A British flag attached to a line on a buoy tied to a propeller shaft is periodically renewed. The wreck site was designated as a 'Protected Place' in 2001 under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986Protection of Military Remains Act 1986
The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which provides protection for the wreckage of military aircraft and designated military vessels. The Act provides for two types of protection: protected places and controlled sites. Military aircraft are...
, just prior to the 60th anniversary of her sinking. The ship's bell was manually raised using closed-circuit mixed-gas rebreathers in 2002 by British technical divers Gavin Haywood and George McClure with the permission of the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
and blessing of the Force Z Survivors Association. It was restored, then presented for permanent display by First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...
and Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Alan West
Alan West, Baron West of Spithead
Admiral Alan William John West, Baron West of Spithead GCB DSC PC was, from June 2007 to May 2010, a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the British Home Office with responsibility for Security and a Security Advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown...
, to the Merseyside Maritime Museum
Merseyside Maritime Museum
The Merseyside Maritime Museum is a museum based in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is part of National Museums Liverpool and an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage...
in Liverpool. It is currently traditional for every passing Royal Navy ship to perform a remembrance service over the site of the wrecks.
In May 2007, Expedition ‘Job 74’, a dedicated survey of the exterior hull of both HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, and carrying Explorers Club Flag No. 118, was conducted by a private group of technical divers using closed circuit mixed-gas rebreathers. Considered by historians and naval enthusiasts worldwide as the most comprehensive hull survey on the wrecks to date, the expeditions findings sparked considerable interest among naval architects and marine engineers around the world; as they detailed for the first time the true nature of the damage to HMS Prince of Wales and the exact location and number of torpedo hits. Consequently, the findings contained in the initial expedition report and later supplementary reports were analysed by the SNAME (Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers) Marine Forensics Committee and a resultant paper was drawn up entitled “Death of a Battleship: A Reanalysis of the Tragic Loss of HMS Prince of Wales”. This paper was subsequently presented at a meeting of RINA (Royal Institution of Naval Architects) and IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology) members in London by Mr. William Garzke, one of the authors of the paper and himself a respected naval architect and the co-author of a trilogy of WWII battleship books.
Refits
During her career, Prince of Wales was refitted on several occasions, to bring her equipment up-to-date. The following are the dates and details of the refits undertaken.| Dates | Location | Description of Work |
|---|---|---|
| May 1941 | Rosyth | 4 x Type 282 radar and 4 x Type 285 radar added. |
| June–July 1941 | Rosyth | UP projectors Unrotated Projectile The Unrotated Projectile, or UP, was a short range rocket-firing anti-aircraft weapon developed for the Royal Navy to supplement the 2 pounder Pom-Pom gun due to a critical lack of close-range anti-aircraft weapons. It was used extensively by British ships during the early days of World War II... removed. 2 x 8-barrelled and 1 x 4-barrelled 2-pdr pom-poms QF 2 pounder naval gun The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing... added. Type 271 radar added. |
| November 1941 | 7 x single 20 mm Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others... added. |
External links
- List of Crew
- http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=13006News reel footage of Operation HalberdOperation Halberd-Summary:During World War II, Operation Halberd was a British naval operation in September 1941 to escort a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta....
, as filmed from HMS Prince of Wales] - Photos of HMS Prince of Wales at MaritimeQuest