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December 10, 1941 HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by Japanese aircraft off Kuantan, Malaya. They were spotted by the I-58 before dawn and were attacked by nine Betty bombers. The Prince of Wales was hit by 4 torpedoes and the Repulse by 14. The death toll was enormous, 840. (327 from Prince of Wales and 513 from Repulse). A total of 2,081 were rescued by other British destroyers. Both of these ships had only six months before been involved in the pursuit of the Bismarck, and were in one of the last battleship battles ever. Now they had been sunk by aircraft. After this event the roll of the battleship as the dominant sea weapon was clearly in question. And as we all now know, the battleship has passed into history and the surviving battleships are now museums. |
© 2005 Michael W. Pocock MaritimeQuest.com |
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HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse (upper left) during the attack.
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