The team leaves the sinking British “Prince of Wales” battleship (HMS Prince of Wales) in the Kuantan area in the South China Sea. In the photo to the right – the British destroyer “Express” (HMS Express), who came up to rescue the crew from a heavily damaged battleship. The photo was taken by Lieutenant Commander Francis Jack Cartwright, commander of the Express.
On December 8, 1941, the “Connection Z” of the British fleet under the command of Admiral Thomas Phillips as part of the battleship Prince of Wales, the Ripals line cruiser and four destroyers left Singapore to intercept a Japanese military convoy. On the morning of December 10, 1941, British warships were attacked by Japanese G3M bombers and torpedo bombers G3M and G4M. The second attack was fatal for the “Prince of Wales” – he received a torpedo hit from the G3M from the air corps “Gandzan”.
In total, the battleship was attacked six times by twenty G3M bombers, dropping 32 of 500-kg bombs (one hit) and fifteen torpedo bombers G3M and G4M (10 hits). On the battleship Prince of Wales, 513 sailors died, including Admiral Phillips. The losses of Japanese aviation during the attack on Prince of Wales and Ripals a mounted to one G3M and two G4Ms.
Source of information about the Prince of Wales battleship photo:
1. www.iwm.org.uk
Location: South China Sea
Date: December 10, 1941