Product Description

On Wednesday 10 December 1941, the third day of the war with Japan, two Royal Navy capital ships were sunk off Malaya by air torpedo attack. They had not requested the air support that could have saved them and 840 men died in the battleship "HMS Prince of Wales" and the battle cruiser "HMS Repulse". Taking full advantage of British Second World War documents and the Japanese Official History, the authors re-create for the reader not only what happened on that sunny morning, but also what it was like for the men involved. They dispose of several myths to explain what happened in those confused hours, and address the uncertainty, controversy and strong emotions that surrounded the militarily disasterous sinkings and the tragic aftermath.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1387323 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author
Martin Middlebrook is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the author of THE KAISER'S BATTLE: MARCH 1918 (Classic Penguin Military History) and THE FIRST DAY ON THE SOMME (Classic Penguin Military History).

Customer Reviews

Excellent portrayal of the tragic loss of two great ships
This book grips you from start to finish. It describes the tragic loss of the British battleship Prince of Wales and the cruiser Repulse in the opening days of the war with Japan. Combining cold clear facts with emotional anecdotes from those involved, it gives the impression of being very well researched, and is exceptionally well written.
The story unfolds at a number of levels, from the personal anecdotes of sailors, marines and airmen, to the strategic planning of governments and senior officers. This action was immensely important to the course of history for Britain and the Far East. If ever a story needed to be told then this is it, and I can't see how it could possibly be told in a better way!

a concise account of the unecessory loss of 2 ships
MM is a good historian and this is a better read than his 1st WW book. He carefully notes and separates the genuine bad luck (eg no carrier in Singapore) from the unsound orders that lead the two ships to their last voyage with no air cover, and the equipment & design failures that speeded their demise. Their loss was probably inevitable at that time within a few months, but like Singapore itself, they should and could have taken a lot more of the enemy with them.

Very good explaination of one of the defining moments in the decline of the battleship
Battleship: The Loss of the "Prince of Wales" and the "Repulse" is a very interesting work which explains in great detail how the Royal Navy came to lose two of their primary ships defending Malaya in December 1941. Not only does it explain why they sunk and the events surrounding this incident thaey also delve into the defence policies of 1930s Britain which were the key reason why these two ships were there. All in all an interesting book which shows how the battleship as an instrument of war was being rapidly made obselete by aircraft.