Saving another three tons of RAF paper and form: his escape from RAF Seletar Singapore, February 1942

In 1989, when I was 42, and standing in the Market Place outside Settle Co-operative, my father suddenly told me the story of his escape from Singapore. I never asked questions of clarification or explanation: questions that might have completed the story. He recalled seeing HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse sailing out of Singapore into naval history. A visit to Kota Bharu was mentioned, as though it had some significance.

At the fall of Singapore, Dad had been ordered to take a lorry load of official papers to the docks. On arrival and after unloading, a sergeant ordered him to return for a second load. On finding that the rest of his unit had boarded ship, he disobeyed his only order and knocked the sergeant off the dockside into the water. He said he escaped on the last ship to leave Singapore. This, I imagined, was tantamount to desertion. En route to Batavia, now Jakarta, in Indonesia, the Japanese bombed the ship. One bomb damaged the dental surgery and Dad was involved in swilling out body parts of casualties. Whilst billeted at a Dutch air force base in Batavia, Dad missed the ‘liberty’ lorry to a cinema. The lorry was 'shot up' and 'people' were killed. The Japanese were not mentioned. His account ended in Batavia with no explanation of how he avoided capture. After Batavia, Dad’s war service continued in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where he enjoyed life in that period and where sailing and crocodile shooting featured.

In December 2013, I discovered Dad had served with 151 Maintenance Unit (MU) at RAF Seletar.

I have tried to piece together my father’s escape from Seletar, in February 1942, from official documents and the graphic eyewitness accounts. This is my best interpretation, from the available evidence, of what appears to have been a more than memorable adventure and voyage.

No 998832 RAFVR

On 22 May 1940, Geoffrey CROMPTON enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserves (RAFVR) to avoid army conscription. No. 998832 reported to 3RC Padgate, before being posted to 9RC Blackpool, on 27 June 1940, for basic training. Being a grocer by trade, the RAF thought Geoff would be a suitable 'equipment assistant&# 39;. Right: Geoff's Volunteer Reserve shoulder patch

Right: Geoff' RAF cap badge His next posting on 21 September 1940 was to HQ 42 Group responsible for fuel and ammunition storage within RAF Maintenance Command. As his service ended with him ]] looking after the bomb dumps at 219 Maintenance Units (MU) RAF Settle, it is assumed that the bomb store was his RAF equipment trade. Frank Planton, in an extracts from the autobiographical blog, gives a brief glimpse into RAF Basic Training at the same RAF Blackpool as Geoff. Both enjoyed their basic training.

It was a recruiting advertisement with a form to join the RAF. I filled this in and received a reply informing me that recruiting for the RAF was now suspended for the duration of the war, I could however join the RAF Volunteer Reserves, this I did and began the process of becoming an airman.

[…]. On the 12th August 1940 a letter with a railway warrant to Blackpool requested me to report for service. On arrival, I was issued with my uniform and kit along with other recruits placed in seaside boarding houses, some still busy with holiday makers.

The following 14 days were spent with rifle and foot drill, lectures with illustrations on screen and inoculations, which I quite enjoyed. The last Saturday we paraded with our kit, then taken to our RAF station. […]

Next day we were left to do our own thing except to be told that outside we must be fully dressed and salute officers. Monday after breakfast a sergeant entered the hut and informed us that he would be in charge of us from now on.

We collected our kit, formed up outside in ranks and moved to a different hut, he then told us we were all of different trades but Britain was fighting for its life and if the fighters were unable to defeat the Luftwaffe we would be invaded. We were to be trained to defend the camp from paratroopers and possibly land forces.

1807info3f, sheet 2

I met a couple of like minded chaps so we trained with rifles, machine guns and hand grenades, when proficient did 24 hours at the perimeter, 24 hours on standby in a hut and 24 hours off plus guard duties. The threat of invasion lessened and we became bored with our duties, not what we expected when joining the RAF. ¹

On 13 July 1940, he was posted to RAF Bicester ¹, Oxfordshire, where he fully expected to take advantage of his Pilot Officer brother Donald, also stationed at Bicester. Unfortunately, after a late night out in Bicester, Don, as officer of the guard, put his brother in guardhouse. In July 1940, the second RAF Bomber Command Training Group (No. 7 Group RAF) was formed, with its headquarters at RAF Bicester. This was required due to a demand in operational training, supplying squadrons of No. 2 Group. When, in 1975, he saw the old sign pointing to. RAF Bampton Castle, Oxfordshire, a possible radio station with masts associated with the nearby RAF Brize Norton, he spoke as though he knew the place, perhaps on a visit from RAF Bicester.

He was promoted Leading Air Craftsman (LAC) on 01 September 1941 before being posted, on 21 September 1940, to HQ 42 Group responsible for fuel and ammunition storage within RAF Maintenance Command. His next posting on 21 September 1940 was to HQ 42 Group responsible for fuel and ammunition storage within RAF Maintenance Command.

A posting to the Far East and RAF Seletar ²

Geoff’s overseas posting, to Far East Command, is dated 28 July 1941. By 28 August 1941, he was in tropical kit on board an unknown troopship that had taken him through Suez Canal. On 30 September 1941 , LAC Crompton was attached to 151 Maintenance Unit (MU), RAF Seletar, Singapore. 3 Life in Singapore A description of how dramatically life changed is found in Diana Norman’s book Road from Singapore, where she describes the life of RAF Corporal John Dodd, also RAFVR, single and in his late twenties. Dodd arrived in Singapore in July 1941 to a radiolocation unit at Seletar. This extract from Dodd’s biography illustrates an introduction to Seletar for RAF Other Ranks. At every reception camp the other ranks were given more or less the same lecture. It started off with instructions on how to survive the humidity — "Wash thoroughly and often, taking care to dry between the toes, fingers and around the crutch or you'll get a fungoid that'll turn you into a walking mushroom. And change your underclothing regularly." [...] Left: Geoff Crompton, Suez 28 August 1941 in a photograph sent to his parents

1807info3f, sheet 34

The instructor would then launch into a talk on how to get on with the native population. They were not, it appeared, to get on at all. The Chinese were cunning and rapacious to a man and would skin you alive for a Straits dollar. The Malays were easy-going and shiftless. The Tamils, who formed the lowest grade of labour on the Island, were beneath attention. All of them had odd religions, with easily outraged taboos and superstitions. And anyway, ninety per cent of the Malay women had V.D.

Thus instructed, the other ranks were turned out to spend their off-duty hours in the streets of Singapore. Rebuffed by the colonial English and alienated from the natives a high proportion of servicemen turned, not surprisingly, to Lavender Street, the centre of the red light area. There, if you got V.D., you at least got a friendly smile with it.

[…] [N]ow [he] looked forward to a short, enjoyable war after which he would return home, marry perhaps, get on with his job and, most important of all, play cricket and golf at the weekends.

With the rest of his outfit, a radio-location unit, he was sent to RAF Seletar, an airbase on the eastern coast of the Island, listened to the lectures with half an ear and, on his first duty-free day, caught a taxi into the city.

Even to other rankers, Singapore city was a very attractive place with the wide streets and impressive buildings of the colonial area, the teeming shops and stalls of the Chinese quarter, the junk-bedecked waterfront and even the exotic squalor of the Indian section. John Dodd found it all new and exciting. Incurably English, however, he managed to find a restaurant in Stamford Road that offered roast pork, potatoes, mushrooms, peas, three pancakes with jam, jelly and ice cream —all of which he described in detail in his next letter home. (The rationing that applied in England was never enforced in Singapore.) [...]

Apart from the cinema and Lavender Street, the only other recreational activity for the non-commissioned defenders of Singapore lay on the sports field. The sports facilities for servicemen on the Island were superb; every game that involved hitting a ball was catered for, and John Dodd played them all. ⁴

A false sense of confidence

On 29 November 1941, Singapore, with the failure of the Washington talks with Japan, moved to a state of ‘second degree readiness’. Cinemas interrupted films flashing notices ordering troops to report to their units. However, the confident impregnability of Fortress Singapore mentality prevailed: the big naval shore batteries faced seaward and the capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse sailed along the Johore Straits, passing RAF Seletar to the Royal Navy Sembawang docks. The impenetrable Malayan jungle and a belief that far eastern countries were technically inferior, fostered complacency.

Diana Norman writes:

On the night of November 29 a notice was flashed on to the cinema screens of Singapore and other key Malayan towns: "All British and Australian Imperial Forces to report immediately to their units" A War Office cable had been received warning of the complete breakdown of the Washington talks. "Second Degree Readiness" was the order of the day.

Everybody dashed about looking efficient and confident. And when, three days later (2 December 1941), the Navy's most modern battleship, HMS. Prince of Wales, with the battle-cruiser HMS Repulse and four destroyers sailed regally into the Naval Base harbour, confidence boomed into jingoistic certainty.

From then on, just to make sure nobody missed the point, the cinema newsreels showed shots of Hurricanes being unloaded on to the Singapore quayside. It was only if you looked carefully that you realised they were always the same Hurricanes photographed from different angles.

Troops being poured into the Fortress from parts of the world where they took the war seriously were mildly surprised to find the English tuan still dressing for dinner at his club, still escorting pretty women to dances.

The tuan went on dancing.

1807info3f, sheet 4

In the first few minutes of December 8 the shore defences at Kota Bharu ⁵, the north-eastern tip of Malaya, saw transports and warships steaming fast towards them over the horizon and were soon under heavy shellfire. ⁶

At 1730, 7 from Seletar’s seaplane ramp, Geoff Crompton and John Dodd would have witnessed a significant moment in naval history: the departure of the first capital ships sunk at sea entirely by aircraft. 2 Two days later, both ships were at the bottom of the South China Sea with 840 fatalities. Left: HMS Prince of Wales sorties from Singapore, 8 December 1941

Above: Seletar airfield and slipway Author: 04 December 2015 The flat land would have been RAF Seletar, with the banks leading to the then Johore Straits now separated from the modern Strait by a reclaimed island. The possible concrete seaplane ramp can be seen near the horizon.

Force Z, consisting of Admiral Sir Tom Phillips’ flagship Prince of Wales, with Repulse, HMS Electra, HMS Express, HMS Tenedos and HMAS Vampire, sailed from Singapore at 17:10 on 8 December on their way to intercept the Japanese landings with their big guns. Complete surprise was the key to Phillips’ plan, so departure was delayed until dusk to deter Japanese reconnaissance flights. They sailed into history.

‘Hostilities commenced on the night of 8/9th. December’ (151MU Operations Record Book - ORB) ⁸

By 2 February 1941 the Japanese gunners had found the range of RAF Tengah, Seletar and Sembawang airfields. At this point Lt. General Percival agreed to allow Air Vice Marshall Pulford to withdraw his remaining aircraft to Sumatra. ⁹ On the night of 7 December 1941, six Japanese squadrons took off from southern Indochina, 700 miles from Singapore. Over the South China Sea, thick clouds offered poor visibility for the pilots, whilst rough winds caused most of the formations to become separated. Only seventeen Mitsubishi G3M bombers ¹⁰ reached Singapore on schedule, unobstructed by bad weather. Though detected at 0330 by Changi and Mersing radar as 17 unidentified aircraft heading for Singapore, the air defences remained on the ground. An hour later bombs struck the still lit city centre. The ARP headquarters was fully manned but the head warden had taken the alarm key with him to the cinema. Most bombs fell on Tengah and Seletar and military facilities around Keppel Harbour and Sembawang Naval Base. There was minor damage at RAF Seletar. ¹¹

1807info3f, sheet 5

Seletar was home to 36 and 100 Squadrons with obsolete Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bombers (including five Fairey Albacores acquired by 36 Squadron to supplement its Vildebeests), and with a slip way to the Johore Straits, 205 Squadron’s Catalina flying boats. Right: Consolidated Catalina Mark Is of No. 205 Squadron RAF undergoing servicing in their hangar at Seletar, Singapore. One of the Squadron's Short Singapore Mark IIIs, which type the Catalina was replacing, can be seen on the right. Source: Imperial War Museum K1102

In September 1941, 151MU comprised of 59 officers, 977 NCOs and airmen and 586 members of the Special Technical Corps under the command of Grp Capt. C Walkington. Their ORB, between December 1941 and February 1942, give a flavour of the various squadrons’ activities. In December 1941, 151MU had a particularly heavy time performing a variety of routine and innovative tasks, related in the aerial defence of the Island. The engineering Squadrons’ tasks consisted of erecting new aircraft, fitment of armament gear, twin turrets Blenheim [VI], conversion of Blenheim training aircraft for operational aircraft, and repair of aircraft damaged through enemy action, normal complete overhauls and repairs. The aircraft that passed through the Depot comprised of:

• Buffalo 1      70
• Blenheim I/IV  13
• Hudson          7
• Wirraway        3
• Walrus          5
• Albacore        5
• Beaufort        1

In December, the Unit constructed 11 Buffalos and six Blenheim 'K' 12 class aircraft, which had proved very successful to date, many attacks (both bombing and machine guns) having been made upon them. Thirty-one aircraft and antiaircraft guns, of four types, were assembled. The Engine Repair Squadron dealt with 27 engines divided between eight types needing a complete overhaul, a part overhaul, and major repairs of 120-hour inspection.

1807info3f, sheet 6

Geoff’s Equipment Squadron had an abnormal amount of work owing to the evacuation of Stations in the north and the necessity of equipping new Stations further south. In total, they received 2850 packages and issued 9146. The Equipment Squadron took over part of the Cane Sugar Factory […] in order to cope with the large consignments expected […].

The Equipment Squadron and others experienced the first air raid on the night hostilities were declared when a flight of 6 or 7 large twin-engine bombers, there being approximately 12 HE bombs dropped (this includes 5 incendiaries) in the vicinity of the Depot buildings. Only slight damage to 3 or 4 aircraft and buildings occurred, and 2 personnel were slightly injured. The Unit moved to a war footing and despite further air raid alerts [being] sounded frequently during the rest of the month, […] no enemy action resulted.

A ’Fly-in’ Repair Section was formed to deal with aircraft that could be repaired within three days. On Christmas Day, three Bellman Hangers were to be moved to three sites three to five miles from the Station. It [was] intended to use these for the erection of aircraft, less wings, the fuselage to be towed to Seletar for final erection. Two hundred airmen each were sent to Ling Nan School, on Orchard Road, and to a tent camp five miles from the Station at Paya Lebah.

In January 1942 work of the Equipment Squadron continued at the same pace, though under restriction from five intensive bombing raids necessitating further dispersal. The raids comprised of 27 aircraft carpet-bombing, in formation, from 20,000 feet (6100m). As a result of these attacks, extensive damage was done to all hangers, workshops and Headquarters buildings situated in the main Depot area in the centre of the station. Two or three Equipment buildings were also hit. Fortunately, the majority of Sections had been dispersed to aircraft storage hangers sited on the Station perimeter. These were only hit on the last raid on the 31st, when evacuation was in full swing, so very little equipment was lost. At 0340 hours on the 9th two aircraft bombed from 200 feet (61m) The bombing was good, but extremely unlucky, from the enemy’s point of view.

The casualties comprised of 12 BOR personnel […] and one or two coolies killed because of ample provision of slit trenches and dispersal of personnel. The native labour deserted and would not go near the Station.

Despite the raids all other sections worked to capacity, night work being carried out until the "Black Out" was destroyed through enemy action. The 51 kit Hurricanes the cinema showed being delivered to Keppel Docks, on MV Derrymore, ¹³ were reassembled and handed over operationally fit in under three days. AVM Pulford, AOC, sent a letter of congratulations together with a copy of a signal from the Air Ministry which read as follows:- "Congratulations on getting 232 Squadron ¹⁴ into action quickly. This is magnificent work."

By 31 January 1942, All engineering sections, with the exception of G[eneral] E[ngineering] S[quadron] Machine Shop, reported that all equipment had been packed and put aboard SS Loch Ranza, ¹⁵ bound for Batavia in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), The Equipment Section reported that 85% of the equipment had been packed and 60% loaded, but 3000 extra packing cases were required. However, the evacuation was restricted by a lack of transport. Despite 26 Ford 3 tons lorries being delivered in early December, a further 50 vehicles were required as the Unit could only now muster 13 vehicles, mainly 30-cwt vehicles.

Wing Commander Saw took over command of the remaining 151MU Seletar personnel on 1 February 1942. From 6 February, Seletar was in artillery range and all work was done in the Rubber Plantation with aircraft being removed during darkness. By the 10th, all engineering equipment had been removed to the Tented Camp near Paya Lebah.

It must be recorded that with few exceptions the morale of the unit remained high during the bombing attacks and evacuation and that all personnel had worked magnificently since the outbreak of the Japanese war on the 8th December up to disbandment.

1807info3f, sheet 7

The remains of RAF Seletar today

End notes

1. Planton
2. RAF Seletar was a Royal Air Force station in Singapore between 1928 and 1971. The RAF decided to establish an airfield and flying boat base in Singapore in 1921. By 1923 two sites in the northern region of the island were approved with RAF Seletar being on the north-east coast along the Johore Straits adjacent to the naval base at Sembawang. The first planes to arrive at the base were four Supermarine Southampton seaplanes on the 28 February 1928. Between 1930 and 12 June 1937 RAF Seletar served as a civil airport and briefly hosted Amy Johnson during May 1930 on her UK-Australia flight in her Gipsy Moth named ’Jason’.
3. Dates, on Form 543, do not appear to conform to dates when arriving at the new posting. Dates on this form did not correspond to the dates remembered for Geoff's arrival at RAF Settle.
4. Norman pp.21-23
5. Kota Bharu is the east coast of Malaya, 11 miles (17km) from the present Malay-Thai border. On 7 December 1941, seventy minutes before the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Catalina from 205 Squadron had been shot down and Japanese troops had landed in Malaya. This attack put the British forces on a war footing: it was unlikely that British troops could arrive before 0200, 8 December 1941. By the afternoon of 9 December 1941, the airfield at RAAF Kota Bharu was in Japanese hands. It is believed that 151MU serviced this airfield, described as 'one of the evacuated Stations in the north'.
6. Norman p.28
7. Thompson p.204
8. Effectively, a war diary. Extracts in Courier new font
9. Thompson p.391
10. Known as type Nell
11. Thompson p.175
12. These are believed to be aircraft ‘Kits’ shipped in to Singapore for rebuilding.
13. Joe Buckland and two hundred other servicemen were directed to the 4,995 ton M.V. Derrymore which had just docked at Keppel Harbour with 2000 tons of ammunition and the deck cargo of crated aircraft. The Derrymore sailed at 0700hrs on 12 February 1942, destination Jakata. But at 1900 hours on 13th, while in the Banka Straits and 50 miles N.N.W. of Batavia she was struck by a torpedo fired from Imperial Japanese submarine I.55, commanded by Lt Cmdr Nakajima; Joe found himself swimming for his life until he managed to clamber onto some wreckage. Along with 215 other survivors, he was picked up 18 hours later by the Australian minesweeper H.M.A.S. Ballarat - a fellow survivor was an Australian Flying Officer, I.G. Gorton, later Sir John and who was subsequently to become the 19th Prime Minister of Australia [1968 to 1971]. After arriving at Jakarta, Joe boarded the S.S. Arcadia for passage to Rangoon, Burma where he served until V.J. Day. Source: Skull Frank (502), ‘Tribute to the late Joe Buckland’, Searchlight, RAF Seletar Association, Issue 53, August 2014

1807info3f, sheet 8

I wonder if any members of the Seletar Association remember serving with Joe on 36 squadron in Kuantan, Malaya. Joe was an aircraft fitter working on the Vickers Vildebeest at the time of the Japanese invasion. Hugely outnumbered and with mostly obsolete or unwanted aircraft, such as the Brewster Buffalo (nicknamed the 'Flying Barrel' by their pilots), the RAF lost half their strength trying to prevent the landings at Endau. With most of the squadron aircraft shot down, the remainder flew down to Seletar, followed by their ground crews; but by early February, with the fall of Singapore inevitable.
14. On 4 February, P/O Gifford RNZAF took a party of men from Kallang to Sembawang (sic) to service the remaining 232 Squadron Hurricanes. They were greeted by a salvo of shells, the first shelling of Singapore Island by the Japanese. Later F/L Hutchenson RNZAF returned to Seletar for any serviceable machines that might have been overlooked.
15. SS Loch Ranza was sunk on approximately 03 February 1942

Sources:

• Extracts from the autobiographical blog of Frank Planton (Accessed: 01 September 2021)
• Norman, Diana, Road from Singapore, Hodder and Stoughton, 1979
• Operational Records 151 Maintenance Unit, The National Archives, Kew, London. Ref: AIR 29/1052
• Smith, Colin, Singapore Burning, Penguin, 2006
• Thompson Peter, The Battle for Singapore, Piatkus, London, 2006

RAF Bicester RAF Bicester is the best preserved of the bomber bases constructed as the principal arm of Sir Hugh Trenchard's expansion of the RAF from 1923, which was based on the philosophy of offensive deterrence. It retains, better than any other military airbase in Britain, the layout and fabric relating to both pre-1930s military aviation and the development of Britain's strategic bomber force in the period up to 1939. The grass flying field still survives with its 1939 boundaries largely intact, bounded by a group of bomb stores built in 1928-1929 and airfield defences built in the early stages of the war. RAF Bicester: World War II airfield Historic England (Accessed: 01 September 2021) Above: A 1937 map of RAF Bicester

1807info3f, sheet 9

Force Z From RAF Seletar, Dad saw the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the 1916 battlecruiser HMS Repulse, part of Force Z, as they sailed down the Johore Strait from Sembawang Naval Base the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. He witnessed a small part of naval history. On 25 October 1941, HMS Prince of Wales, completed on 31 March 1941 with ten 14- inch (360mm) guns, departed for Singapore to join the naval detachment Force Z to combat the Japanese threat to Malaya. In November, HMS Repulse, which, with its six 15- inch (381mm) guns was in the Indian Ocean, was ordered to Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to rendezvous with Prince of Wales. Both ships arrived at Singapore's Sembawany naval base on 2 December 1941. The carrier HMS Indomitable, which was assigned to join them, was delayed when it ran aground in the Caribbean. Above: Sembawang Naval Dockyard Source: BBC Prince of Wales was not in good condition on arrival so the battleship entered dry dock to have her hull and boilers cleaned. Repulse had been bound for Darwin but turned back when RAAF Hudsons spotted Japanese ships in the Gulf of Siam. These may have been a Japanese troop convoy bound for Singora, now Songkhla, in Thailand. 1 Above: HMS Prince of Wales – a modern King George V class battleship – on arrival at Singapore, 2 December 1941 Source: Wikipedia

1807info3f, sheet 10

Force Z, consisting of Admiral Sir Tom Phillips’ flagship Prince of Wales, with Repulse, HMS Electra, HMS Express, HMS Tenedos and HMAS Vampire, sailed from Singapore at 17:10 on 8 December on their way to intercept the Japanese landings with their big guns. Complete surprise was the key to Phillips’ plan, so departure was delayed until dusk to deter Japanese reconnaissance flights. Above: Singapore 1942 showing RAF Seletar and the course of Force Z on the Johore Straits Without air support or even the correct number of cruisers and destroyers, Phillips had embarked on a daring act of hit-and-run, relying on surprise and his big guns. The ‘Jake’ aircraft and a later aircraft dropping a flare near the Japanese cruiser Chokai ensured that the required element of surprise was lost. About this time, a radio message told Phillips of a large number of ships around Kota Bharu on the east coast of Malaya, 11 miles (17km) from the present Malay-Thai border. Believing that on sighting Force Z, the Japanese transports would have dispersed, Kota Bharu was a more attractive target, being 100 miles closer to Singapore and nearer RAF support. On 9 December at 20:00 hours, Phillips turned back towards Singapore. During the night, the aged Japanese submarine I.58 spotted Force Z and fired five torpedoes missing the stern of Repulse. Unable to make a second attack because the torpedo tubes jammed I.58 radioed the position of Force Z. Phillips believed the Japanese had no idea where he was, but due to his radio silence neither had Singapore. Shortly before midnight, Phillips received a report of another landing at Kuantan, on the Malay coast nearer to Singapore. When Force Z arrived there on the morning of 10 December, the British fleet found there were no Japanese transports. Phillips decided to continue to Singapore.

1807info3f, sheet 11

Not long before last light Prince of Wales’ newly fitted and far from infallible airborne radar displayed three blips. Soon lookouts and aircraft identification books confirmed that they were Japanese reconnaissance ‘Jake’ float planes, usually catapulted off warships. Right: HMS Repulse, leaving Singapore 08 December 1941 Source: War History online     Once the Japanese realised that Force Z had evaded surface craft and submarines, 94 twin engine 'Nell' and 'Bettys' took off from Indo-China. Nine of these aircraft were reconnaissance, 51 carried torpedoes and 34 had bombs. Left: Japanese Bettys bomber The Japanese attack on Force Z began at 11:13 when eight 'Nells' dropped two 250 kilograms (551lb) bombs each from 11.500 feet (3500m) of which seven straddle Repulse. One bored a 15 inch (381mm) hole through the aircraft hanger before exploding on the armoured deck above a boiler room. Right: Japanese Nell bomber   The second attack developed when 73 aircraft, including 50 carrying torpedoes, gathered. Although three bombing aircraft straddled the targeted Repulse, the six torpedoes either malfunctioned or missed. The next batch of eight torpedoes were dropped at such a distance that evasive action was possible, leaving Repulse relatively untouched. Captain Bill Tennant had skillfully managed to avoid 19 torpedoes as well as the remaining bombs from the 'Nells'. At about 12:20 Repulse was caught by a synchronised pincer attack. Eight 'Bettys' dropped their torpedoes from well over a mile away allowing Repulse to take evasive action to starboard. At the same time, three 'Bettys', executing a feint, attacked the now open port side. One torpedo scored a hit on the unfashionable torpedo bulge. Eight minutes later, at 12:23 pm Repulse listed severely to port and quickly capsized with the loss of 513 officers and men. The destroyers Electra and Vampire rescued 796 survivors. At around 11:41, nine twin engine [‘Nell’] torpedo bombers attacked the port side of Prince of Wales dropping torpedoes at a distance of about one mile (1600m). Even though Prince of Wales turned hard aport into the attack, at 11:44 one torpedo struck a critical blow on the port side outer propeller shaft, flooding ‘B’ engine room, creating a ragged hole measuring 4m x 6m and affecting the ships electrical supplies, damage control and the ship’s fighting ability. The outer propeller shaft, still rotating at high speed, eventually broke from the hull whilst the in-board shaft broke in half. The time was 11.50 and there was at least another 50 aircraft around or approaching Force Z with more torpedoes and bombs to deliver. 2 By 12:10, the ship hoisted an ‘out of control’ signal. Two torpedoes struck the port

1807info3f, sheet 12

side at 12.23, closely followed a third on the starboard side. Smith records that, at this time, four heavier torpedoes hit the starboard side within seconds of each other, one passing through the bow.) 3 At 12:30, nine Japanese bombers approached from the port bow followed by eight high-level bombers at 12:41. At 12:44, one 500kg bomb hit the ship and there were six near misses. By 12:50, there was catastrophic flooding through failed rivets and parted seams. 4 At 13:00, the destroyer Express was alongside starboard side evacuating all non-essential and injured personnel. Then at 13:24, the battleship suddenly lurched to port, capsized and disappeared stern first with 327 fatalities, 100 minutes after the first attack. In total, 1285 men were saved. ‘… in the space of nine minutes and for the price of four aircrew and their machines, one of the Royal Navy’s most powerful battleships had been […] transformed into a listing hulk by a bunch of Asians flying Asian-designed and Asian-built planes.’ 5 Above: Repulse and Prince of Wales hit Source: IWM HU2763 Prince of Wales and Repulse were the first capital ships sunk solely by air power on the open sea (albeit by land-based rather than carrier-based aircraft) and was a shock to the world. Serious intelligence failure had failed to detect especially trained the Japanese ‘ship killing’ squadron based in Indo-China. (These were perhaps based on the Japanese observation of the Royal Navy’s success against the Italian fleet at Taranto.) This event, together with the attack on Pearl Harbor led naval leaders to rethink the role of battleships in their fleet. 6 End notes Smith p.183 ibid p.206 ibid p.206 Garzke etal p.10/12/14/65-67 ibid p.200 Garzke etal p.59/63 Sources Garzke, Dulin, Denlay, Death of a battleship, the loss of HMS Prince of Wales December 10 1914, A marine forensic analysis of the sinking (Accessed: 01 September 2021) Smith, Colin, Singapore Burning, Penguin, 2006

1807info3f, sheet 13

This page was created by Richard Crompton and maintained by Chris Glass		Version A2 Updated 05 June 2023