Let's check the battleship the Prince of Wales. It was a huge battleship mounted with ten 14-inch guns and powerful anti-aircraft guns nicknamed "pom-pom" guns. The latter could shoot 6000 bullets per minute. She had experienced a fierce air attack from Germany and Italy 2 years before. Additionally the crew was well trained to repel the aircraft. Moreover, the name of the battleship, the "Prince of Wales" derived from the name of Edward VIII in his Crown Prince days, the elder brother of then king George VI. How proud of this battleship the Brits were. Another battleship, Repulse was alike. The commander of the fleet was Admiral Thomas Phillips who was the best veteran officer. They were unarguably the strongest in the world. They set out at past 1700 hours on Dec 8th from Singapore searching for the Japanese fleet in order to smash them.
How about the Japanese side? Against the world's most powerful British fleet, Japan could only spare two old battleships, Kongo and Haruna, whose age was 27 years old. Their armaments were at most the level of cruisers. It was just like a joke. No one would believe the victory of Japan, however Japan actually survived both the Japanese-Sino and Japanese-Russo War in the same situation. That's why Britain delivered the most powerful battleships to the East. If Japan couldn't win the battle, the troops proceeding down the Malay Peninsula would be completely killed by the shortage of military necessities. Link to Next
Pom-pom guns
戦艦プリンスオブウェールズは毎分６０００発もの弾を射出できるポムポム砲など、当時最高クラスの武器を搭載し、ヨーロッパ戦線において十分な経験を積んだ戦艦。その艦名にも彼らの自信が感じられる。当時の国王ジョージ６世の兄王である、エドワード８世の即位前の王太子プリンス・オブ・ウェールズの名前を冠していたのだ。さらに英国東洋艦隊司令長官は、実戦経験の豊富な英国の誇る最強の士官、トーマス・フィリップス海軍大将。彼らは、日本のマレー上陸部隊の輸送船団を攻撃するために最強の布陣「Ｚ部隊」を編成し、１２月８日１７時過ぎに、全艦シンガポールを出撃した。これに対し、日本が対抗して派遣できたのは、艦齢２７年の金剛と榛名の二隻だけ。兵装・装甲の厚さも巡洋艦程度の実力しかない戦艦である。悪い冗談としか思えないが、日本は同様な条件で日清／日露の戦いを制した実績があり、これを知る英艦隊は最新鋭の不沈戦艦を派遣したのだった。一方日本は、英艦隊に敗れればシンガポール攻略を図る日本陸軍への支援を絶たれ、陸軍は下手をすれば全滅する。そのような状況なのだが割ける艦船は、金剛と榛名しかない。どうなってしまうのか、、
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