Battleships: Prince of Wales and Yamato 5

　　The evacuation from the Prince of Wales was completed except for one person. The captain, Thomas Phillips remained on the deck of the Prince of Wales to sink with the ship. It is said that Japan's bombers got in a line and the pilots gave their salutes to Admiral Thomas Phillips one by one as they passed in front of him and he also sent a salute to the pilots. After the exchange of salutes, he bound himself to the deck and sunk with the Prince of Wales. The mortality rate of the crew of the Prince of Wales was only 20%, in spite of the sinking of the ship. Except for fatalities during the fight, all crew members were saved. On the next day, Japan's aircraft flew to the battle area and dropped bundles of flowers in honor of the bravery of the British sailors to calm their souls. If you couldn't understand this Japanese way of thinking, check this url in which I wrote about the Shinto religion.
　　By the way, let's cut to the chase. All I wrote above was just introductory remarks.
　　After three and a half years, Japan's battleship Yamato was sunk in the naval battle off Bounomisaki (Operation Ten-Go) and more than 90%(3063/3332) of the crew of Yamato were killed by the U.S.'s repeated air attacks. Don't you think that the mortality rate is too high? What's the difference between Yamato and the Prince of Wales?　　Link to Next


Admiral Thomas Phillips

(Vocabulary)
give a salute to  敬礼する
fatality [C] (事故・戦争・病気などによる) 死亡者（数）,（不慮の）死
bravery 勇敢さ, 勇ましさ
cut to the chase (informal) (末節の話をやめにして) 本題に入る
introductory remarks（話の）前置き


ウエールズの乗員全員の退艦後、デッキには、トーマス司令長官が残った。このとき日本の航空隊は、全機整列し、一機ずつデッキ前を通過して、司令官に最敬礼を送ったと伝えられている。司令官は、その間、ブリッジから挙手敬礼をもって答え、日本の航空機との挨拶の交換後、司令官はデッキに体を縛りつけ、艦とともに沈んでいった。ちなみに、マレー沖海戦におけるプリンスオブウェールズの戦死者は、艦が轟沈していながら、総員の２０％に過ぎず、戦闘中の死亡者以外、全員が助かっている。そしてさらにマレー沖海戦の翌日には、日本軍機が、再度戦闘海域に飛来し、機上から沈没現場の海面に花束を投下して英海軍将兵の敢闘に対する敬意と、鎮魂を行っている。
さて、本論に入る。今まで書いてきたことはほんの前置きに過ぎない。では、この戦いの三年半後に行われた坊ノ岬沖海戦はどうだったか。この海戦では、戦艦大和が沈み、乗員３３３２名のうち、９０％以上にあたる３０６３名が死亡した。なぜか。ウェールズでは２０％ではなかったか。