Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse 1941
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 10 December 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Asia) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | South-East Asian theater of World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Empire of Japan, United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 3.5600, 104.4783 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a naval engagement in World War II, as part of the war in the Pacific, that took place on 10 December 1941 in the South China Sea off the east coast of the British colonies of Malaya (present-day Malaysia) and the Straits Settlements (present-day Singapore and its coastal towns), 70 miles (61 nautical miles; 110 kilometres) east of Kuantan, Pahang. Part of a British naval squadron known as Force Z, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and torpedo bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. In Japan, the engagement was referred to as the Naval Battle of Malaya (マレー沖海戦, Marē-oki kaisen).
The objective of Force Z, which consisted of one battleship, one battlecruiser and four destroyers, was to intercept the Japanese invasion fleet in the South China Sea north of Malaya. The task force sailed without air support. Although the British had a close encounter with Japanese heavy surface units, the force failed to find and destroy the main convoy. On their return to Singapore they were attacked in open waters and sunk by long-range torpedo bombers.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse (revision 1372269857), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Pulo Aura 1804 · 124 km
- Battle of Gemas 1942 · 237 km
- Siege of Johor (1587) 1587 · 243 km
- Fall of Singapore 1942 · 258 km
- Battle of Pasir Panjang 1942 · 265 km
- Action of 13 December 1964 1964 · 279 km
Other battles of the South-East Asian theater of World War II
All 3 battles of the South-East Asian theater of World War II →
Browse more: battles at sea · Asia · World War II era battles