In world war II in the Pacific Theater, the two warring parties were mainly the United States and Japan. But as a human catastrophe in which almost all countries in the world participated, Britain naturally became an important participant in this war. In particular, Britain, as a former maritime hegemon and an empire that never sets, still has military forces in Asia and the Pacific, so in the Pacific theater, Japan has fought several battles with the British Navy.
Because the early Japanese navy was indeed fierce in the Pacific Theater, even the powerful British navy suffered a lot of losses at the hands of Japan, including the sinking of the British battleship Prince of Wales. The naval battle broke out on 10 December 1941, and the Prince of Wales and The StrikeBack, which had participated in the war, were sent to the bottom of the sea with several torpedoes by Japanese aircraft.
The Prince of Wales is the second ship of the Royal Navy's King George V class battleships, which are 227.1 meters long, 31.3 meters wide and have a full load displacement of 40,580 tons. Construction began on 2 January 1937, the Prince of Wales was launched on 3 May 1939 and completed on 31 March 1941. In terms of shipboard armament, the ship is equipped with 10 356 mm main guns, 16 133 mm secondary guns, in addition to 50 x 40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.
After the sinking of the Royal Navy HOOD by the German battleship Bismarck, the Prince of Wales, together with other warships, participated in the siege of the battleship Bismarck, after which the ship escorted British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the United States for talks with the President of the United States, on which the two presidents signed the famous Atlantic Charter.
By the second half of 1941, in response to Japan's increasingly aggressive offensive in Southeast Asia, Britain, in accordance with the provisions of the Atlantic Charter, sent a number of fleets, including battleships, aircraft carriers, and destroyers, to form the Z Fleet, which went to Southeast Asia and was stationed in Singapore.
Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, they planned a landing in Southeast Asia, and the British Z Fleet stationed in Singapore was ordered to intercept Japan's Southeast Asian operational plan. On December 9, Fleet Z, which had been ordered to intercept the Japanese fleet, was spotted by Japanese carrier-based aircraft, and Japanese aircraft began to attack the fleet, and the two sides engaged in a fierce exchange of fire.
The whole naval battle was not long, and the Prince of Wales was quickly hit by Japanese aircraft using torpedoes because of its weak anti-aircraft firepower, and was hit by six torpedoes in a short period of time, and the Prince of Wales lost the possibility of salvation in a short time. In addition to the Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser Strike Back was also sunk in this battle. The exchange of fire also resulted in the loss of 800 British people, including an admiral, and the losses were quite heavy. The losses of the other side were much smaller, and only 3 Japanese aircraft were shot down.
After this naval battle, the Allies did not have enough sea power to threaten and contain Japan in Southeast Asia for a long time. This also prompted Japan to speed up its invasion of Southeast Asia, which eventually led to the erosion of the Southeast Asian battlefield.