Just newly commissioned, the Prince of Wales, under the command of Captain John Leach, had been involved in an encounter with the German battleship, the Bismarck, on while patrolling the southwest coast of Iceland. 8 The other ships of the fleet were: the battle cruiser, HMS Repulse and four destroyers, HMS Electra, HMS Express, HMS Vampire and HMS Tenedos. The Prince of Wales was the flagship of the Eastern Fleet (codenamed Force Z), which consisted of six ships and was commandeered by Admiral Tom Phillips.

6 With such heavy armour and overall protection, she gained the reputation of being “unsinkable”. 4 The four anti-aircraft pompoms, 5 each with eight barrels, could fire 800 rounds per minute. Each of her four aeroplanes was armed with three anti-aircraft guns that had 25 barrels mounted in five rows of five, the first of its kind in the world. The Prince of Wales’s anti-aircraft defence was also a distinctive feature. Main battery: 10×14' (35.56 cm) guns firing 1,900-pound (381.83 kg) shells (longer range and more destructive than the largest 15' (38.1 cm) guns previously in use)Īrmaments: 3×25-barrel 20 mm pompoms 1×20-barrel pompom 4×8-barrel 40 mm quickfirers 16×5.25' secondary armament guns 4×4.7' anti-aircraft guns that could discharge 60,000 shells per minute 3 The Prince of Wales was the flagship for the Eastern Fleet, which included the HMS Repulse. 1 The ship was also nicknamed “HMS Unsinkable” because she was dressed with the most advanced protective armour of the time. Completed in April 1941, the HMS Prince of Wales was sunk off the coast of Kuantan, Malaya, on 10 December 1941 by the Japanese.

Anti air force battle of warships