Additionally, all their new electronics, such as radars and fire control systems, started failing in the salty humid air of the tropics as soon as they arrived. The British task force was oblivious to these developments, had no hard intelligence and no air cover. Soon, every air and naval unit in the region was hunting for them and the invasion fleet was withdrawn to Indo-China. Singapore was thoroughly infiltrated with Japanese spies and they knew the moment the ships slipped the harbor. She sank six minutes after the first hit. The Japanese finally caught her by coming in from both sides at once. During the attack, the Repulse dodged 19 torpedoes. To get that, armor protection and watertight integrity were sacrificed. Cruisers built in her era were designed for speed and agility. However, her construction would do her in.
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A veteran of Atlantic surface actions in both wars, she was still a capable fighter. The HMS Repulse was a WW1-era heavy cruiser that was completely re-fitted just before the war. The mission to blast enemy ships out of the water was a dream come true for a battleship skipper and promised to be easy pickings for the Royal Navy. Comprising 28 troop carriers and two aging battleships, it was turning circles somewhere off the coast of Malaya. Their mission was to find and destroy the Japanese invasion fleet. It consisted of the HMS Prince of Wales, the HMS Repulse and four destroyers. British leaders were confident that the task force would deter the Japanese from attacking or make short work of them if they did.Īs the Japanese prepared to attack south on the 8th, Task Force Z, under the command of Admiral Tom Phillips, sortied out of Sembawang Naval Base in northeast Singapore. Their timely arrival was a coincidence, but considerably lessened the impact of events on the 8th. The fleet had arrived on December 2, sent by Winston Churchill in response to Japanese provocations in the region. She was a personal favorite of Churchill’s and considered invulnerable. There, he hosted on board his first council of war with President Franklin Roosevelt. Three months later, she carried Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Atlantic to Newfoundland. During that running fight, she absorbed four hits from German 15 inch rounds – including a direct hit on the bridge – and kept fighting. She entered service in May 1941 and had her baptism of fire one week later when she traded salvos with the Bismark.
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Packing 10 x 14 inch guns, she could also fill the sky with flak from her secondary batteries and put up thousands of rounds of anti-aircraft fire per minute. The HMS Prince of Wales was Britain’s newest, fastest and most heavily armed warship. The Royal Navy was in town, led by the pride of the fleet – the HMS Prince of Wales. Besides, they had an ace up their sleeve. They were convinced that their island city was impregnable and that the Japanese wouldn’t dare attack it.
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Singapore had a worldwide reputation as an island fortress that rivaled the Rock Of Gibraltar. Despite the clear and present danger posed by the Japanese aggression, the people of Singapore didn’t take much notice. The landings and bombings on the 8th kicked off a two month campaign that would end in the surrender of Singapore, the destruction of the city and the largest defeat in British military history. The Japanese Imperial Army was landing in southern Thailand and northern Malaya, while sending bombers to strike the crown jewel of the British empire – Singapore. What most people don’t know is that our staunchest ally, Great Britain, had its own day of infamy three days later.Īs the Pearl Harbor raiders were recovering on board their carriers, an equally calamitous event was unfolding in the western pacific.
The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on that day is known in the history books as the Day of Infamy, a phrase used by President Roosevelt during his address to Congress asking for a Declaration of War. Almost everybody recognizes the date December 7, 1941.