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Thomas Phillips (Naval officer)
Encyclopedia
Admiral
Sir Thomas "Tom" Spencer Vaughan Phillips GBE
, KCB
, DSO
(19 February 1888 – 10 December 1941) was a World War II
admiral in the Royal Navy
. He was nicknamed "Tom Thumb" due to his short stature. He is best known for his command of Force Z
during the Japanese invasion of Malaya
, where he went down with his flagship
, the battleship
HMS Prince of Wales
. Phillips was the highest ranking Allied officer killed in battle during the war .
Thomas Vaughan Wynn Phillips, Royal Artillery
. His mother, Louisa Mary Adeline de Horsey Phillips, was daughter of Admiral Sir Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey
. Phillips was married to Lady Phillips, of Bude, Cornwall
.
Phillips was 5'4" tall, smaller even than Lord Nelson. At the time of his death at the age of 53, he was one of the youngest Admirals in the Royal Navy and one of the youngest commanders in chief.
in 1903 as a sea cadet. He became a midshipman
in 1904 and trained aboard HMS Britannia
. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant
on 9 April 1908, and to lieutenant
on 20 July 1909.
In the First World War, Phillips served on destroyer
s in the Mediterranean and in the Far East. He was promoted to lieutenant commander
on 15 July 1916.
Phillips attended the Royal Navy Staff College
from June 1919 to May 1920. He was a military adviser on the Permanent Advisory Commission for Naval, Military, and Air Questions Board at the League of Nations
from 1920 to 1922.
Phillips was promoted to Commander
in June 1921, and to Captain
in June 1927. On 4 September 1928, he assumed command of the destroyer HMS Campbell, a position he held until August 1929.
Between 24 April 1930 and September 1932, Phillips served as assistant director of the Plan Division in the Admiralty
. He then served for three years in the Far East as the flag captain
of a cruiser. In 1935, he returned to the Admiralty to head the Plan Division.
In 1938, Phillips was promoted to Commodore
, commanding the destroyer flotillas of the Home Fleet.
On 10 January 1939, Phillips became a Rear Admiral
while also acting as a naval adviser to King George VI
. From 1 June 1939 until 21 October 1941, Phillips was Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and then Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.
Phillips gained the confidence of Winston Churchill
, who had him appointed Acting Vice Admiral
in February 1940.
In July 1941, Phillips helped to undermine the credibility of the first Inquiry into the sinking of HMS Hood
. When passed the file containing the findings of the first Board of Inquiry, Phillips comments in the minutes:
It was this attention to detail and refusal to accept anything less than the complete scrutiny of a wartime disaster which won Churchill's respect and confidence. His comment that "It may be that in years to come ... our successors may wish to look back at the records of the loss of the HOOD" demonstrated remarkable foresight on his part.
As a result, a second inquiry was convened (under Rear-Admiral Sir Harold Walker), reporting in September 1941. This investigation was "much more thorough than was the first, taking evidence from a total of 176 eyewitnesses to the disaster."
Phillips was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the China Station
in late 1941, an action which raised some controversy in the higher echelons of the Royal Navy, where he was considered a "desk admiral". He was appointed Acting Admiral
, and he took to sea on 25 October 1941 en route to his headquarters in Singapore
. He travelled with a naval detachment then designated as Force G, consisting of his flagship, the new battleship
HMS Prince of Wales
, together with the veteran World War I
era battlecruiser
HMS Repulse
, and the four destroyer
s HMS Electra
, HMS Express
, HMS Encounter
, and HMS Jupiter
.
The deployment of the ships was a decision made by Winston Churchill
. He was intensely warned against it by the First Sea Lord
, Sir Dudley Pound
, and later by his friend, Field Marshal
Jan Smuts
, PM of South Africa, who prophesied the fate of the capital ships, when he addressed the crew of HMS Repulse just before she left Durban for Singapore.
It was intended that the new aircraft carrier
HMS Indomitable
would also travel out to Singapore, but she ran aground on her maiden voyage in the West Indies, and was not ready to sail from England with the other ships. Phillips and the vessels arrived in Singapore on 2 December 1941, where they were re-designated Force Z
.
Without a formal declaration of war
, the Japan
ese landed in Malaya
on 8 December 1941, on the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor
(on the other side of the International Date Line
). The Japanese, by striking at three points almost simultaneously, hoped to attract all available land-based fighters of the Royal Air Force and leave Phillips without air cover when they were ready for him; and he steamed right into this trap.
The earlier grounding of the carrier HMS Indomitable left the capital ships without naval air cover. Phillips had long held the opinion that aircraft were no threat to surface ships, and so he took Force Z, consisting of HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Repulse, and four destroyers (HMS Electra, HMS Express, HMAS Vampire
and HMS Tenedos
) to intercept the Japanese without air cover. That decision has been discussed ever since. The Japanese Air Force was overwhelming; in fact neither the Royal Air Force nor Royal Navy had one single modern fighter aircraft east of Suez which could match the Japanese.
Task Force Z sailed from Singapore at 1735 on 8 December. Admiral Phillips left his chief of staff, Rear Admiral Arthur Palliser
, at the command post ashore. Phillips used HMS Prince of Wales as his flagship.
Phillips hoped to intercept any further Japanese convoys to prevent the landing of more troops. He signaled his fleet upon departure, "We are out looking for trouble, and no doubt we shall find it. We hope to surprise the enemy transports tomorrow and we expect to meet the Japanese battleship Kongo
."
Shortly after midnight, Phillips' chief of staff radioed that the Royal Air Force was so pressed by giving ground support to land operations that the Admiral could expect no air cover off Singora. Japanese heavy bombers were already in southern Indochina
, and General Douglas MacArthur
had been asked to send General Lewis H. Brereton
's B-17 Flying Fortresses to attack their bases. By this time, the Japanese invasion force was already well established in the peninsular section of Thailand
, which had already surrendered. At Kota Bharu
within British Malaya, there was bitter fighting in a series of rear guard actions fought desperately by British and native troops. But by the time the British warships arrived, their opportunity had passed; the vulnerable transports were already returning to base. Admiral Phillips did not realize this.
Task Force Z steamed north, leaving the Anambas Islands to port. At 0629 on 9 December, Phllips received word that destroyer Vampire had sighted an enemy plane.
Phillips was entering the Japanese air radius without air cover, but he still hoped to surprise a Japanese convoy at Singora. The task force sailed on to a position 150 miles south of Indochina and 250 miles east of the Malay Peninsula.
At 1415, the Japanese submarine I-65 under command of Lieutenant Commander Harada Hakue reported sighting "two enemy battleships, course 240, speed 14 knots." I-65 surfaced and started a tail chase, but a sudden squall cloaked the British ships. While Harada continued the chase, a Kawanishi E7K
"Alf" from the Japanese cruiser Kinu
buzzed the I-65, mistaking it for an enemy submarine. Harada ordered a crash-dive. When the I-65 surfaced 30 minutes later, the contact with Phillips' force had been lost.
At 1830, when the weather cleared and three Japanese naval reconnaissance planes were sighted from the flagship, Phillips realized that his position was precarious and untenable. Reluctantly, he reversed course to return to Singapore at high speed.
As Phillips steamed south, dispatches from Singapore portrayed impending doom on the shores of Malaya. The British Army was falling back fast. Shortly before midnight on 9 December, word came through of an enemy landing at Kuantan
, halfway between Kota Bharu
and Singapore
. Phillips, in view of the imminent danger to Singapore, decided to strike at Kuantan.
At dawn on 10 December, an unidentified plane was sighted about 60 miles off Kuantan. Phillips continued on his course while launching a reconnaissance plane from Prince of Wales. The reconnaissance plane found no evidence of the enemy. The destroyer Express steamed ahead to reconnoiter the harbor of Kuantan, found it deserted, and closed with the flagship again at 0835. Phillips had not yet realized that his intelligence from Singapore was faulty, and he continued to search for a nonexistent surface enemy, first to the northward and then to the eastward.
Phillips decided not to ask the Royal Air Force
for an air screen because he considered it more important to maintain radio silence
.
At about 1020 December 10 an enemy plane was sighted shadowing Prince of Wales. The crews immediately assumed anti-aircraft stations.
At 11, by which time the sea was brilliantly sunlit, nine Japanese planes were sighted at an altitude 10,000 feet. They flew in single file along the length of the 32,000-ton battle cruiser Repulse. A bomb hit the catapult deck and exploded in the hangar, setting a fire below decks.
At 11:15, Admiral Phillips radioed the RAF for help.
At 11:40, the Prince of Wales was attacked by torpedo bombers. She was hit astern, knocking out her propellers and rudder.
Several waves of torpedo bombers swooped in on the Repulse. The Prince of Wales signaled, asking whether she had been hit. The Repulse replied, "We have avoided 19 torpedoes till now, thanks to Providence."
British air protection was still not on hand at 12:20 p.m. CBS
reporter Cecil Brown
, who was on board the Repulse, described the battle:
Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by Japanese air attack
on 10 December 1941 by 86 Japanese bombers and torpedo bombers from the 22nd Air Flotilla based at Saigon. The destroyers saved 2,081 of the 2,921 crew on the stricken capital ships, but 326 sailors were lost. Prince of Wales Captain John Leach and Philips went down with their ship.
As the two battleships sank, the RAF planes finally appeared.
Arthur Percival ordered a retreat from Malaya to Singapore on 27 January 1942. On 15 February, Percival surrendered
his remaining army of 85,000 British, Indian, and Australian troops to the Japanese, the largest capitulation in British history.
Regarding Phillips' decision to proceed without air cover, Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison
wrote:
Morison wrote, that as a result of the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse,
U.S. Admiral Thomas Hart
, Phillips' American counterpart, was critical of the failure of the Royal Air Force
to provide air support to Force Z. Hart told Time Magazine in 1942:
in Plymouth, England.
|-
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Sir Thomas "Tom" Spencer Vaughan Phillips GBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
(19 February 1888 – 10 December 1941) was a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
admiral in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. He was nicknamed "Tom Thumb" due to his short stature. He is best known for his command of Force Z
Force Z
Force Z was an Allied naval detachment consisting of the battleship , the battlecruiser , and four destroyers, , , , and . Initially an aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was included, but she ran aground in the Caribbean, and was not replaced by HMS Hermes which was regarded as too slow.A renamed...
during the Japanese invasion of Malaya
Battle of Malaya
The Malayan Campaign was a campaign fought by Allied and Japanese forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 31 January 1942 during the Second World War. The campaign was dominated by land battles between British Commonwealth army units, and the Imperial Japanese Army...
, where he went down with his flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
, the battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
HMS Prince of Wales
HMS Prince of Wales (1939)
HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy, built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England...
. Phillips was the highest ranking Allied officer killed in battle during the war .
Early and private life
Phillips was the son of ColonelColonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Thomas Vaughan Wynn Phillips, Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
. His mother, Louisa Mary Adeline de Horsey Phillips, was daughter of Admiral Sir Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey
Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey
Admiral Sir Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey KCB was a Royal Navy officer who served in the nineteenth century.-Early life:...
. Phillips was married to Lady Phillips, of Bude, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
.
Phillips was 5'4" tall, smaller even than Lord Nelson. At the time of his death at the age of 53, he was one of the youngest Admirals in the Royal Navy and one of the youngest commanders in chief.
Navy career
Phillips joined the Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in 1903 as a sea cadet. He became a midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
in 1904 and trained aboard HMS Britannia
HMS Britannia (1904)
The sixth HMS Britannia of the British Royal Navy was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the King Edward VII class. She was named after Britannia, the Latin name of Great Britain under Roman rule.-Technical characteristics:...
. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
on 9 April 1908, and to lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
on 20 July 1909.
In the First World War, Phillips served on destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s in the Mediterranean and in the Far East. He was promoted to lieutenant commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
on 15 July 1916.
Phillips attended the Royal Navy Staff College
Old Royal Naval College
The Old Royal Naval College is the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London, described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as being of “outstanding universal value” and reckoned to be the “finest and most...
from June 1919 to May 1920. He was a military adviser on the Permanent Advisory Commission for Naval, Military, and Air Questions Board at the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
from 1920 to 1922.
Phillips was promoted to Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
in June 1921, and to Captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
in June 1927. On 4 September 1928, he assumed command of the destroyer HMS Campbell, a position he held until August 1929.
Between 24 April 1930 and September 1932, Phillips served as assistant director of the Plan Division in the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
. He then served for three years in the Far East as the flag captain
Flag captain
In the Royal Navy, a flag captain was the captain of an admiral's flagship. During the 18th and 19th centuries, this ship might also have a "captain of the fleet", who would be ranked between the admiral and the "flag captain" as the ship's "First Captain", with the "flag captain" as the ship's...
of a cruiser. In 1935, he returned to the Admiralty to head the Plan Division.
In 1938, Phillips was promoted to Commodore
Commodore (Royal Navy)
Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...
, commanding the destroyer flotillas of the Home Fleet.
On 10 January 1939, Phillips became a Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
while also acting as a naval adviser to King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
. From 1 June 1939 until 21 October 1941, Phillips was Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and then Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.
Phillips gained the confidence of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, who had him appointed Acting Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
in February 1940.
In July 1941, Phillips helped to undermine the credibility of the first Inquiry into the sinking of HMS Hood
HMS Hood (51)
HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. One of four s ordered in mid-1916, her design—although drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction—still had serious limitations. For this reason she was the only ship of her class to be...
. When passed the file containing the findings of the first Board of Inquiry, Phillips comments in the minutes:
- "the report contains the findings of the Court, but not the evidence on which those findings are based...unfortunately it transpired that no shorthand notes of the evidence were taken. At my request, however, the Court have produced a summary of evidence ... This summary is, I understand, compiled from short notes kept by members of the Court at the time. This matter of the blowing up of the "HOOD" is one of the first importance to the Navy. It will be discussed for years to come and important decisions as to the design of ships must rest on the conclusions that are arrived at. This being so, it seems to me that the most searching inquiry is necessary in order to obtain every scrap of evidence we can as to the cause of the explosion. I regret to state that in my opinion the report as rendered by this Board does not give me confidence that such a searching inquiry has been carried out; in particular the failure to record the evidence of the various witnesses of the event strikes me as quite extraordinary. It may be that in years to come ... our successors may wish to look back at the records of the loss of the HOOD, and it is in the words of those who actually saw the event rather than in the conclusions drawn by any Committee that they would be likely to find matter of real value. In my view the matter is of such importance that a further Board of Inquiry should be held; that all who witnessed the blowing up should be interrogated. I also note that of the three survivors from the HOOD only one was interviewed. This strikes me as quite remarkable. I propose, therefore, that a further Board of Inquiry should be assembled as soon as possible and that the necessary witnesses should be made available. At this enquiry every individual in every ship present who saw the HOOD at or about the time of the blowing up should be fully interrogated."
It was this attention to detail and refusal to accept anything less than the complete scrutiny of a wartime disaster which won Churchill's respect and confidence. His comment that "It may be that in years to come ... our successors may wish to look back at the records of the loss of the HOOD" demonstrated remarkable foresight on his part.
As a result, a second inquiry was convened (under Rear-Admiral Sir Harold Walker), reporting in September 1941. This investigation was "much more thorough than was the first, taking evidence from a total of 176 eyewitnesses to the disaster."
Force Z
Phillips was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the China Station
China Station
The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....
in late 1941, an action which raised some controversy in the higher echelons of the Royal Navy, where he was considered a "desk admiral". He was appointed Acting Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
, and he took to sea on 25 October 1941 en route to his headquarters in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. He travelled with a naval detachment then designated as Force G, consisting of his flagship, the new battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
HMS Prince of Wales
HMS Prince of Wales (1939)
HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy, built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England...
, together with the veteran World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
era battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
HMS Repulse
HMS Repulse (1916)
HMS Repulse was a Renown-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
, and the four destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s HMS Electra
HMS Electra (H27)
HMS Electra was a Royal Navy 'E' class destroyer . She was ordered on 1 November 1932 as part of the 1931 Naval Build Programme; launched on 15 February 1934 at the Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard at Hebburn, Tyneside...
, HMS Express
HMS Express (H61)
HMS Express was an E class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was one of 18 'E' and 'F' class destroyers to be built.She was launched on 29 May 1934. She had an overall length of 100 m, displacement of 1,375 tons, and a maximum speed of 35.5 knots...
, HMS Encounter
HMS Encounter (H10)
HMS Encounter was an E-class destroyer of the Royal Navy before and during World War II, serving in home waters and in the Norwegian Campaign, before joining the Mediterranean Fleet and serving on the Malta Convoys, and then in the Eastern Fleet until sunk by Japanese warships in the Second Battle...
, and HMS Jupiter
HMS Jupiter (F85)
HMS Jupiter was a J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by Yarrow & Company at Scotstoun in Glasgow on 28 September 1937, launched on 27 October 1938 and commissioned on 25 June 1939.-Operations:...
.
The deployment of the ships was a decision made by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. He was intensely warned against it by the First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...
, Sir Dudley Pound
Dudley Pound
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound GCB OM GCVO RN was a British naval officer who served as First Sea Lord, professional head of the Royal Navy from June 1939 to September 1943.- Early life :...
, and later by his friend, Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Jan Smuts
Jan Smuts
Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
, PM of South Africa, who prophesied the fate of the capital ships, when he addressed the crew of HMS Repulse just before she left Durban for Singapore.
It was intended that the new aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
HMS Indomitable
HMS Indomitable (R92)
HMS Indomitable was a modified Illustrious class aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy. The Illustrious class came about due to the 1937 Naval Programme...
would also travel out to Singapore, but she ran aground on her maiden voyage in the West Indies, and was not ready to sail from England with the other ships. Phillips and the vessels arrived in Singapore on 2 December 1941, where they were re-designated Force Z
Force Z
Force Z was an Allied naval detachment consisting of the battleship , the battlecruiser , and four destroyers, , , , and . Initially an aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was included, but she ran aground in the Caribbean, and was not replaced by HMS Hermes which was regarded as too slow.A renamed...
.
Without a formal declaration of war
Declaration of war
A declaration of war is a formal act by which one nation goes to war against another. The declaration is a performative speech act by an authorized party of a national government in order to create a state of war between two or more states.The legality of who is competent to declare war varies...
, the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese landed in Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
on 8 December 1941, on the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
(on the other side of the International Date Line
International Date Line
The International Date Line is a generally north-south imaginary line on the surface of the Earth, passing through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that designates the place where each calendar day begins...
). The Japanese, by striking at three points almost simultaneously, hoped to attract all available land-based fighters of the Royal Air Force and leave Phillips without air cover when they were ready for him; and he steamed right into this trap.
The earlier grounding of the carrier HMS Indomitable left the capital ships without naval air cover. Phillips had long held the opinion that aircraft were no threat to surface ships, and so he took Force Z, consisting of HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Repulse, and four destroyers (HMS Electra, HMS Express, HMAS Vampire
HMAS Vampire (D68)
HMAS Vampire was a V class destroyer of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy . Launched in 1917 as HMS Wallace, the ship was renamed and commissioned into the RN later that year. Vampire was loaned to the RAN in 1933, and operated as a depot tender until just before World War II...
and HMS Tenedos
HMS Tenedos (H04)
HMS Tenedos was an Admiralty 'S' class destroyer. Commissioned in 1919 she served throughout the period between the two World Wars.Laid down on the 6 December 1917, she was constructed by Hawthorn Leslie of Tyne, and was completed in 1918....
) to intercept the Japanese without air cover. That decision has been discussed ever since. The Japanese Air Force was overwhelming; in fact neither the Royal Air Force nor Royal Navy had one single modern fighter aircraft east of Suez which could match the Japanese.
Task Force Z sailed from Singapore at 1735 on 8 December. Admiral Phillips left his chief of staff, Rear Admiral Arthur Palliser
Arthur Palliser
Admiral Sir Arthur Francis Eric Palliser KCB, DSC was a prominent British naval officer during World War II.-Early life and career:Palliser was born in Richmond, Surrey, the son of Arthur Palliser and Hester Brenda Boord...
, at the command post ashore. Phillips used HMS Prince of Wales as his flagship.
Phillips hoped to intercept any further Japanese convoys to prevent the landing of more troops. He signaled his fleet upon departure, "We are out looking for trouble, and no doubt we shall find it. We hope to surprise the enemy transports tomorrow and we expect to meet the Japanese battleship Kongo
Japanese battleship Kongo
Kongō was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Her designer was the British naval engineer George Thurston, and she was laid down in 1911 at...
."
Shortly after midnight, Phillips' chief of staff radioed that the Royal Air Force was so pressed by giving ground support to land operations that the Admiral could expect no air cover off Singora. Japanese heavy bombers were already in southern Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
, and General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
had been asked to send General Lewis H. Brereton
Lewis H. Brereton
Lewis Hyde Brereton was a military aviation pioneer and lieutenant general in the United States Air Force...
's B-17 Flying Fortresses to attack their bases. By this time, the Japanese invasion force was already well established in the peninsular section of Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, which had already surrendered. At Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu is a city in Malaysia, is the state capital and Royal City of Kelantan. It is also the name of the territory in which Kota Bharu City is situated. The name means 'new city' or 'new castle/fort' in Malay. Kota Bharu is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, and lies...
within British Malaya, there was bitter fighting in a series of rear guard actions fought desperately by British and native troops. But by the time the British warships arrived, their opportunity had passed; the vulnerable transports were already returning to base. Admiral Phillips did not realize this.
Task Force Z steamed north, leaving the Anambas Islands to port. At 0629 on 9 December, Phllips received word that destroyer Vampire had sighted an enemy plane.
Phillips was entering the Japanese air radius without air cover, but he still hoped to surprise a Japanese convoy at Singora. The task force sailed on to a position 150 miles south of Indochina and 250 miles east of the Malay Peninsula.
At 1415, the Japanese submarine I-65 under command of Lieutenant Commander Harada Hakue reported sighting "two enemy battleships, course 240, speed 14 knots." I-65 surfaced and started a tail chase, but a sudden squall cloaked the British ships. While Harada continued the chase, a Kawanishi E7K
Kawanishi E7K
-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, Ph.D., Réne J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1970 . ISBN 0-370-30251-6....
"Alf" from the Japanese cruiser Kinu
Japanese cruiser Kinu
was a Nagara-class light cruiser in the Imperial Japanese Navy, named after the Kinu River in Tochigi prefecture Japan.-Background:Kinu was the fifth vessel completed in the Nagara-class of light cruisers, and like other vessels of her class, she was intended for use as the flagship of a destroyer...
buzzed the I-65, mistaking it for an enemy submarine. Harada ordered a crash-dive. When the I-65 surfaced 30 minutes later, the contact with Phillips' force had been lost.
At 1830, when the weather cleared and three Japanese naval reconnaissance planes were sighted from the flagship, Phillips realized that his position was precarious and untenable. Reluctantly, he reversed course to return to Singapore at high speed.
As Phillips steamed south, dispatches from Singapore portrayed impending doom on the shores of Malaya. The British Army was falling back fast. Shortly before midnight on 9 December, word came through of an enemy landing at Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
, halfway between Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu is a city in Malaysia, is the state capital and Royal City of Kelantan. It is also the name of the territory in which Kota Bharu City is situated. The name means 'new city' or 'new castle/fort' in Malay. Kota Bharu is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, and lies...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Phillips, in view of the imminent danger to Singapore, decided to strike at Kuantan.
At dawn on 10 December, an unidentified plane was sighted about 60 miles off Kuantan. Phillips continued on his course while launching a reconnaissance plane from Prince of Wales. The reconnaissance plane found no evidence of the enemy. The destroyer Express steamed ahead to reconnoiter the harbor of Kuantan, found it deserted, and closed with the flagship again at 0835. Phillips had not yet realized that his intelligence from Singapore was faulty, and he continued to search for a nonexistent surface enemy, first to the northward and then to the eastward.
Phillips decided not to ask the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
for an air screen because he considered it more important to maintain radio silence
Radio silence
In telecommunications, radio silence is a status in which all fixed or mobile radio stations in an area are asked to stop transmitting for safety or security reasons.The term "radio station" may include anything capable of transmitting a radio signal....
.
At about 1020 December 10 an enemy plane was sighted shadowing Prince of Wales. The crews immediately assumed anti-aircraft stations.
At 11, by which time the sea was brilliantly sunlit, nine Japanese planes were sighted at an altitude 10,000 feet. They flew in single file along the length of the 32,000-ton battle cruiser Repulse. A bomb hit the catapult deck and exploded in the hangar, setting a fire below decks.
At 11:15, Admiral Phillips radioed the RAF for help.
At 11:40, the Prince of Wales was attacked by torpedo bombers. She was hit astern, knocking out her propellers and rudder.
Several waves of torpedo bombers swooped in on the Repulse. The Prince of Wales signaled, asking whether she had been hit. The Repulse replied, "We have avoided 19 torpedoes till now, thanks to Providence."
British air protection was still not on hand at 12:20 p.m. CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
reporter Cecil Brown
Cecil Brown
Cecil Brown was the author of the book Suez to Singapore, which describes the sinking of HMS Repulse in December 1941. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6410 Hollywood Blvd. for his contribution to radio.. He was a war correspondent who worked closely with Edward R...
, who was on board the Repulse, described the battle:
"Stand by for barrage," comes over the ship's communication system. One plane is circling around. It's now at 300 or 400 yards, approaching us from the port side. It's coming closer headon, and I see a torpedo drop. A watcher shouts, "Stand by for torpedo," and the tin fish is streaking directly for us.
Some one says: "This one's got us."
The torpedo struck the side on which I was standing, about twenty yards astern of my position. It felt like the ship had crashed into a well-rooted dock. It threw me four feet across the deck, but I did not fall, and I did not feel any explosion—just this very great jar.
Almost immediately, it seemed, we began to list, and less than a minute later there was another jar of the same kind and same force, except that it was almost precisely the same spot on the starboard.
After the first torpedo, the communications system coolly announced: 'Blow up your lifebelts.' I was in this process when the second torpedo struck, and the settling ship and crazy angle were so apparent that I didn't continue blowing the belt.
The communications system announced: "Prepare to abandon ship. May God be with you."
Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by Japanese air attack
Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse
The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a Second World War naval engagement that took place north of Singapore, off the east coast of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang where the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and...
on 10 December 1941 by 86 Japanese bombers and torpedo bombers from the 22nd Air Flotilla based at Saigon. The destroyers saved 2,081 of the 2,921 crew on the stricken capital ships, but 326 sailors were lost. Prince of Wales Captain John Leach and Philips went down with their ship.
As the two battleships sank, the RAF planes finally appeared.
Aftermath of the Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse
After the destruction of the British fleet, the Japanese continued to advance in Malaya. British Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Arthur Percival ordered a retreat from Malaya to Singapore on 27 January 1942. On 15 February, Percival surrendered
Battle of Singapore
The Battle of Singapore was fought in the South-East Asian theatre of the Second World War when the Empire of Japan invaded the Allied stronghold of Singapore. Singapore was the major British military base in Southeast Asia and nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the East"...
his remaining army of 85,000 British, Indian, and Australian troops to the Japanese, the largest capitulation in British history.
Regarding Phillips' decision to proceed without air cover, Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison
Samuel Eliot Morison
Samuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years...
wrote:
Those who make the decisions in war are constantly weighing certain risks against possible gains. At the outset of hostilities [U.S.] Admiral HartThomas C. HartThomas Charles Hart was an admiral of the United States Navy, whose service extended from the Spanish-American War through World War II. Following his retirement from the Navy, he served briefly as a United States Senator from Connecticut.-Life and career:Hart was born in Genesee County, Michigan...
thought of sending his small striking force north of Luzon to challenge Japanese communications, but decided that the risk to his ships outweighed the possible gain because the enemy had won control of the air. Admiral Phillips had precisely the same problem in Malaya. Should he steam into the Gulf of Siam and expose his ships to air attack from Indochina in the hope of breaking enemy communications with their landing force? He decided to take the chance. With the Royal Air Force and the British Army fighting for their lives, the Royal Navy could not be true to its tradition by remaining idly at anchor.
Morison wrote, that as a result of the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse,
...[T]he half-truth "Capital ships cannot withstand land-based air power" became elevated to the dignity of a tactical principle that none dared take the risk to disprove. And the Japanese had disposed of the only Allied battleship and battle cruiser in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii. The Allies lost face throughout the Orient and began to lose confidence in themselves.
U.S. Admiral Thomas Hart
Thomas C. Hart
Thomas Charles Hart was an admiral of the United States Navy, whose service extended from the Spanish-American War through World War II. Following his retirement from the Navy, he served briefly as a United States Senator from Connecticut.-Life and career:Hart was born in Genesee County, Michigan...
, Phillips' American counterpart, was critical of the failure of the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
to provide air support to Force Z. Hart told Time Magazine in 1942:
The only thing that would have saved Singapore would have been the success of Admiral Sir Tom Phillips' attempt to place his heavy ships where they could sink the Japanese transports at sea. We have never heard why the R.A.F. fighters, which were half an hour away, gave Admiral Phillips no help whatever.
Memorial
Phillips' name is inscribed at the Plymouth Naval MemorialPlymouth Naval Memorial
The Plymouth Naval Memorial is a war memorial in Devon, England to British and Commonwealth sailors who were lost in the World Wars.-History:...
in Plymouth, England.
External links
- Tom Phillips from the "Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives"
- "Order of Battle/Force Z/10 December 1941 (en.)
- "St Andrew's Cathedral" in Singapore (en.)
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