Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Prates
They were though to be out of range, and also, I think they were sunk, like, in the first or second day of the war (against the japanese). WSC in his memoirs says that when they declared war against japan, there was a cabinet meeting, where they discussed the proper use of the pacific naval power - namely the prince of wales and the repulse. So that night churchill went to sleep, and in the early hours of the morning, someone called him and told him that they had been sunk. He narrates this as being the worst shock he ever got during the war.
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Not sure how they could think planes were out of range when JP G3/4M bombers were already attacking Singapore before force Z went out. In fact, the force Z ships actually helped defend Singy when it came under plane attack. If anything, it should've told the Brits when the ships went out they would be even closer to air attack, but the fleet Admiral still thought they would be out of range, but common sense and simple math easily proved otherwise.
The Brit carrier Indomitable ran aground in the Caribbean Sea was supposed to be a part of force Z, but sent back to dry dock for repairs. Another carrier was to take it's place, but since it was slower the Admiral commanding opted to leave it behind. No way the early Brit planes could take on JP Zero's, but as far as I know the only JP air power was the bombers due to range, so they may have had some effect.
The problem was still the ego of those that believed in BB's. The POW's AA guns were also rather poor, not to mention it's air radar was broken during the attack. Obvious, they still didn't understand how well JP tornado planes could be.