Confronting Japan

Repulse, Prince of Wales, Java Sea & Ceylon 1941-1942

By: Mark Kerr, Adam Swann, MJ Pearce

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The Japanese advance towards Southeast Asia from December 1941 was a series of waves of crisis for Allied forces. For both the outnumbered Royal Navy and the United States Navy facing the Japanese advance into Southeast Asia it was an impossible task. For the allies trying to recover from the shock of the attack on Pearl Harbor the sinking of the modern battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse was another military shock, as no capital ship had been sunk by aircraft whilst underway up to that point. The sinking of the capital ships of Force Z opened Malaya and Singapore to Japanese maritime invasion resulting in the surrender of Singapore in February 1942. The Battle of the Java Sea was a final attempt by the Royal Navy, the Royal Dutch Navy, the Royal Australian Navy and the United States Navy, coming together to try and prevent the Japanese from invading and capturing the Dutch East Indies with its valuable resources, particularly oil. The Japanese raid into the Indian Ocean, led by Admiral Nagumo, with five of the six aircraft carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor, was designed to sink and keep British naval assets from attacking newly acquired Japanese resources, such as the oil fields and rubber plantations, that were crucial to the Japanese economy. It also signalled the last successful mission of the Kido Butai whose next voyage would lead to Midway.

World War II Battle Summaries are documents once stamped ‘restricted’ or ‘confidential’ and held in the archive of Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, South West England. They are unique records written up by naval officers during the conflict, and soon after 1945. Events are recorded in minute detail, accompanied by maps and plans drawn up during the period by serving officers. These historical texts have been reorganised into a contemporary format. The first-hand accounts are from worldwide sources and contain reactions, emotions and descriptions, making fascinating reading.

Britannia Naval Histories of World War II – an important source in understanding the critical naval actions of the period.