The course of destruction of the British Z fleet

194 1 The imperial empire has been unrecognizable, but for most of that year, the lion city in Singapore, the far east dependency of the empire, remained quiet in the Straits of Malacca. The wide streets planted with palm trees on both sides of the city, like its magnificent government buildings, are full of elegant and quiet imperial sentiment, but the empire has no spare capacity to take care of this territory.

In the second half of the year, the Germans turned to the eastern front to attack the Soviet Union, and the pressure on the British Empire gradually decreased. At the same time, the intention of Japanese imperial chariots to go south to the Pacific Ocean became increasingly obvious. 194 1 At the meeting to sign the Atlantic Charter in August, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to undertake more obligations in the Far East, and promised US President Roosevelt that he would send a powerful, fast and advanced task force of battleships and aircraft carriers to Singapore to smash the provocative activities of the Japanese navy. Subsequently, despite the opposition of the Admiralty, Churchill sent the invincible aircraft carrier, the battleship Prince of Wales, the counterattack against battle cruiser and the escort ship to the Far East. The main purpose of this fleet is to undertake the strategic deterrent task and warn Japan not to act rashly in the South Pacific. 165438+1At the beginning of October, the invincible aircraft carrier ran aground in the West Indies and could not join the New Far East Fleet. 19411On February 4th, a new Far East Fleet (also known as Z Fleet) consisting of the Prince of Wales, the Strike Back and four destroyers arrived in Singapore. The commander of the fleet was Lieutenant General Phillips.

The actual target of the Japanese army is dutch east indies (now central Indonesia) which is rich in oil. The attack on Pearl Harbor is only a strategic support task to prevent the American fleet from interfering. In order to obtain the Dutch East India, it must pass through the British Malay Peninsula.

194 1 year 65438+February 8, sunny

In the early morning of Singapore time1:45,500, more than 5000 Japanese troops invaded South Fleet Road. Under the cover of crossfire of four destroyers, they first landed in Kota Baru, the middle road of Malay Peninsula. At this time, 4500 nautical miles north of Pearl Harbor, the surprise fleet is preparing to take off. Two hours later, the Japanese landing forces repelled the defenders of Kota Baru and took control of the first beachhead position of the new Japanese Empire. Pearl Harbor's surprise attack fleet also flew over the US Pacific Fleet. Later, the invading fleet landed successfully in Songkhla and Pattani. After the landing troops landed, they quickly seized the nearby airport. After dawn, the Japanese Air Force, which took off from Saigon, carried out several air raids on the airport in Malay Peninsula and Singapore Air Force Base. The RAF plane is missing.

At noon, Lieutenant General Philip stamped his feet in the sweltering Prince of Wales war room. He realized that the strategic deterrent task of Z Fleet no longer existed. Although Lieutenant General Phillips, who is known as "Little Napoleon", firmly believes that "bombers are no match for battleships", the Z Fleet can't wait for enemy air strikes in the port. He outlined his battle plan: set sail at dusk and destroy Songkhla's invasion of the beachhead.

At dusk, the sun has slowly slipped from behind the imperial city of Singapore, and the Zhangyi Naval Base has finally calmed down after a busy day. 17: 30, the Prince of Wales slowly put away the anchor chain and quietly left the Johor Strait with counterattack under the escort of four destroyers, namely Eli Karath, Fast, Tenedos and Vampire. On the bridge, Lieutenant General Phillips showed a little anxiety about the task to be performed for the first time, because he was not sure where the Z Fleet was going. But this uneasiness did not spread to the sailors. The sailors cheered loudly when tennant, the captain of the "Counter-Strike", loudly announced that "we are going out to ask for trouble".

194 1 year 65438+February 9th, cloudy with light rain.

At 3 pm, the Z Fleet was discovered by the Japanese submarine I -65. Then, almost like the Royal Navy tracked the German ship Bismarck six months ago, it began a large-scale sea and air search, only this time the Prince of Wales changed from a hunter to a prey. Kondo fleet consisting of seven cruisers and two battleships quickly went south to support, but in fact, this fleet could not intercept the Z fleet in time. The task of intercepting the Z fleet inadvertently fell on the aviation in Saigon.

194 1 year1February 10 day, sunny.

In the early morning, Z Fleet received unconfirmed information: Japanese troops landed in Guan Dan and the fleet turned to Guan Dan. At the same time, the Japanese submarine I-58 also found the Z-shaped formation and fired five torpedoes during the counterattack, but none of them hit. Then the Z Fleet gave up the pursuit of submarines and went to Guan Dan.

In the morning, the weather cleared up, the clouds cleared away, and the luck of the Z Fleet disappeared like the clouds in the sky. The 22nd Air Force, which was busy in the middle of the night, didn't rest. At 6: 25, just as the sun rose above the horizon, nine reconnaissance planes at Saigon base immediately took off. Subsequently, from 7: 55 to 9: 30, 59 Type 96 land raiders (25 carrying 9 1 torpedoes and 24 carrying 500 kg bombs) and 26 Type 1 land raiders (all carrying torpedoes) took off to search the Z fleet.

As early as 10, the Z Fleet had already approached Guan Dan. After careful reconnaissance of Guan Dan Harbor, the destroyer Fast came to the conclusion that "everything is as calm as a rainy Sunday afternoon". In fact, the Japanese army did not land in Guan Dan. The information came from a buffalo stepping on a mine on the beach.

Subsequently, Lieutenant General Phillips ordered the fleet to continue to search the Japanese army northward, which was a rash decision. 1 1: 45, a Japanese plane finally found the z fleet. Later, planes from Japanese squadrons flew to the Z Fleet. The bomber led by Qi Chun, the captain of the plane, jumped on the counterattack first.

"Nine Japanese planes look very clear in the bright sunshine. They lined up and rushed at us, and our anti-aircraft guns immediately returned fire. Just as the first planes were about to leave, a bomb landed on the sea near the counterattack, and the rising water column made me soaked through. At the same time, another bomb penetrated the ejection deck of the carrier aircraft and exploded in the hangar below the deck. "

Then the torpedo machine entered the battlefield. "They are like a pack of wolves around two big bears. They only hover in the distant air, and they are not in a hurry to come, but they always choose the most difficult angle when they come. A torpedo plane swooped down straight at us and flew only 200 yards above the water. It dropped a torpedo 500 feet away from our ship and flew sideways, so all its flanks were exposed under our guns. Before the plane could fly away, it plunged into the sea in an elegant manner. Except for the 14 inch main gun, all the guns on the ship are spewing fire, the sound of guns is deafening, the smell of smokeless gunpowder is suffocating, the explosion of bombs can tear the eardrum, and the water column stirred up on the sea surface is splashed on people with shame. An officer nearby shouted, Look, the torpedo is coming!

In case of emergency, tennant, the captain of the anti-terrorism elite, steered the ship personally, and the ship dodged flexibly, and has evaded more than 10 torpedoes. At this critical juncture, he had to break the radio silence and send the bad news of the attack on the Z fleet back to the Singapore base.

Another torpedo attack ended the luck of counterattack. "My feeling at that time was that this warship was on the rocks. I was shocked, jumped up and jumped out of four feet, but I didn't fall or feel the torpedo explode. I'm just shocked. Almost at the same time, I felt the boat lean. Less than a minute later, I felt another vibration of the same nature and intensity, but this time it came from the left side of the stern. After hitting two torpedoes, the counterattack began to sink sharply and the hull tilted rapidly. The destruction of the counterattack seems inevitable. Captain tennant announced through the system: "Prepare to abandon the ship! God bless you! "The out-of-control counterattack then hit the 13 torpedo and sank at 14: 03.

"The tactics used in the bombing of the Prince of Wales are almost identical to those used in the sinking counterattack. The difference is that when bombing the Prince of Wales, the Japanese army used torpedo bombers from the beginning without bombing at high altitude first. In the first torpedo attack, a torpedo hit the stern. "

The hull of the Prince of Wales shook violently, and an exploded torpedo broke a propeller shaft, and seawater poured into the cabin. A few minutes later, six Japanese torpedoes approached the Prince of Wales from different directions, and then the Japanese bombers flew over with huge bombs. With the roar of bombs, the back deck of the Prince of Wales exploded again, and black smoke rushed to the sea horribly. Gradually, the sloping back deck is only one meter away from the sea surface, and heavy oil flows out to the sea surface.

Lieutenant General Phillips and Captain Ritchie of the Prince of Wales have been directing the operations on the bridge. Looking at the wolves in the air, I don't know if Lieutenant General Phillips is thinking, if the Invincible aircraft carrier is in …, but Lieutenant General who firmly believes that the bomber is no match for the battleship still doesn't realize the seriousness of the problem. "Send a signal to the Singapore base to ask a tugboat to tow me away." After being hit by two torpedoes, Lieutenant General finally woke up and issued the final order: "All crew members blow into life jackets."

In the afternoon 14: 20, after several earth-shattering loud noises, the once all-powerful Prince of Wales was hit by seven torpedoes and several bombs and was swallowed head-on by Malay waves. Of the 2,743 officers and men on the two ships, 793 were killed, including Phillips vice admiral and Captain Ritchie.

Three minutes before the Prince of Wales capsized, six British Air Force Bison fighters flew into the combat area, but it was too late and the tide had ebbed. In the face of tragedy, the British plane was helpless, helpless and helplessly hovering over this tragic scene. This battle is called the Malay naval battle.

Although the British navy also used aviation in pursuit of Bismarck. However, the Malay naval battle is considered to be the first battle example in which the aviation took the sailing battleship as the belligerent to sink it. This also occupies a very important position in the history of naval strategy and tactics development. Commenting on this naval battle, don't attribute the main reason for the Japanese victory in this battle to luck, but clearly see that this is the result of the strategic and tactical changes inevitably caused by the rapid development of weapons and equipment. It took 85 planes about 2 hours to wipe out two large warships cleanly, which is enough to show the power of air soldiers in naval battles. Three Japanese planes were shot down (1996 1 2/996), 27 planes were damaged, and 2 1 crew members were killed.

The destruction of the Z fleet is the inevitable result of the development of weapons, but from the British point of view, the 1 link in the problem chain is that Britain does not believe that Japan will dare to attack Britain and the United States directly, so it has sent a deterrent force with no advantage. In fact, the Anglo-American Pacific Fleet is not as powerful as the Japanese Joint Fleet. In the second ring, the invincible aircraft carrier did not re-examine the whole plan after hitting the rocks; In the third ring, under the command of Lieutenant General Phillips, who has the tradition of the Royal Navy, the Z Fleet ventured out to sea and chose an inexplicable route. If the Z-Fleet sails directly to Songkhla, at least 14 inch naval guns will still have a chance to speak; The weather on the 4th Ring Road 10 was so good that a buffalo smashed the mine in Guan Dan, otherwise the Z Fleet would still have time to return to Singapore.

Before the Malay naval battle, the Japanese side also lacked understanding of this. The fleet led by Lieutenant General Ozawa escorted the landing, and the aviation unit only served as a support task. After discovering that the British Z fleet was sailing, the Japanese high command first thought of ordering Kondo fleet to rush into the South China Sea to stop its formation. Later, it was discovered that the Kondo fleet was far from the battlefield and had to rely on aviation forces for emergency, with an unexpected record. That night, Japan solemnly celebrated its victory at the expense of three planes.

194 1 12, 1 10 in the morning, the 22nd air force flew over the battlefield of the Malay naval battle again, dropping wreaths on the sea floating with oil and debris as sacrifices to the crew members who died.