Download or read book Sinking Force Z 1941 written by Angus Konstam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-21 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history and analysis of one of the most dramatic moments in both air power and naval history. With the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, no battleship was safe on the open ocean, and the aircraft took its crown as the most powerful maritime weapon In late 1941, war was looming with Japan, and Britain's empire in southeast Asia was at risk. The British government decided to send Force Z, which included the state-of-the-art battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Repulse, to bolster the naval defences of Singapore, and provide a mighty naval deterrent to Japanese aggression. These two powerful ships arrived in Singapore on 2 December - five days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But crucially, they lacked air cover. On 9 December Japanese scout planes detected Force Z's approach in the Gulf of Thailand. Unlike at Pearl Harbor, battleships at sea could manoeuvre, and their anti-aircraft defences were ready. But it did no good. The Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo-bombers were the most advanced in the world, and the battle was one-sided. Strategically, the loss of Force Z was a colossal disaster for the British, and one that effectively marked the end of its empire in the East. But even more importantly, the sinking marked the last time that battleships were considered to be the masters of the ocean. From that day on, air power rather than big guns would be the deciding factor in naval warfare.

Download or read book Sinking Force Z 1941 written by Angus Konstam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-21 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history and analysis of one of the most dramatic moments in both air power and naval history. With the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, no battleship was safe on the open ocean, and the aircraft took its crown as the most powerful maritime weapon In late 1941, war was looming with Japan, and Britain's empire in southeast Asia was at risk. The British government decided to send Force Z, which included the state-of-the-art battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Repulse, to bolster the naval defences of Singapore, and provide a mighty naval deterrent to Japanese aggression. These two powerful ships arrived in Singapore on 2 December - five days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But crucially, they lacked air cover. On 9 December Japanese scout planes detected Force Z's approach in the Gulf of Thailand. Unlike at Pearl Harbor, battleships at sea could manoeuvre, and their anti-aircraft defences were ready. But it did no good. The Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo-bombers were the most advanced in the world, and the battle was one-sided. Strategically, the loss of Force Z was a colossal disaster for the British, and one that effectively marked the end of its empire in the East. But even more importantly, the sinking marked the last time that battleships were considered to be the masters of the ocean. From that day on, air power rather than big guns would be the deciding factor in naval warfare.

Download or read book The Hunting of Force Z written by Richard Hough and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 1999 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Force Z was the name given to the British battlefleet that sailed to Singapore in the autumn of 1941. Churchill himself described it as the best deterrent and the one key weapon that would prevent the Japanese gaining a foothold in the South Pacific. But behind the impressive name lay a less impressive reality - Force Z consisted of only two ships: the battleship Prince of Wales and the 25-year-old cruiser Repulse. In a time when the days of the battleship as an effective weapon in maritime warfare were numbered, such an action proved to be a terrible mistake. This work traces the history behind this tragic bluff. From the end of World War I to the inevitable sinking of these two ships, it is a comprehensive history of the decline of the battleship in modern warfare, culminating in the battle that proved finally that a navy without air cover could not survive as an effective fighting force.

Download or read book Force Z Shipwrecks of the South China Sea written by Rod Macdonald and published by Whittles. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tragedy of the loss in 1941 of two Royal Navy capital ships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, the core of Churchill's deterrent Force Z, stunned the world. Churchill had hoped that sending a small powerful squadron of ships to Singapore would deter a threatened Japanese invasion of Malaya and Thailand. He was to be proved tragically wrong. This book explores in detail the wrecks of these two vessels and narrates a summary of the Japanese threat.

Download or read book Battleship written by Martin Middlebrook and published by Penguin Uk. This book was released on 2001 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Wednesday 10 December 1941, the third day of the war with Japan, two Royal Navy capital ships were sunk off Malaya by air torpedo attack. They had not requested the air support that could have saved them and 840 men died in the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse.

Download or read book The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters written by Andrew Boyd and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 851 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How British naval power in the Indian Ocean played a critical early role in WWII: “Commands the reader's attention. . . . a history game-changer.” —Warship, Naval Books of the Year This new work tells the compelling story of how the Royal Navy secured the strategic space from Egypt in the west to Australasia in the East through the first half of the Second World War—and explains why this contribution, made while Russia’s fate remained in the balance and before American economic power took effect, was so critical. Without it, the war would certainly have lasted longer and decisive victory might have proved impossible. After the protection of the Atlantic lifeline, this was surely the Royal Navy’s finest achievement, the linchpin of victory. The book moves authoritatively between grand strategy, intelligence, accounts of specific operations, and technical assessment of ships and weapons. It challenges established perceptions of Royal Navy capability and will change the way we think about Britain’s role and contribution in the first half of the war. The Navy of 1939 was stronger than usually suggested and British intelligence did not fail against Japan. Nor was the Royal Navy outmatched by Japan, coming very close to a British Midway off Ceylon in 1942. And it was the Admiralty, demonstrating a reckless disregard for risks, that caused the loss of Force Z in 1941. The book also lays stress on the key part played by the American relationship in Britain’s Eastern naval strategy. Superbly researched and elegantly written, it adds a hugely important dimension to our understanding of the war in the East.

Download or read book The Netherlands East Indies Campaign 1941 42 written by Marc Lohnstein and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-06-24 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of 1941, Imperial Japan targeted The East Indies in an attempt to secure access to precious oil resources. The Netherlands East Indies Campaign featured complex Japanese and Allied operations, and included the first use of airborne troops in the war. This highly illustrated study is one of the less well-known campaigns of the Pacific War. Imperial Japan's campaigns of conquest in late 1941/early 1942 were launched in order to achieve self-sufficiency for the Japanese people, chiefly in the precious commodity of oil. The Netherlands (or Dutch) East Indies formed one of Japan's primary targets, on account of its abundant rubber plantations and oilfields. The Japanese despatched an enormous naval task force to support the amphibious landings over the vast terrain of the Netherlands East Indies. The combined-arms offensive was divided into three groups: western, centre and eastern. The isolated airfields and oilfields were, however, picked off one by one by the Japanese, in the rush to secure the major islands before major Allied reinforcements arrived. This superbly illustrated title describes the operational plans and conduct of the fighting by the major parties involved, and assesses the performance of the opposing forces on the battlefield, bringing to life an often-overlooked campaign of the Pacific War.

Download or read book Malaya Dutch East Indies 1941 42 written by Mark Stille and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 was quickly followed by a rapid invasion of Malaya, a plan based entirely on the decisive use of its airpower. While the British was inadequately prepared, they likewise relied on the RAF to defend their colony. The campaign was a short match between Japanese airpower at its peak and an outgunned colonial air force, and its results were stunning. The subsequent Dutch East Indies campaign was even more dependent on airpower, with Japan having to seize a string of island airfields to support their leapfrog advance. Facing the Japanese was a mixed bag of Allied air units, including the Dutch East Indies Air Squadron and the US Far East Air Force. The RAF fell back to airfields on Sumatra in the last stages of the Malaya campaign, and was involved in the last stages of the campaign to defend the Dutch colony. For the first time, this study explores these campaigns from an airpower perspective, explaining how and why the Japanese were so devastatingly effective.

Download or read book Navy Department Communiques 1 624 written by United States. Navy Department. Office of Public Relations and published by . This book was released on 1943 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Battleship Book written by Robert M. Farley and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2015-12-17 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the moment when the launching of HMS Dreadnought made every capital ship in the world obsolete overnight, we have been fascinated with these powerful surface combatants. Here Robert M. Farley looks at the history and folklore that makes these ships enduring symbols of national power—and sometimes national futility. From Arizona to Yamato, here are more than sixty lavishly illustrated accounts of battleships from the most well-known to the most unusual, including at least one ship from every nation that ever owned a modern battleship. Separate essays and sidebars look at events and lore that greatly affected battleships.

Download or read book Guy Griffiths written by Peter Jones and published by Australian Scholarly Publishing. This book was released on 2021-07-02 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his long career in the Royal Australian Navy, Guy Griffiths participated in its emergence from Depression-era stricture, pre-World War II, to its reinvention in the 1950s and 60s as a capable middle-power force centred on aircraft carriers in the missile age. In this time, he personally experienced the RAN’s darkest days in the face of the Japanese onslaught and its fi nest hour in the Philippines Campaign of World War II, and its close involvements in the Korean War and then the Vietnam War. He witnessed the realities of war in positions of increasing responsibility. Guy Griffiths: The Life & Times of an Australian Admiral is the authorised biography of Rear Admiral Guy Griffiths AO, DSO, DSC, RAN. ‘From country boy to gold-braided admiral, Guy Griffiths has led a richly-textured life of service to the navy and the nation. As a teenage midshipman he survived the disastrous sinking of the battlecruiser HMS Repulse off Malaya in 1941 and went on to fight at sea with distinction in another two wars: Korea and Vietnam. It is an unmatched record of courage, dedication and achievement. This is the enthralling biography of a remarkable sailor and a genuinely great Australian.’—Mike Carlton AM, bestselling author of Flagship & First Victory

Download or read book Malaya and Singapore 1941 42 written by Mark Stille and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-10-20 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the British Empire it was a military disaster, but for Imperial Japan the conquest of Malaya was one of the pivotal campaigns of World War II. Giving birth to the myth of the Imperial Japanese Army's invincibility, the victory left both Burma and India open to invasion. Although heavily outnumbered, the Japanese Army fought fiercely to overcome the inept and shambolic defence offered by the British and Commonwealth forces. Detailed analysis of the conflict, combined with a heavy focus on the significance of the aerial campaign, help tell the fascinating story of the Japanese victory, from the initial landings in Thailand and Malaya through to the destruction of the Royal Navy's Force Z and the final fall of Singapore itself.

Download or read book Staff Ride Handbook for the Attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941 written by Jeffrey J. Gudmens and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Most Dangerous Moment of the War written by John Clancy and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A well-detailed account of the [World War II] raid, which badly stung the Royal Navy but which the Japanese failed to exploit to a strategic advantage” (Seapower). In early April 1942, a little-known episode of World War II took place. Said by Sir Winston Churchill to be “the most dangerous moment of the war,” the Japanese made their only major offensive westwards into the Indian Ocean. As historian Sir Arthur Bryant said, “A Japanese naval victory in April 1942 would have given Japan total control of the Indian Ocean, isolated the Middle East and brought down the Churchill government.” Having crippled the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese turned their sights on the British Eastern Fleet based at Ceylon. Occupation of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, would not only provide the Japanese a springboard into India but also control of the essential convoy routes to Europe and the Western Desert. And aside from the British Eastern Fleet, the Indian Ocean lay undefended. In April 1942, a Japanese fleet led by six aircraft carriers, four battleships, and thirty other ships sailed into the Bay of Bengal. In the ferocious battles that followed, the British lost a carrier, two heavy cruisers, and many other ships; however, the Japanese eventually turned back, never to sail against India again. John Clancy, whose father survived the sinking of HMS Cornwall during the battle, “masterfully combines the strategic overview, the tactical decision making and many personal experiences to bring this episode of the war to life” (WWII Today). “Absolutely enthralling.” —Books Monthly “Well researched . . . a balanced view of men acting under the stress of war during a critical time.” —WWII History

Download or read book The Royal Netherlands Navy of World War II written by Ryan K. Noppen and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 19th and early 20th century, a combination of coastal defence for the homeland and fleet defence for the East Indies became the established naval strategy for the Royal Dutch Navy and set the template for the world wars. Battleships were too expensive to build and maintain, so after World War I, there was significant investment in submarine development and construction. A handful of modern light cruisers and a new class of destroyers were also constructed during the interwar years to serve as a small Fleet-in-Being in the East Indies, as well as to support the actions of the navy's submarines. The light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter and the Java-class light cruisers were the most powerful units of the new fleet whilst the backbone of the destroyer fleet was the Admiralen-class and the Tromp-class of destroyer leaders. Beginning in December 1941, the Dutch Navy played a very active role in the defence of the East Indies against the Japanese during World War II. The Battle of the Java Sea at the end of February 1942 crushed Dutch naval power in the East Indies, sinking the cruisers Java and De Ruyter and killing Admiral Karel Doorman. However, several Dutch surface warships and submarines continued the fight against the Axis powers alongside the Allies until the end of World War II, including a pair of British-built destroyers, Van Galen and Tjerk Hiddes. This beautifully illustrated book from a leading scholar on Dutch military history provides a comprehensive guide to the Royal Netherlands Navy of the World War II period, complete with detailed cutaways and battleplates of the fleet in action.

Download or read book Pearl Harbor written by Homer N. Wallin and published by . This book was released on 2001-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pearl Harbor will long stand out in mens minds as an example of the results of basic unpreparedness of a peace loving nation, of highly efficient treacherous surprise attack and of the resulting unification of America into a single tidal wave of purpose to victory. Therefore, all will be interested in this unique narrative by Admiral Wallin. The Navy has long needed a succinct account of the salvage operations at Pearl Harbor that miraculously resurrected what appeared to be a forever shattered fleet. Admiral Wallin agreed to undertake the job. He was exactly the right man for it _ in talent, in perception, and in experience. He had served intimately with Admiral Nimitz and with Admiral Halsey in the South Pacific, has commanded three different Navy Yards, and was a highly successful Chief of the Bureau of Ships. On 7 December 1941 the then Captain Wallin was serving at Pearl Harbor. He witnessed the events of that shattering and unifying "Day of Infamy." His mind began to race at high speeds at once on the problems and means of getting the broken fleet back into service for its giant task. Unless the United States regained control of the sea, even greater disaster loomed. Without victory at sea, tyranny soon would surely rule all Asia and Europe. In a matter of time it would surely rule the Americas. Captain Wallin salvaged most of the broken Pearl Harbor fleet that went on to figure prominently in the United States Navys victory. So the account he masterfully tells covers what he masterfully accomplished. The United States owes him an unpayable debt for this high service among many others in his long career.

Download or read book Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses During World War II by All Causes written by United States. Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee and published by . This book was released on 1947 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: