Thread: On this day in history - 68 years ago

One this day 68 years ago, 840 men of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse died when the ships were sunk in the defence of Singapore and our interests in the Far East.
Overshadowed historically by Pearl Harbour just three days earlier, we should not forget the sacrifice these men made.
It was a good week for the Japanese but a disaster for the allied forces.

A service is being held today in 'The Sailors Church' in Liverpool opposite the Liver Building.
Please spare one minute today to remember them if you can.

Done.

"A service is being held today in 'The Sailors Church' in Liverpool opposite the Liver Building."

Have the Nips been invited?

No.9

The end of the battleship era, sadly it was the british on the receiving end,

Originally Posted by No.9

"A service is being held today in 'The Sailors Church' in Liverpool opposite the Liver Building."

Have the Nips been invited?

No.9

Don't knock the idea.

There are quite a few events where the International Friendship and Reconciliation Trust and The Burma Campaign Society bring together Japanese and British veterans.

http://www.perkins-smart.com/burmaca...df/2003Mar.pdf

My mothers uncle survived the attack.
He died in the Java sea on board a depot ship heading towards Australia.

Originally Posted by aghart

The end of the battleship era, sadly it was the british on the receiving end,

All warships, including battleships, have required air cover since the start of WW2. Disgracefully, our leaders sent these ships to sea with no air cover in the full knowledge of the likely outcome if any Japanese aircraft were to attack.

Spared.

All the evidence suggests that the Admiral commanding the ships was totally convinced that no aircraft could do any serious harm to battleships. And that was after Taranto and the fatal damage to the Bismark. The Royal Navy has always regarded air power and submarines as passing phenomena not worth worrying about.

Full details on
http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/

The aircraft came from Vietnam and not Thailand as some source have claimed.
I am now reading James Lunt's Book 'One Hell of a Licking', in which he claims that jap was constructing airfields and upgrading bridges in Thailand prior to the invasion.
I have asked knowledgeable folk out here and No One has ever heard of anything more then Spying by jap.
The Thais did invade China via South East Burma mainly on jap provocation but that was a year later.
john

Originally Posted by johno2499

Originally Posted by aghart

The end of the battleship era, sadly it was the british on the receiving end,

All warships, including battleships, have required air cover since the start of WW2. Disgracefully, our leaders sent these ships to sea with no air cover in the full knowledge of the likely outcome if any Japanese aircraft were to attack.

The sad irony is, the FAA was responsible for the sinking of the first capital ship by air power in war when they sank the German light cruiser Königsberg at Bergen, Norway in April 1940 using Skua dive bombers.

The real irony is that the Japs followed the teaching and drills of the Royal Navy as if it was a religion,I read somewhere that they even imported bricks from Britain to build a copy of one of the Navy´s training Colleges!Using RN tactics they basically massacred the Russian Navy during the Russo-Sino(whoops,Russo-Japanese) war.

And we still train our potentially future enemies!

Originally Posted by midnight

The real irony is that the Japs followed the teaching and drills of the Royal Navy as if it was a religion,I read somewhere that they even imported bricks from Britain to build a copy of one of the Navy´s training Colleges!Using RN tactics they basically massacred the Russian Navy during the Russo-Sino war.

And we still train our potentially future enemies!

The Japanese copied quite a few RN Traditions. Allegedly the Japanese hoisted the Tushima signal at Peral Harbopur. I was told that the Tsushima signal were those that made the signal "England expect every man will do his duty".

Originally Posted by Pteranadon

Originally Posted by midnight

The real irony is that the Japs followed the teaching and drills of the Royal Navy as if it was a religion,I read somewhere that they even imported bricks from Britain to build a copy of one of the Navy´s training Colleges!Using RN tactics they basically massacred the Russian Navy during the Russo-Sino war.

And we still train our potentially future enemies!

The Japanese copied quite a few RN Traditions. Allegedly the Japanese hoisted the Tushima signal at Peral Harbopur. I was told that the Tsushima signal were those that made the signal "England expect every man will do his duty".

IJN was gifted a lock of Nelsons hair at some point that they still have.

Originally Posted by instinct

Originally Posted by Pteranadon

Originally Posted by midnight

The real irony is that the Japs followed the teaching and drills of the Royal Navy as if it was a religion,I read somewhere that they even imported bricks from Britain to build a copy of one of the Navy´s training Colleges!Using RN tactics they basically massacred the Russian Navy during the Russo-Sino war.

And we still train our potentially future enemies!

The Japanese copied quite a few RN Traditions. Allegedly the Japanese hoisted the Tushima signal at Peral Harbopur. I was told that the Tsushima signal were those that made the signal "England expect every man will do his duty".

IJN was gifted a lock of Nelsons hair at some point that they still have.

I'm not an expert at all, but I've been led to believe that Yamamoto got the idea for Pearl Harbour, especially the low level aerial delivery of torpedoes, from the RN attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto, the year before.