| The crew of the sinking Prince of Wales abandoning ship to the destroyer HMS Express. Moments later, the list on Prince of Wales suddenly increased and Express had to withdraw. Observe the barrels of the 5.25 in guns, which were unable to depress far enough to engage attackers due to the list. Sub Lieutenant Paul F. C. Satow (September 23, 1921 – February 2, 2013), navigator of HMS Express, took this photo as the destroyer was alongside the sinking battleship. It has become the definitive photo of the destruction of Force Z. HMS Repulse having been sunk at 1233 Hours, 9 Japanese high-level bombers then turned to attack HMS Prince of Wales. They managed 1 hit, but the ship was already clearly sinking. The Prince of Wales was listing 70° as Repulse went down. At 1240 hours, the United Kingdom Royal Navy War Room in Singapore picked up the message from the Prince of Wales addressed to “Any British man-of-war.” It stated: “Emergency. Have been struck by a torpedo on port side. Repulse hit by one torpedo. Send destroyers.” Captain Francis J. Cartwright (August 4, 1908 – August 13, 1974) brought HMS Express alongside the Prince of Wales to take off the wounded and non-essential personnel. The famous photograph of the incident shows sailors using ropes to get from the Prince of Wales to the Express At 1310 Hours; it was quite clear that HMS Prince of Wales was about to sink. Captain John Leach (September 1, 1894 – December 10, 1941) gave orders to abandon ship. When the power was down, the crew had been ordered up on deck so many of them were able to get off the ship to HMS Express or into the sea and swim well clear of the ship before she sank. Admiral Tom Phillips (February 19, 1888 – December 10, 1941) and Captain Leach remained on the bridge standing together, neither making any move to leave their station. Leach waved and shouted “Goodbye. Thank you. Good luck. God bless you.” Phillips waved away the rest of the crew, remaining on the bridge. The Prince of Wales heeled over and sank at 1320 Hours. The suction from this ship ripped off the life belt of a sailor who was more than 50 feet (15 meters) away. Of the officers, 90 of the 110 were rescued, as were 1,195 of the 1,502 ratings. Lieutenant Commander Arthur G. Skipwith (January 13, 1902 – August 7, 1997), the battleship’s 1st Lieutenant, survived, but Admiral Sir Tom Phillips and Captain Leach both went down with the ship. Phillips was the highest ranking Allied officer killed in battle during World War II. HMS Express managed to pick up many of the survivors from the Prince of Wales and the Repulse. On its return to Singapore it passed HMS Stronghold and 4 American destroyers who headed to the scene in the hope of finding other survivors. None were found. However, on their return they did encounter a Japanese trawler, Shofu Fu Maru which was taken to Singapore where its crew were interned. Flight Lieutenant Timothy A. Vigors (March 22, 1921 – November 4, 2003) arrived with 453 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flying in a Brewster B-339E Buffalo after Repulse and Prince of Wales had been sunk. He wrote in his official report, “It was obvious that the three destroyers were going to take hours to pick up those hundreds of men clinging to bits of wreckage and swimming around in the filthy, oily water. Above all this, the threat of another bombing and machine-gun attack was imminent. Every one of those men must have realized that. Yet as I flew around, every man waved and put up his thumb as I flew over him. After an hour, lack of petrol forced me to leave, but during that hour I had seen many men in dire danger waving, cheering and joking, as if they were holiday-makers at Brighton waving at a low-flying aircraft. It shook me, for here was something above human nature.” Many years later, the report by Vigors was published in the British Official History. There was consternation amongst some of the survivors of the battle. They had been shaking their fists and shouting abuse at the RAAF planes angered that it had taken so long for the planes to arrive, unaware that they had been scrambled as soon as Singapore knew what was happening. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1655.jpg |
| Image Size | 2.33 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4961 x 3668 |
| Photographer | Paul Satow |
| Photographer Title | Royal Navy Admiralty |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | December 10, 1941 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Straits Settlements |
| Country | Singapore |
| Archive | Imperial War Museum |
| Record Number | HU 2675 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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