Tamiya 25422 Battle of Malaya Set & Pamphlet

The sea battle of Kuantanam was fought on December 10, 1941 in the South China Sea, in the south-eastern part of the Peninsula. Malay. The antagonists in this battle were the British Royal Navy and the Japanese naval aviation operating - interestingly - primarily from land bases. It was the first British-Japanese clash of such a scale in World War II. The genesis of the Battle of Kuantanam dates back to the decision of the British Prime Minister in October 1941 to strengthen the Royal Navy in the Far East by moving a strong fleet team to this area. The team originally was to consist of the airport HMS Indomitable and the battleships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse. However, in the end, only battleships (the so-called Team Z) were sent to the Malaya region, which later also received a destroyer escort. A cardinal error, as it turned out later, was the insufficient anti-aircraft defense of the team. Immediately after the information about the attack on Pearl Harbor and the information about the approach of the Japanese convoy to Malaya, the commander of the team (adm. Philips) decided to meet him, with the intention of waging a sea battle. However, as soon as he realized the loss of the element of surprise, he decided to return to the British base in Singapore on the night of December 9-10, 1941. However, it was detected by the Japanese submarine I-58, which passed the information to the Japanese command, and this decided to attack the British battleships with its aviation. The Battle of Kuantanam began around 10.00 am on December 10, 1941. It was a thoroughly unequal battle in which about 100 Japanese planes fought a total of six British ships (two battleships and four destroyers). The battle lasted only about 2 clock hours and led to the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse! The Japanese side, with the loss of about 30 aircraft, achieved a gigantic success, gaining complete freedom of operation in Malaya, as well as once again proving the power of sea aviation.