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Nagumo is on his way back from Pearl Harbour and on skosh fuel when Force Z escapes the IJNAS torpedo bombers.So… Force Z survives. Nagumo sails south with some carriers and sinks it.
Good point, and accurate radar-directed 14" fire could keep those Long Lance equipped IJN cruisers at a distance. We have to consider:If the Prince of Wales could have been kept afloat long enough, it should have made a great flagship for the ABDA fleet - a modern battleship with radar could have helped a lot in the Battle of the Java Sea.
2) Who's in command, does Doorman refer to Phillips?
3) Nothing happens in a vacuum, so if the ABDA has a battleship or two, what does the IJN send to counter this?
Bloody Shambles agrees with this. Phillips never told the RAF where he was nor where he was going, making fighter cover impossible. Phillips breaking radio silence might have saved his ships from air attack. Mind you, Lutjens breaking radio silence doomed his ship by air attack.He addresses what he thinks is the prime reason for the absence of air cover for Phillips's squadron, to wit, poor communications regarding planning for air cover. A lot of it is farily basic knowledge, but he makes some good points.
Bloody Shambles agrees with this. Phillips never told the RAF where he was nor where he was going, making fighter cover impossible.
Phillips breaking radio silence might have saved his ships from air attack. Mind you, Lutjens breaking radio silence doomed his ship by air attack.
I've read that had Phillips sailed a day earlier he would have met the IJA landing ships before the Bettys and Nells had arrived in FIC. Such a near run thing.The point Cox makes is that the RAF indicated to Palliser that no air coverage was available in only one particular locale, but Palliser implied (by omission) to Phillips instead that the lack of air coverage was total, hence Phillips didn't ask for any once he knew he'd been sighted; and it fell to Repulse's captain to request it only once the Japanese air attack had started.
In either event, the lack of good communications between RAF and RN undid Force Z's mission.
I've read that had Phillips sailed a day earlier he would have met the IJA landing ships before the Bettys and Nells had arrived in FIC. Such a near run thing.
Did the British even know (or strongly suspect) the capabilities of the Long Lance torpedoes?Good point, and accurate radar-directed 14" fire could keep those Long Lance equipped IJN cruisers at a distance. We have to consider:
Did the British even know (or strongly suspect) the capabilities of the Long Lance torpedoes?
I imagine that with a little more intel and appreciation of Japanese tech and abilities (combined with a good deal less race-based disregard) the Brits and Americans could have been better prepared. The A6M Zero has been flying since early 1939, with the AVG warning about its capabilities, but still no one sought to understand and counter it. Same goes for the Long Lance torpedo, which had been in IJN service since the mid-1930s, and yet no one at the RN or USN knew of it? Both the British and American embassies maintained military attachés, but they seemingly didn't know of the Long Lance or Zero, or were ignored.Nope.
I imagine that with a little more intel and appreciation of Japanese tech and abilities (combined with a good deal less race-based disregard) the Brits and Americans could have been better prepared. The A6M Zero has been flying since early 1939, with the AVG warning about its capabilities, but still no one sought to understand and counter it.
A little revisionist history?The A6M Zero has been flying since early 1939, with the AVG warning about its capabilities,
This article sets out what the intelligence communities of the major powers knew of the Yamato design and when.The battleship Yamato was laid down in Nov 1937 and launched in Aug 1940 and yet the Japanese hid the construction of her and her sister. The Americans and British may have known they were building something but what it was was a secret. As were the size of the guns, The Japanese had to build a small ship especially to carry the guns/mounts from the gun factory to the ship yards.
Did Hitler know that the USSR had 11,000 tanks, had anyone told him of the T-34?
The A6M made it's debut in mid summer of 1940 with a small batch of pre-production A6M2s.The A6M Zero has been flying since early 1939
I agree abut the race bias and failure to develop counters to the A6M...but the "more intel" isn't really correct.
There was accurate intelligence on the A6M and it was pushed out to squadrons in Singapore, Malaya and Burma (the latter is absolutely confirmed, the others are assumed because, if the info can reach Mingalodon, it ought to already be at Seletar, Kallang etc.).
It was less an intelligence failing and more a refusal by aircrew to believe the reporting. The whole "we didn't know about the capabilities of Japanese aircraft" is probably more down to squadron personnel not listening than it was to intelligence failing to provide the data.
Jeff Cox, in the video I linked above, states that the reports of the Zero and its performance were stuck in a file and never read.