The Hunting of Force Z

Guest Speaker: SQNLDR Larry Scott

December’s Military History talk will be presented on 7 December, the 82nd anniversary of the beginning of the Pacific War, when the European War turned global. Japan almost simultaneously invaded Malaya and Thailand; attacked the crown colony of Hong Kong and destroyed most of the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor. Units of Japan’s 25th Army commenced landing at Singora and Patani in Thailand and at Kota Bharu, in Malaya, at 0025, on 8 December 1941. Later that day, at 1710, a Royal Navy Fleet, designated Force Z, comprising a Battleship, a Battlecruiser and 4 Destroyers, sailed from Singapore to intercept and destroy these forces off the coast of southern Thailand and northern Malaya. Two days later both major warships had been sunk by Japanese naval aircraft. This talk will describe the course of the battle; examine why it happened…