";s:4:"text";s:6121:" The loss by an unlucky hit of Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker was ordered to continue shadowing even if he ran short of fuel so to bring the Commander-in-Chief into action. Convoy WS 11X was to the west of Gibraltar escorted at that moment by the British battleship Approaching Gibraltar from the west were the British destroyers At 1815 hours, HMS Nelson departed Gibraltar and after passing farewell messages to HMS Rodney she proceeded westwards screened by HrMs Isaac Sweers, ORP Piorun and ORP Garland. Also two tankers were captured. 506 seaplane approached from the direction of the French north African coast and circled the City of Pretoria. Both ships were wearing French colours and had taken care to keep all service personnel out of sight. The Commander-in-Chief then decided to investigate a tug towing some barges which had been sighted at extreme visibility during the run in. At 1200/30 HMS Nelson entered Gibraltar Harbour. Das Schiff wird in gleicher Konfiguration wie ihr Schwesterschiff, die Queen Elizabeth, in Dienst gestellt werden und zusammen mit ihr die drei Flugzeugträger der Invincible-Klasse ersetzen. There was no screen available for It was at 1030/26 that one of the long range Catalina's of the Coastal Command sighted the The first striking force on its way back sighted the 4th Destroyer Flotilla 20 nautical miles west of Force H. As soon as the aircraft from the first strike had landed they were refuelled and rearmed as fast as possible. All three destroyers arrived at Singapore between 2300/10 and 0000/11. (While at Rosyth the UP projectors were removed and 2 8-barrelled and 1 4-barrelled pompoms were added as was type 271 RDF. Three others made a longer approach low down attacking on the port bow a minute later. By that time Shortly before sunrise a final torpedo attack was carried out by At daylight the destroyers were stationed in four sectors from which they were able to keep the enemy under continuous observation until the arrival of the Battle Fleet at 0845 hours. Prince of Wales displaced 36,727 long tons (37,300 t) as built and 43,786 long tons (44,500 t) fully loaded. As the aircraft approached with obviously hostile intentions the British colours were hoised and fire was opened as soon as the leader came in range. On aircraft dropped its torpedo out 450 yards 20° on Nelson's starboard bow passing over the ship at a height of 200 feet.
It was intended to have launched them earlier but the launch was delayed due to the main armamant of HMS Ark Royal being in action and the recovery of two Fulmar fighters which were short on fuel. It was now clear that the enemy tried to avoid contact. O or ORIBI-Class Fleet Destroyer ordered from Fairfield of Govan on 3rd September 1939 with the 1st Emergency Flotilla. Reports received during the night indicated that, despite reduced speed and damaged rudders, Between 0600 and 0700 hours a series of enemy reports from Observers state that the German gunnery was accurate at first, but commenced to deteriorate after 8 to 10 salvoes. She is the eighth Royal Navy ship to have the name HMS Prince of Wales. At this time Nelson was about 8 feet down by the bows and it was estimated that 3500 tons of water had entered the ship. Ten or eleven S.79's split into two groups and were seen coming in low over the water and were taken under fire from the escorting ships on the starboard side of the convoy. At 0928/30, in position 37°10'N, 00°56'E, HMS Gurkha, obtained Asdic contact wich was confirmed as a submarine. The crew was picked up by ORP Piorun.
At daylight HMS Farndale and HMS Heythrop were detached to fuel at Malta. Every man had to be in his bunk during that period. At 2030/24 RFA Brown Ranger and her escort, corvette HMS Fleur de Lys departed Gibraltar to take up a position eastwards to fuel the destroyers that were to protect the Halberd convoy. Both propeller shafts stopped and speed dropped to 15 knots. All attacks were to be controlled by the flight leaders according to the way in which the situation developed. The consequences of this attack were disastrous. At 1354 hours three of the aircraft that had initialy turned away returned from astern. Conditions below were even more terrible. In the meantime HMS Nelson and her three escorting destroyers were still proceeding to the west.
This occurred on New Year's Day 1937 at Cammel Lairds at their Birkenhead shipyard, and hull took just over two years to build. At 1530 hours a Fulmar fighter which was short of fuel force landed on the water astern of the Ark Royal. About one hour later a striking force made up of 84 aircraft (30 bombers and 54 torpedo planes) took off and was ordered to the estimated position of the enemy task force. At 2335/9, a signal was received mentioning a landing by the Japanese at Kuantan, this was over 150 miles to the southward of Kota Bharu and it seemed unlikely that the enemy would expect Force Z, last located on a northerly course and making for Singora, to be as far south by daylight. At 1156 hours HMS Repulse was attacked by another group of nine torpedo bombers. The first two attacks had no result for the Italians. The DF bearings in the morning had not been very definite. In the meantime Force Z had been closing the shore at 25 knots and at dawn on 10 December was about 60 nautical miles east-north-east of Kuantan. The destroyers HMS Foresight, HMS Forester, HMS Gurkha and HMS Lance arrived at 1600 hours. At 0815 hours a pattern of fourteen depth charges was dropped. The air was thick with smoke and even more smoke was coming in from great holes in the upper deck. The HMS Queen Elizabeth was launched in 2014, while HMS Prince of Wales was launched in 2017. All the 5.25" armament, except turret 'S 1', was put out of action either due to the list or failure of power. All ships, except HMAS Vampire, which was outranged, opened fire.