When the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by Japanese bombers on 10 December 1941, Winston Churchill is on record as having said 'In all the war I never received a more direct shock'. Their loss led to the fall of Singapore to the Japanese and the end of British supremacy in the Far East until 1945. Their story is an endlessly fascinating one, a story of momentous and difficult decisions, great and heroic men, powerful and graceful ships, cruel twists of fate, and some maddening questions just begging to be answered.
