On the third day of the war with Japan, two Royal Navy capital ships
were sunk off Malaya by air torpedo attack. They had not requested the
air support that could have saved them and 840 men died in the
battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Repulse. The
authors re-create for the reader not only what happened, but also what
it was like for the men involved. They dispose of several myths to
explain the events of those confused hours, and address the uncertainty,
controversy and strong emotions that surrounded the militarily
disastrous sinkings.