HMS Prince of Wales (53)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	Prince of Wales
Ordered:	29 July 1936
Builder:	Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd., Birkenhead
Laid down:	1 January 1937
Launched:	3 May 1939
Completed:	31 March 1941
Commissioned:	19 January 1941
Identification:	Pennant number: 53
Motto:	"Ich Dien" – German: "I serve"
Fate:	Sunk on 10 December 1941 by Japanese air attack off Kuantan, South China Sea
General characteristics
Class and type:	King George V-class battleship
Displacement:	43,786 tons (deep)
Length:	745 ft 1 in (227.1 m) (overall) 740 ft 1 in (225.6 m) (waterline)
Beam:	103 ft 2 in (31.4 m)
Draught:	34 ft 4 in (10.5 m)
Installed power:	110,000 shp (82,000 kW)
Propulsion:	8 Admiralty 3-drum small-tube boilers 4 sets Parsons geared turbines
Speed:	28.3 knots (52.4 km/h; 32.6 mph)
Range:	15,600 nmi (28,900 km; 18,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	1,521 (1941)
Sensors and processing systems:	Type 279 radar added Type 284 radar added. Radars added in May 1941. 4 × Type 282 and Type 285 radars added. Radar added between June–July 1941. Type 271 radar added.
Armament:	10 × BL 14-inch (360 mm) Mark VII 16 × QF 5.25-inch (133 mm) Mk. I 32 × QF 2 pdr 1.575-inch (40.0 mm) Mk.VIII 80 × UP projectors
Armour:	Main Belt: 14.7 inches (370 mm) Lower belt: 5.4 inches (140 mm) Deck: 5–6 inches (127–152 mm) Main turrets: 12.75 inches (324 mm) Barbettes: 12.75 inches (324 mm) Bulkheads: 10–12 inches (254–305 mm) Conning tower: 3–4 inches (76–102 mm).
Aircraft carried:	4 Supermarine Walrus seaplanes, 1 double-ended catapult

Coordinates: 3°33′36″N 104°28′42″E / 3.56000°N 104.47833°E / 3.56000; 104.47833

HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy, built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England. She was involved in several key actions of the Second World War, including the battle of Denmark Strait against the German battleship Bismarck, operations escorting convoys in the Mediterranean, and her final action and sinking in the Pacific in 1941.

Prince of Wales had an extensive battle history, first seeing action in August 1940 while still being outfitted in her drydock, being attacked and damaged by German aircraft. Her brief but storied career ended 10 December 1941, when Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse became the first capital ships to be sunk solely by air power on the open sea, a harbinger of the diminishing role this class of ships was subsequently to play in naval warfare. The wreck lies upside down in 223 feet (68 m) of water, near Kuantan, in the South China Sea.

...
Wikipedia