It was hardly surprising that Churchill was concerned for the security of Force Z. No doubt Admiral Phillips entertained similar fears. And if he did, who could blame him? Without an aircraft carrier, Force Z was as helpless as a rabbit in a tank of piranha fish◦– and the end was likely to be equally bloody. Only a politician could be guilty of such gross stupidity. Admittedly the armored carrier Indomitable had originally been assigned to Phillips’ command. But she had run aground in the West Indies and the admiral’s two capital ships had been told to sail east without her. If the politicians had not been running the show there was little doubt in Edwards’ mind that the task force would have been recalled until adequate air cover could be provided. But Churchill refused. Prince of Wales and Repulse were to be the great deterrent to Japan’s grandiose plan to seize Malaya and to conquer the whole of SouthEast Asia. There would be no need to fight◦– their mere presence in the Far East would be sufficient….
A sharp knock on the door broke the captain’s train of thought. Turning away from the window he walked to his desk as the flag lieutenant entered.
‘Message from the AOC, sir. Most immediate.’
Edwards took the slip, put on his horn-rimmed glasses and read the brief text of Pulford’s signal. He nodded. ‘This confirms the intelligence reports we received earlier,’ he told Jameson. ‘I’d been wondering why Palliser recalled Repulse from her Australian trip. Looks as though the balloon’s about to go up.’
The flag lieutenant glanced down at the signal to refresh his memory. ‘It doesn’t follow that the Japs are heading for Malaya, sir,’ he pointed out. ‘The air reconnaissance reports only confirm two convoys steaming west◦– they could be making for Siam.’
‘They could be◦– but I very much doubt it,’ Edwards paused and looked out of the window at the two great warships in the harbor. He wondered what use such antediluvian monsters would be against Rear Admiral Matsunaga’s 22nd Air Flotilla. And he suddenly remembered his brother telling him that Prince of Wales had never fired her AA armament in anger since she had been commissioned. He shrugged. They were likely to get plenty of practice shortly.
‘Is Layton still C-in-C?’ he asked.
‘Yes, sir. I understand that Admiral Phillips takes over tomorrow morning when he returns from Manilla.’
‘Any alterations to the dispositions since yesterday’s conference?’
‘Nothing immediately affecting Singapore, sir. But the destroyers Thanet and Scout are to be ordered to leave Hong Kong and return here. And I believe Rapier has also been recalled.’
Captain Edwards chuckled. ‘I can see the C-in-C’s hand in that one, Flags. He’s an old submariner himself. We’ve only one submarine operating in the whole of the Far East and he obviously intends to keep an eye on it. Mind you he’s probably right. Rapier will be a darn sight more use patrolling the Gulf of Siam than she will be defending Hong Kong.’
Captain Snark made no effort to hide his satisfaction when he read Layton’s recall signal. Hamilton had been a thorn in his side from the day of his arrival in Hong Kong and, since the incident in Hai-An Bay, their mutual antagonism had been paraded quite openly. Snark was one of the old school◦– a disciplinarian who believed in complete obedience to orders no matter how unpalatable they might be. Like most officers of his generation he was a born fighter. And the strain of suppressing his natural instincts and being forced to kow-tow to the Japanese for the past three years had warped his judgement and soured his brain.
Blessed with very little tact and absolutely no imagination he was unable to understand the subtlety of Hamilton’s reasons for saving the Japanese destroyer. Had Rapier’s skipper been under orders to rescue Suma, Snark would have endorsed every action he had taken. But to undertake the salvage of a Japanese warship when he was under no obligation◦– and when his orders only required him to obtain Ottershaw’s release◦– was, in Snark’s eyes, little short of treason.
That his antagonism towards the submarine captain was due to his own subconscious resentment of their two different roles never entered his head. Snark wanted to be in the fight as well◦– most of his contemporaries were commanding Escort Groups in the North Atlantic◦– but, instead, he was desk-bound in China and charged with the humiliating task of pacifying the Japanese no matter what the provocation. And yet Hamilton, a man promoted from the lower deck and who lacked the background and training of the traditional officer-class, had been in combat operations since the beginning of the war. And, in Snark’s view, it just wasn’t fair.
Hamilton knocked on the cabin door, entered, and saluted respectfully. Despite his outward self-confidence he wondered what the hell Snark wanted this time. The old fool had never forgiven him for the Suma episode. The psychological game of ‘face’ was a conception beyond the limits of the narrow world in which he lived. He could not grasp that the Royal Navy had secured a normal victory over the Japanese that more than compensated for its recent humiliations.
Snark looked up at Rapier’s commander but said nothing. Let the bugger sweat, he thought to himself. His finger’s toyed with Layton’s signal for a few moments and then he put it down on the desk.
‘If I remember correctly, Lieutenant,’ he said finally, ‘you expressed a wish to leave Hong Kong on the very day you arrived.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Hamilton agreed. ‘I believe I did at the time.’
‘Do you still want to go?’
‘No, sir. I have a feeling something is going to blow up this weekend. I’ve heard reports of Japanese convoys moving into the gulf of Siam, and Macao is full of rumors. I reckon there’s something in the wind and I’d hate to miss it.’
‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, Lieutenant.’ Snark’s tone of voice belied the spoke sentiment. ‘The C-in-C has ordered your immediate recall to Singapore.’
Hamilton had no intention of giving Snark the satisfaction of seeing that he was in any way upset by the decision. He nodded and smiled. ‘So my guess seems to have been correct, sir. The Admiral obviously thinks the convoys are heading for Malaya and he needs a submarine across the enemy’s lines of communication.’ He carefully picked on Snark’s weak point and twisted the knife. ‘It looks as if the war has passed you by again, sir. I’ll probably be in action again in a few days while you’ll still be….’
Snark beat him to it…. sitting on my arse in a bloody office! ‘Well don’t be so damned sure about that, Lieutenant. If the Japanese attack Malaya you don’t expect them to ignore Hong Kong do you? And when they come I’ll show you young whipper-snappers how to fight.’ The mere thought of the coming battle was sufficient to bring a flush to his pallid cheeks and, for the first time since they had met, Hamilton actually saw him smile.
Despite their deep-seated antagonism Hamilton felt suddenly sorry for the lonely, passed-over staff officer, even though he was not yet prepared to express his sympathy openly.