"British ships in the Early War Pacific?" Topic

From the Wiki on 'Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse':

Force G, consisting of the modern battleship Prince of Wales, the First World War era battlecruiser Repulse, and the four destroyers HMS Electra, Express, Encounter and Jupiter, arrived at Singapore on 2 December 1941. They were then re-designated Force Z.

The new aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was allocated to Force G, but whilst working up off Jamaica, she had run aground in the entrance to Kingston harbour on 3 November 1941.[11] Indomitable required 12 days of dry dock repairs in Norfolk, Virginia, and was able to take no further part in the action. Indomitable carried one squadron each of Fairey Fulmars and Hawker Sea Hurricanes. Another aircraft carrier, HMS Hermes (which was with Prince of Wales at Cape Town), was on passage to Singapore to join Force Z, but was not deployed due to lack of speed.[12]

On 1 December, it was announced that Sir Thomas Phillips had been promoted to full admiral, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Fleet. A few days later, Repulse left for Australia with HMAS Vampire and HMS Tenedos, but the force was recalled to Singapore to assemble for possible operations against the Japanese.[13]

Also at Singapore were the light cruisers HMS Durban, Danae, Dragon and Mauritius, and the destroyers HMS Stronghold, Encounter and Jupiter. The heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, Dutch light cruiser Java, two more British destroyers (Scout and Thanet), and four United States Navy destroyers (Whipple, John D. Edwards, Edsall and Alden) would be there within three days.

Though Durban and Stronghold were available, Admiral Philips decided to leave them at Singapore because they were not as fast as the other units. Additionally, Danae, Dragon, Mauritius, Encounter and Jupiter were also at Singapore, but were under repair and not ready to sail.

From the Eiki on the Battle of the Java Sea:

The Japanese amphibious forces gathered to strike at Java, and on 27 February 1942, the main American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) naval force, under Doorman, sailed northeast from Surabaya to intercept a convoy of the Eastern Invasion Force approaching from the Makassar Strait. The ABDA force consisted of two heavy cruisers (HMS Exeter and USS Houston), three light cruisers (HNLMS De Ruyter (Doorman's flagship), HNLMS Java, HMAS Perth), and nine destroyers (HMS Electra, HMS Encounter, HMS Jupiter, HNLMS Kortenaer, HNLMS Witte de With, USS Alden, USS John D. Edwards, USS John D. Ford, and USS Paul Jones).

Have a look at the Naval Wargames Society page, they have a mini campaign set in this very period in the download section. Our version is on my blog, link on the Naval Campaign Rages on thread on this board.

Regards, Ken

I think you'll find that the Pacific War Online Encyclopedia is a great place to start. There are numerous orders of battle there that might be useful to you. Most obvious is the British page, which links to an initial order of battle and a page of reinforcements. These are not exclusively naval units, so you'll have to scan through the army and air units to find the naval units, but the practice of putting ship names in italics will help you. (Further, they typically stand out thanks to the links to articles on specific ships.) There are a few other sites you might find useful or interesting: FleetOrganization.com has a nice page on the 1937 fleet organization that shows the bones of the wartime Eastern Fleet. (And the clear breakdown on prewar stations is interesting.) The Naval War in the Pacific site also has some useful information on US and IJN forces, and the organization is clear and useful, but there are no other orders of battle there beyond the two major combatants. Hope some of this helps.