Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "HMS Prince of Wales - Guide 021 - Part 2 (Special) (Human Voice)" video.

  1. The 2 pdr pom poms gave endless jamming problems in the tropics as gun crews didn't realize how heavily they'd have to oil the ammo and belts to prevent jamming. Tracer ammunition had just started to be issued by the end of 1942 ad it;s not likely the ship would have been carrying more that a few hundred round in the magazines. Most of the tracers would have come from the 20mm Oerlikons hurriedly mounted on November 20-21, 1941 in Cape Town. The crews had very little practice before the attacks and no experience in handling the early versions of the Oerlikons. They'd jam easily if charging the gun was done too briskly when a new magazine was mounted. It wasn't hard to clear the jam, but the PoW didn't have the time to spare as fire slowed down due to jams in the 20 and 40 mm guns. The 5.25" guns were almost useless without their directors since crews hadn't been adequately trained in how to use them under local control. The gunhouse were cramped to begin with, and having to hand pass and load shells after the dynamos failed made ROF no more the four rounds a minute, and that's when they didn't jam. The PoW just wasn't ready to provide adequate AA fire. The Repulse had adequate AA guns and better trained crews but wasn't able to fight off the air attacks without the full support of PoW. PoW's dynamo failures made the 5.25" guns and octuple 2 pdr mounts unuseable. Even if both ships had been operating at top efficiency it's unlikely they could have escaped the attacks. It was a sobering moment for the battleship admirals.
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