Both HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, sunk by Japanese torpedo plane attacks on 10 December 1941, had 8 barrel pom-poms. POW very quickly lost power to its 5.5" AA batteries, leaving only the pom-poms working, but they were let down by the ammunition. The following extracts from "The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse", Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney, 1977:
"A further difficulty was that many of the pom-poms were having problems with their ammunition: their small shells were becoming separated from their cartridges while being fed into the quick-firing weapons and were jamming the barrels. There were frequent stoppages; one of POW's pom-poms suffered twelve such failures, another suffered eight. This was particularly unfortunate because the low-flying Japanese aircraft were ideal targets for pom-poms. The weapon mounted on top of B Turret jammed just as one of the Japanese aircraft swept low over POW's bow, and the officer in charge, Lt Ian Forbes, later claimed that 'this could have been shot down with ease'."
"As the Japanese flew in those 4-in. guns that could bear opened fire and were soon joined by the close range weapons. These, too, had their troubles, however; the best placed pom-pom immediately had stoppages in six of its eight barrels because of separated cartridges - the same complaint suffered by POW's pom-poms. The only other pom-pom's electrical motor had been damaged by the earlier bomb hit and the changeover to manual operation had not yet ben implemented. The result of all these problems was that the Repulse was able to put up only the weakest of barrages."
Tom.
