The Tale of Force Z and the Overly-Diligent Search Plane

At 10:15 on 10 December 1941, a Japanese search plane piloted by Second Lieutenant Hoashi Masane sighted the Prince of Wales and Repulse and their Force Z off the east coast of Malaya, and reported its coordinates and course to base and to the many Japanese bombers already aloft impatiently waiting for just that news. The interesting thing is, though, that Lieutenant Hoashi should not have even been there. His sighting report led to the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse just hours later. By way of a bit of background, on 2 December 1941 Force Z arrived at Singapore, just before the Ja…