At 0318 hours, destroyers HMS...

history · 27 January 1942 · 82 years ago

At 0318 hours, destroyers HMS Thanet and HMAS Vampire engaged Japanese cruiser Sendai and six destroyers, which were protecting the troop transports that the two Allied destroyers were aiming to sink, off British Malaya; in the ensuing Battle of Endau, Japanese troop transports Kansai Maru and Kanbera Maru were damaged. At 0400 hours, HMS Thanet was sunk; 38 were killed, 67 survived and were rescued by friendly forces, and 31 survived and were captured by the Japanese. Also in eastern Malaya, British gunboats HMS Dragonfly and HMS Scorpion evacuated 1,500 British troops from Rengit and transported them to Singapore. 

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