Thomas Spencer Vaughan Phillips

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Acting Admiral Sir Tom Phillips

Admiral Sir Thomas "Tom" Spencer Vaughan Phillips KCB (February 19, 1888-December 10, 1941) had a successful career in the Royal Navy. He was nicknamed "Tom Thumb" owing to his short stature. He is best known for his command of Force Z during the Japanese invasion of Malaya, where he went down with his flagship, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales.

[edit] Early and private life

Phillips was the son of Colonel Thomas Vaughan Wynn Phillips, Royal Artillery. His mother, Louisa Mary Adeline de Horsey Phillips, was daughter of Admiral Sir Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey.

[edit] Navy career

He joined the Royal Navy in 1903 as a sea cadet. He became a midshipman in 1904, was promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1907, and to lieutenant in July 1908.

In the First World War, he served on destroyers in the Mediterranean and in the Far East. He attended the staff college for one year from June 1919, and was a military adviser at the League of Nations from 1920 to 1922. He was promoted Commander in June 1921, and Captain in June 1927. In 1932, he was appointed assistant director of the plan division in the Admiralty. In 1938, he was promoted Commodore and in January 1939 Rear Admiral, commanding the destroyer flotillas of the Home Fleet.

From 1 June 1939 until 21 October 1941, Phillips was Deputy and then Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. He gained the confidence of Winston Churchill, who had him appointed Acting Vice Admiral in February 1940. In July 1941, Phillips helped to undermine the credibility of the first Inquiry into the sinking of HMS Hood. When passed the file containing the findings of the first Board of Inquiry, Phillips comments in the minutes:

"the report contains the findings of the Court, but not the evidence on which those findings are based...unfortunately it transpired that no shorthand notes of the evidence were taken. At my request, however, the Court have produced a summary of evidence...This summary is, I understand, compiled from short notes kept by members of the Court at the time. This matter of the blowing up of the "HOOD" is one of the first importance to the Navy. It will be discussed for years to come and important decisions as to the design of ships must rest on the conclusions that are arrived at. This being so, it seems to me that the most searching inquiry is necessary in order to obtain every scrap of evidence we can as to the cause of the explosion. I regret to state that in my opinion the report as rendered by this Board does not give me confidence that such a searching inquiry has been carried out; in particular the failure to record the evidence of the various witnesses of the event strikes me as quite extraordinary. It may be that in years to come... our successors may wish to look back at the records of the loss of the HOOD, and it is in the words of those who actually saw the event rather than in the conclusions drawn by any Committee that they would be likely to find matter of real value. In my view the matter is of such importance that a further Board of Inquiry should be held; that all who witnessed the blowing up should be interrogated. I also note that of the three survivors from the HOOD only one was interviewed. This strikes me as quite remarkable. I propose, therefore, that a further Board of Inquiry should be assembled as soon as possible and that the necessary witnesses should be made available. At this enquiry every individual in every ship present who saw the HOOD at or about the time of the blowing up should be fully interrogated."

It was this attention to detail and refusal to accept anything less than the complete scrutiny of a wartime disaster which won Churchill's respect and confidence. His comment that "It may be that in years to come... our successors may wish to look back at the records of the loss of the HOOD" demonstrated remarkable foresight on his part.

[edit] Force Z

Phillips was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Fleet in late 1941, an action which raised some controversy in the higher echelons of the Royal Navy, where he was considered a "desk admiral". He was appointed Acting Admiral, and he took to sea on 25 October 1941 en route to his headquarters in Singapore. He travelled with a naval detachment then designated as Force G, consisting of his flagship, the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales, together with the veteran World War I era battlecruiser HMS Repulse, and the four destroyers HMS Electra, HMS Express, HMS Encounter, and HMS Jupiter. It was intended that the new aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable would also travel out to Singapore, but she ran around on her maiden voyage in the West Indies, and was not ready to sail from England with the other ships. Phillips and the vessels arrived in Singapore on 2 December 1941, where they were re-designated Force Z.

Prince of Wales (left, front) and HMS Repulse (left, behind) under Japanese air attack on 10 December 1941. A destroyer, either HMS Electra or Express, is maneuvering in the foreground.

Without a formal declaration of war, the Japanese landed in Malaya on 8 December 1941, on the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbour (on the other side of the International Date Line). Phillips had long held the opinion that aircraft were no threat to surface ships, and so he took Force Z, consisting of HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Repulse, and four destroyers (HMS Electra, HMS Express, HMAS Vampire and HMS Tenedos) to intercept the Japanese without air cover. He was unable to find the Japanese, but the Japanese submarine I-65 spotted them as they returned to Singapore. Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by Japanese air attack on 10 December 1941 by 86 Japanese bombers and torpedo bombers from the 22nd Air Flotilla based at Saigon. The destroyers saved 2,081 of the 2,921 crew on the stricken capital ships, but lost were 326 crew from his flagship. Captain John Catterall Leach and Philips went down with their ship.

[edit] References

• Mark M. Boatner: The Biographical Dictionary of World War II. - Presidio Press, Novato CA, 1996. – ISBN 0-89141-548-3
• H. G. Thursfield: Phillips, Sir Tom Spencer Vaughan (1888–1941). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. – Oxford und New York, 1959

• Part of this article are based on a translation of the equivalent article of the German Wikipedia, dated 28 September 2006

[edit] External links

• Tom Phillips from the "Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives"
• "Order of Battle/Force Z/10 December 1941 (en.)
• "St Andrew's Cathedral" in Singapore (en.)