Angus Konstam's Sinking Force Z 1941 is a useful study of the Japanese attack, though its subtitle repeats the familiar claim that the Imperial Japanese Navy killed the battleship. Aircraft had already damaged capital ships at Taranto, Mers-el-Kebir, during the Bismarck episode, and off Norway. Navies also continued building and using battleships after Prince of Wales and Repulse were lost. The title works as marketing, but the event does not support a clean before-and-after story about the battleship's death.
Chapter · 1:20-3:06
Force Z and the claim that air power killed the battleship
Earlier air attacks and continued battleship construction challenge the familiar claim that Force Z marked the battleship's death.