 The fully operational Naval Base was opened by Sir Shenton Thomas, the then Singapore Governor on 14 February 1938; it was the largest Dockyard outside the British Naval Base.The battleship HMS "Prince of Wales" and the battlecruiser HMS "Repulse" with four destroyers forming the "Z" force landed in Singapore's Naval Base on 2 December 1941.Following the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese also bought Johore coastlines just opposite the Naval Base and attacked the two warships unexpectedly.