 On 25 October Prince of Wales and a destroyer escort left home waters bound for Singapore , there to rendezvous with the battlecruiser Repulse and the aircraft carrier Indomitable . Indomitable however ran aground off Jamaica a few days later and was unable to proceed . Calling at Freetown and Cape Town South Africa to refuel and generate publicity , Prince of Wales also stopped in Mauritius and the Maldive Islands . Prince of Wales reached Colombo , Ceylon , on 28 November , joining Repulse the next day . On 2 December the fleet docked in Singapore . Prince of Wales then became the flagship of Force Z , under the command of Vice @-@ Admiral Sir Tom Phillips . 
