would continue on to their destination in Japanese waters
That journey was an epic one, full of insane shenanigans so bad that the other fleet they were supposed to reinforce did even try to mislead them about their whereabouts at one point in order to be spared that kind of “reinforcement”.
Look up “2nd Pacific squadron”, there is plenty of material on them online, especially some very hilarious Youtube videos.
One reason for that journey becoming a prolonged shitshow of shenanigans was the anticipated possibility of the UK denying them passage through the Suez Canal as a result the Dogger Bank Incident, so they went all the way around Africa.
That journey was an epic one, full of insane shenanigans so bad that the other fleet they were supposed to reinforce did even try to mislead them about their whereabouts at one point in order to be spared that kind of “reinforcement”.
Look up “2nd Pacific squadron”, there is plenty of material on them online, especially some very hilarious Youtube videos.
One reason for that journey becoming a prolonged shitshow of shenanigans was the anticipated possibility of the UK denying them passage through the Suez Canal as a result the Dogger Bank Incident, so they went all the way around Africa.
They were never heading for the Suez Canal; the battleships ended up with a bigger draught than intended, and thus wouldn’t fit.