Talk:QF 2-pounder Octuple Pom-pom Gun Mount/@comment-93.32.243.174-20160814131159/@comment-51.9.54.74-20160829185545

Repulse and PoW were sunk due to a variety of reasons all coming together, not just due to the performance of the pom poms. They were suffering from degraded ammunition and faulty radars during the battle due to the equipment not being designed for tropical conditions, as well as having barely any AA guns like most capital ships of the time. Later in the war, the pom poms were equipped with properly working ammunition, better fire directors and were equipped in much larger numbers.

As the poster above me also mentioned, they were pretty effective against kamikaze aircraft too. They struggled to hit most regular bombers due to their low muzzle velocity, but against kamikaze aircraft their combination of high effective RoF, large numbers (compared to the Bofors) and great stopping power due to shell weight meant they were effective defensive weapons.