Three Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines, each with a two-member crew, entered Sydney Harbour on 31 May – 1 June 1942. Two of the submarines were detected and attacked before they could engage any Allied vessels. The crew of M-14 scuttled their submarine, whilst m-21 was successfully attacked and sunk. The third submarine attempted to torpedo the heavy cruiser USS Chicago, but instead sank the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors.
About Attack on Sydney Harbour in brief
Three Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines, each with a two-member crew, entered Sydney Harbour on 31 May – 1 June 1942. Two of the submarines were detected and attacked before they could engage any Allied vessels. The crew of M-14 scuttled their submarine, whilst m-21 was successfully attacked and sunk. These submarines were later recovered by the Allies. The third submarine attempted to torpedo the heavy cruiser USS Chicago, but instead sank the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors. The midget submarine attacks and subsequent bombardments are among the best-known examples of Axis naval activity in Australian waters during World War II, and are the only occasion in history when either city has come under attack. The physical effects were slight: the Japanese had intended to destroy several major warships, but sank only an unarmed depot ship and failed to damage any significant targets during the bombardments. The main impact was psychological; creating popular fear of an impending Japanese invasion and forcing the Australian military to upgrade defences, including the commencement of convoy operations to protect merchant shipping. The naval officer-in-charge of Sydney Harbour at the time of the attack was Rear Admiral Gerard Muirhead-Gould of the Royal Navy. The Japanese had originally intended to use six submarines in the attack on Sydney Harbour: B1-type submarines I-21, I-27, I-28, and I-29, and C1- type submarines I 22 and I 24.
The six submarines made up the Eastern Attack Group of the 8th Submarine Squadron, under the command of Captain Hankyu Sasaki. On 8 June 1942, two of the submarine groups bombarded the ports of Sydney and Newcastle, killing 50 sailors. On 11 May, four submarines were ordered to proceed to the Japanese naval base at Truk Lagoon, in the Caroline Islands, to each receive a Ko-Hyotki-classMidget submarine. On 17 May, one submarine failed to reach Truk; she was torpedoed on the surface by the US submarine USS Tautog on 17 May. On 20 May, three remaining submarines left Truk around 20 May for a point south of the Solomon Islands. I-24 was forced to return a day later when an explosion in her midget Submarine’s battery compartment killed the midget’s navigator and injured the commander. On 21 May, the second midget, I-29 went to Sydney, Australia, while I-22 and I 28 went to New Caledonia, Suva in Fiji, and Auckland in New Zealand. On 22 May, the midget submarine I-23 was ordered to go to Truk, where she was sunk the next day by a U.S. submarine USS Adelaide. On 23 May, the third midget sub, M-24, was ordered to go to New Zealand, where it was sunk by a US submarine the following day.
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