OT Japanese Midget Sub Found
 

The japanese midget sub, M24 who with two other subs made a daring night time raid in Sydney harbour in March of 1942 has been found after 64 years.
Divers found the wreck which is believed to still hold the remains of its two crew, Sub-Lieutentant Katsuhisa Ban and Petty Officer Namori Ashibe in 70 metres of water off Sydneys northern beaches.
The other two subs were damaged and sunk by depth charges, the crew of one of them committing suicide.
The target of their attack was the USS Chicargo, the torpedoes meant for it hit the HMAS Kuttabul, an accomodation ferry, 19 naval ratings died.
The M24 escaped the harbour and appears to have headed north, but either the damage was to great (it appears to have bullet holes in the conning tower) or it's batteries gave out, the crew most probably committed suicide.
The mother sub, later shelled Sydneys eastern suburbs, damaging a store and demolishing a back yard toilet.

The subs also partoled the east coast of Australia for a month or two sinking ships (including a hospital ship), laying mines and doing to occasional shore bombardment.

They caused major headaches for the armed forces, as they deverted resources from the efforts against the the Japanese in New Guinea. It also palyed havoc with the shipping.

really? which ASW assets were diverted from operations over the Kokoda track to hunt a sub off Sydney/Brisbane?

I'd be interested in this info. too.

The hospital ship was the Centaur, it was sunk off Moreton Island which is about 20 kilometers off Caloundra (my hometown which in turn is 100 kilometres north of Brisbane in Queensland). I took my wife (who is Japanese) for a drive around Caloundra and she saw the memorial for the people who had died, she cried a bit after I explained the story to her. Like most Japanese she thought that the war was only between Japan and the US. If I remember correctly, most of the survivors were taken by sharks.

Maybe getting off topic, but in those days Caloundra was really remote so getting to the survivors would have taken ages. Also the famous (for Australians anyway), 'Brisbane Line' passes through the town.

Thanks. Any info. on which resources were diverted from operations over the Kokoda track ?

Hi John, this may be of help to you.

http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thes...05chapter4.pdf


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_na...tralian_waters

Thanks Bill, good read !

There is a memorial to one of the nurses that lost her life on the Centaur at the back of my church. The Australian War memorial also has a small display on it, it's near where the midget sub is.