Japanese midget submarine
On the night of 31 May 1942, three Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney Harbour, hoping to sink Allied warships. One of the submarines sunk HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors on board. Two of the three submarines were destroyed in the harbour, and the third disappeared and was only discovered in 2006 off Sydney’s northern beaches.
Launched from a larger ‘mother’ submarine, the midget submarines were 24 metres long, powered by electric batteries and had a two-man crew. They carried two torpedoes in their bow.
The two submarines destroyed in the harbour were raised, and because significant parts were missing from both submarines, a composite submarine was assembled from the parts. The bow section of the submarine comes from submarine Ha-21, which was sunk by depth charges in Taylor’s Bay. The mid-section and the stern section come from Ha-14, which became entangled in submarine nets near the Sydney Harbour entrance. The crew of this submarine blew their submarine apart rather than be captured. The composite submarine toured Australia in 1943 to raise money for the Naval Relief Fund.
The crew's remains were treated with respect. They were provided full military honours by Australia in the hope that the act of goodwill would bode well for Australian prisoners of war in Japanese captivity. The crew's remains were cremated and returned to Japan by their former Ambassador to Australia, where they were accorded hero status.
The Japanese midget submarine’s 4,000km journey to Canberra
The Japanese attack on Sydney Harbour on the night of 31 May 1942 would be the closest that the Japanese fleet would make it to the economic heart of Australia. For many Australians, the midget submarine demonstrated the existence of an immediate threat. Seeing the submarine that had been pulled out of Sydney Harbour was physical proof not only of the force on Australia’s doorstep, but was also evidence that the Australian people were able to subdue this force and make a “circus” out of it.
Image: M-22 being raised by the bows from the Harbour by a floating crane, 10 July 1942
'It was the hairiest thing in the world'
It was the night of 31 May 1942 and three Japanese midget submarines had entered Sydney Harbour.
One of the midget submarines became entangled in the boom net across the harbour and was blown up by its occupants. A second entered the harbour and fired torpedoes at the cruiser USS Chicago. It missed the target, but one torpedo struck the barracks ship HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 men. The submarine then disappeared, its fate a mystery until it was discovered by a group of amateur divers off Sydney's northern beaches in November 2006.
Image: HMAS Kuttabul, a converted Sydney Harbour ferry, on which 21 ratings were killed, shown here after sinking.