Japanese Submarine Raiders 1942 by Steven L. Carruthers

Author:Steven L. Carruthers [Carruthers, Steven L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History - Australian, History - Military - World War II
ISBN: 9781742982960
Publisher: Casper Publications
Published: 2013-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

Shortly before 12:30 am on 1 June, Lieutenant Ban surfaced again off Bradley’s head, and fired two torpedoes at Chicago. The first passed narrowly ahead of the heavy cruiser moored at No 2 Buoy in Man-of-War Anchorage, continuing on to pass under the Dutch submarine K-9 and HMAS Kuttabul, permanently moored alongside the wharf on the south-eastern side of Garden island, before detonating against the sea retaining wall. The resulting explosion deflected upwards and outwards, ripping through the wooden barracks vessel as if she were a matchbox. The explosion also splintered the Navy dive boat and severely damaged the Dutch submarine, which had been berthed outside of the former ferry vessel and sheltered to some extent from the main blast.The explosion sank Kuttabul, killing 21 Australian and British naval ratings and injuring another 10.

The second torpedo passed astern of Chicago and ran aground on Garden Island below the high water mark, but it failed to detonate. The torpedo was discovered later that morning at low tide. Lieutenant-Commander L. E. C. Hinchliffe, the Officer-in-Charge of maintenance on Muirhead-Gould’s staff, examined the torpedo and found the warhead completely broken off and the yellow entrails of explosives clearly visible.

Meanwhile, at Man-of-War Anchorage, Captain Bode had returned to Chicago shortly before all ships were ordered to be darkened. Lieutenant-Commander Mecklenburg recounted after the war that Bode doubted that a submarine had been seen by the ship’s crew and ordered the ship to secure from General Quarters and preparations to get underway. At the same time, USS Perkins, which had been screening the heavy cruiser, was ordered back to her buoy in Man-of-War Anchorage by Captain Bode.

The captain went to his quarters and Lt Varviorsky [Officer-of-the-Deck] and I went up to the ship’s bridge and waited. In approximately an hour we spotted two torpedo wakes approaching the ship. The Perkins also reported the wakes. Both torpedoes missed Chicago and Perkins, but destroyed the Kuttabul. The captain reached the bridge at the time Kuttabul exploded. He immediately commenced operations to get underway and ordered the Perkins underway. He sent me to Garden Island in the captain’s gig to request instructions from the admiral. The admiral was well aware that there were submarines in the harbour and suggested that I should tell my commanding officer to take US forces to sea. When I returned to the mooring, the Chicago was underway and proceeding out of the harbour. The ship stopped and picked up the gig and I went to the bridge and informed the captain of the admiral’s orders.

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