SUDDEN ALARM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1942, Page 3

SUDDEN ALARM

GUNS QUICKLY IN ACTION SUBMARINE CAUGHT BY SEARCHLIGHTS. FERRY PASSENGERS GET GRANDSTAND VIEW. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, June 1. The official communique covering the submarine attack on Sydney gives little detail pf the time of the attempted raid or of the precise location. Neither were details of the type of enemy midget submarine given. Residents in the harbour front suburbs heard a loud explosion, and immediately the harbour was illuminated from all sides by strong searchlights. Residences were shaken by the concussion of exploding depth-charges, and ferry travellers and residents were startled by bursts of light-calibre gunfire. A vessel which was mentioned as damaged was a harbour vessel. Passengers on a passing ferry steamer had a grandstand view. Searchlight beams flooded the harbour, and immediately came the sharp, cracking bursts of small-calibre guns and then the deeper crash of heavier guns, and tracer bullets flew across the surface of the water. Into the concentrated beams came a periscope and the upper portion of the conning-tower of a submarine, which was under observation from the ferry for fully a minute, the periscope showing grey against the silver sheen of the illuminated water.