OCEAN SEARCH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1942, Page 3

OCEAN SEARCH

MADE BY ALLIED PLANES & NAVAL UNITS FOR JAPANESE MOTHER SHIP. FROM WHICH SUBMARINES RAIDED SYDNEY. LONDON, June 2. Allied aircraft and naval units are searching the ocean for the Japanese mother ship from which enemy midget submarines operated in their abortive raid on Sydney Harbour. Already the search has covered a wide area. The Australian casualties are six killed, 10 injured and 14 missing. The whole of the casualties occurred on a former ferry steamer which was in use as a naval depot ship. As a result of the attack even more intensive precautions will be taken in the future. The Japanese have now forfeited the surprise value of such tactics.

ENEMY CRAFT WRECKAGE OF TWO FOUND. ATTACK ON OLD HARBOUR VESSEL. SYDNEY, June 2. The wreckage of two of the three enemy submarines which were destroyed by Allied forces when they made their unsuccessful raid on Sydney Harbour on Sunday night have been recovered. This is revealed in the latest communique from the Allied headquarters. The approximate position of the third submarine is believed to be known. One of the recovered midget submarines is believed to be fairly intact. Divers discovered the craft late yesterday resting in the slime on the harbour bottom. A torpedo was visible in its tube. A thick steel hawser was affixed to the submarine, which has subsequently been raised. In addition to the torpedo which sank the harbour vessel, a second torpedo landed on the foreshore without exploding. It was later rendered harmless by a bomb disposal squad.

STORIES OF SURVIVORS.

Vivid descriptions of the torpedoing of the harbour vessel were given today by men who were on the sunken ferry. Two New Zealanders, Messrs L. A. Linton and A. P. Bradley, who were asleep on the vessel when the torpedo struck, say they owe their lives to the presence of the nearby vessel. They said that when awakened by the terrific noise of the explosion and rushing water which followed it, they looked out of a wind'ow near where their hammocks were swung, and saw a nearby vessel rising. Mr Bradley said: “When I saw the other ship going up, I knew 1 that could not be right. I woke up to the fact that it was us going down and not the other vessel going up. I jumped from the hammock and landed among broken glass. I tried to help the others. We were fortunate to get out.” Mr Linton said that when he realised what was happening he dived through a window against the rush of water, came to the surface and swam ashore, amid a great mass of wreckage. An eyewitness who saw the explosion said he saw the harbour vessel lift as though on the top of an enormous wave, and then settle down, sinking at the stern. “I saw pieces of wood flying in the air, the side of a building behind the ship caved in, and there were blue flashes from inside the building,” he. said. Another torpedo which exploded against the foreshore threw up a column of water 150 feet high. Wooden piles 50 feet long and 12 feet in circumference were torn from the harbour bed and flung 60 feet on to the shore. Ferry-boats on the habour at the time stopped in midstream. Passengers on one ferry claim to have seen a submarine periscope in the beams of several searchlights. This submarine .is presumed to have, been sunk by gunfire. The windows of some residences nearby were broken by the force of the explosions and articles on the shelves were thrown to the floor. Today the wreckage of the damaged harbour vessel is being cleared away. Onlookers say the vessel appeared to break in halves. The stern sank first, the .bow remaining afloat for about half an hour. It then settled down, leaving’ only the top deck and superstructure above the water.