HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1942, Page 3

HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE

SECOND AUSTRALIAN SHIP TORPEDOED ATTACKING SUBMARINE SUNK BY PLANE. SEARCH FOR FURTHER ENEMY CRAFT. I (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) MELBOURNE, June 7. Another Australian merchantman has been torpedoed and sunk off the coast of New South Wales by a Japanese submarine. The ship broke in two and sank within a minute, and only five men out of the crew of 43 have been saved. The submarine was attacked by an Allied plane seconds after the torpedoing and is believed to have been sunk. Swooping to within 20 feet of the water., the plane dropped three bombs, the third of which is said to have caused an explosion within the submarine. The announcement of this latest sinking of a submarine is given in the following communique, which was issued today:— “An Allied plane ,has bombed and destroyed an enemy submarine. This brings the enemy’s losses in his submarine drive in this sector to seven, with a probable eighth.” < The five survivors from the second torpedoed ship have been landed at an Australian port. They were rescued by a ship that was following and was within sight when the submarine was attacked. The hunt for enemy submarines has extended over so wide an area that the detection of any remaining submarines is confidently anticipated if they have not fled to the safety of their own waters. A search for 12 men who are still missing from the first cargo ship which was attacked and sunk by an enemy submarine on Wednesday will be continued till all hope has vanished. “We dive-bombed him from 700 feet and gave him everything we had,” said Flight Lieutenant John Hitchcock, Sydney, 22-year-old pilot of the R.A.A.F. bomber which destroyed a Japanese submarine off the coast of New South Wales on Friday. “The submarine was practically right in front of me when I saw the wake of his periscope. It seemed too good to be true. The'submarine itself was not visible. We circled round while we got a line on him, and then let go a salvo of four bombs. “We scored a direct hit on the target five feet behind the periscope. A huge column of |Wat er and debris shot up into the air and then a patch of oil appeared where the submarine had been.” , , This plane has returned to its patrol duties after refuelling at the base. The crew believe they saw another submarine crash-dive, but they could find no later feign of it. A torpedo fired by a Japanese submarine scraped the keel of an Australian merchant vessel off the New South Wales coast on Thursday morning, but the ship escaped and the torpedo exploded 200 yards beyond the ship and showered it with fragments. The ship was the tail’d of those attacked by the Japanese off the coast of New South Wales. Members of the crew of the vessel said the torpedo was fired at pointblank range. It exploded with a shattering roar and shook the ship from stem to stern. Bright yellow flashes lit up the scene. No one was injured, but some ot the crew had narrow escapes when one large fragment crashed though a hatch.

TWO SALVAGED ENEMY SUBMARINES AT SYDNEY. OTHER TWO LEFT IN DEEP WATER (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. Of .the seven, probably eight, Japanese submarines sunk in Australian waters since last Sunday (May 31) four were destroyed in Sydney Harbour and three, probably four, off the New South Wales coast, including one sunk by a Dutch pilot and one by the R.A.A.F. Four bodies have been recovered from the two Japanese _ submarines which have now been raised from the bed of Sydney Harbour. There were two men in each submarine. The second submarine, raised on Saturday, is believed by experts to have been hit by shellfire. It is badly battered. The whole forepart has been blasted away and only the stern is intact. American and Australian submarine and torpedo experts will dismantle and examine the two wrecks.. According to American naval officers, the craft are practically identical with some that raided Pearl Harbour. The Navy now has complete specimens of the forward and after sections of these new Japanese midget craft. Further details will not be released till a close inspection has been made by experts. „ The conning-tower hatch of the second submarine was open. It is believed that the craft must have crashdived when fired on by a naval vessel and the crew had no time to close the hatches. Later, depth charges must have scored direc I hits; leaving the forward section a mass of twisted metal. This fell away when a huge floating crane attempted to lift the submarine 42 feet from the bed of the harbour. . , , The second submarine is believed to be identical with the first, having a length of 75 feet and a beam of 7 met. These underwater craft could carry a maximum crew of six or seven—but technically they are still midget submarines. ■ Their range is estimated a< 300 miles. Net cutters are fixed to the after as well as to the nose section of the submarine. The propellers are protected from net entanglements by a steel framework. , , , The wreckage of the third and fourth midget submarines sunk in the harbour have now been located, but it is not expected that any immediate attempt will be made to raise them Both are stated to be in very deep water at the harbour approaches.