USEFUL PART

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 October 1943, Page 3

USEFUL PART

PLAYED BY NEW ZEALAND . SHIP. TN DESTROYING JAPANESE SUBMARINE. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The part played by another New Zealand naval unit, H.M.N.Z.S. Tui, commanded by Lieutenant-Command-er J. G. Hilliard, in the sinking of a large Japanese submarine, is told in the story of the attack on and subsequent destruction of the submarine now released by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones. The submarine was slightly larger than the one sunk by the New Zealand corvettes Kiwi and Moa. It had a normal displacement of 2563 tons, and carried a crew of 97 officers and men.

When the submarine was detected the Tui made an investigation and dropped depth charges. Contact was lost after this attack, but over an hour later smoke was observed in the general direction in which the depth charges had been made. The ship returned and sighted an object which appeared to be a submarine’s conning tower. Later, the submarine was seen to be on the surface emitting much smoke and making off at speed. The Tui opened fire with her 4-inch guns, and. it is believed a hit was obtained at extreme range. The Tui at full speed was unable to gain on the submarine, but an aircraft dropped a series of depth charges after which the submarine was seen to sink at a sharp angle. A few minutes later two heavy underwater explosions were heard.

The Tui entered a dense patch of oil and searched the area in darkness, during which six Japanese survivors were rescued, and taken away for interrogation.

Survivors indentified the submarine as that which shelled tanks near Santa Barbara, California, in February, 1942.

They also stated that the depth chaige attack of the Tui damaged the submarine before its final destruction by the aircraft. The Tui has been congratulated by the New Zealand Naval Board and the Admiralty on her part in detecting the submarine and bringing about its destruction.