Sydney harbour, attack on

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

Sydney harbour, attack on, night raid by three Japanese midget submarines which, on 31 May 1942, tried to torpedo Allied warships in this large natural harbour in south-east Australia. The alarm was raised after one of the midget submarines became tangled in anti-torpedo netting and scuttled itself. The US cruiser Chicago fired at another, but her shells only caused damage ashore. After firing its torpedoes—one was a dud, the other hit an accommodation ship, killing nineteen seamen—this submarine disappeared, and the two-man crew of the third committed suicide after being hunted for some hours. The Japanese submarines which had transported the midgets shelled Sydney and Newcastle, and sank three merchantmen, before departing. One midget submarine was exhibited around Australia in 1942 as a boost to public morale when Australian troops were fighting on the Kokoda trail during the New Guinea campaign.

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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Sydney harbour, attack on." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Sydney harbour, attack on." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-Sydneyharbourattackon.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Sydney harbour, attack on." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-Sydneyharbourattackon.html

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