63-year-old Mystery Of The Missing Midget Sub Solved

Sun Herald

Sunday November 20, 2005

By FRANK WALKER

INVESTIGATORS believe they have found the missing third Japanese midget submarine that attacked Sydney Harbour 63 years ago.

The midget submarine, numbered M24, fired the torpedo that sunk HMAS Kuttabul on May 31, 1942, killing 21 sailors sleeping on board.

What happened to the M24 and its two crewmen after the attack has been one of the most enduring mysteries of Sydney Harbour.

While the two other midget subs involved in the attack were recovered with the crew dead, the M24 disappeared soon after firing its torpedoes.

It was tracked going out through the booms that stretched across the harbour from Watsons Bay, but it never reached its mother submarine waiting off Botany Bay.

Now a documentary filmmaker says he has discovered what could be the final resting place of the M24, under shifting sands not far from Sydney Heads.

Damien Lay, who has just had a documentary on the midget submarine attack, He's Coming South, screened on Foxtel's History Channel, said yesterday he had followed clues, sightings and documentation to a site 20 metres under Sydney waters.

He said sonar readings and tests for metals had pinpointed an object that was the size and shape of a midget submarine just below the sand.

Mr Lay will reveal the exact location in a live broadcast on the History Channel, Fox 8 and Sky TV on November 28.

Mr Lay has been chasing the mystery for three years and eventually followed clues that went against the old theories.

"A diver I met said he found a wreck partly sticking out of the sand 15 years ago that could be the M24. We searched for seven months to find the spot again, but it was covered in sand.

"It is a difficult site to explore. We have done a lot of work with seismic equipment and sidescan sonar, magnetometers and visual inspections and there is very good evidence to suggest this is the missing M24."

The remains of M24's two crew, Sub-Lieutenant Katisuhisa Ban, 24, and Petty Officer Mamoru Ashibe, 25, could still be entombed in the submarine.

"If it is the M24, then it is a war grave and it is up to the Japanese what should be done," Mr Lay said.

One of the few survivors of the attack on HMAS Kuttabul said if the M24 were found and it contained the remains of Japanese seamen, they should be treated with honour and respect.

Neil Roberts, 81, survived the sinking only because he was sleeping on deck when the torpedo from M24 hit.

"What those men did was incredibly brave and they deserve to be treated with full naval honours," Mr Roberts said.

"They left families and did their duty, just as the 21 men who were killed on HMAS Kuttabul."

THE NIGHT OF MAY 31, 1942

* Three Japanese midget subs, each with two crew, sneaked into Sydney Harbour to attack warships near Garden Island.

* One got stuck in boom netting and the crew blew themselves up. Another was spotted by patrol boats and depth charged at Taylors Bay before the crew shot themselves.

* The third sub, M24, reached Bradleys Head and fired two torpedoes at the American cruiser USS Chicago. Both narrowly missed. One hit Garden Island and didn't explode while the other hit the converted Manly ferry HMAS Kuttabul.

* Nineteen Australian and two British sailors were killed.

* M24 was never seen again after nearing the Heads.

© 2005 Sun Herald

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