SYDNEY RAIDERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 133, 8 June 1942, Page 5

SYDNEY RAIDERS

SECOND SUBMARINE RAISED

(By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyrioht.) (Special Australian Correspondent,) SYDNEY, June 7. The wreckage oi! a second Japanese submarine eunk in Sydney Harbour has been raised. The bodies of members of the crew were recovered from this submarine as well as from the submarine salvaged earlier. The entire after-section of the second submarine was salvaged, complete with the motors, propellers, and conning-tower. In the first submarine raised this section had been destroyed by 1 depth charges. The explosion killed the crew and blew 15 feet of the stern of the first submarine to pieoes. Depth charges had blown the second submarine in two just a few feet forward of the | conning-tower. The bow, with the torpedoes in their lubes, is still on the harbour floor. The submarine whicTi is believed to have been the first sunk in the harbour raid was found half a mile from the craft recovered earlier. 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. HATCH FOUND OPEN. The conning-tower hatch of the 'second submarine was open., It is believed that the craft must have crash-dived whsn fired on by a naval vessel, and the crew had no time to close the hatches. Later, depth charges must have scored direct hits, leaving the forward section a mass of twisted metal. This fell away when a huge Boating crane attempted to lift j the submarine 42 feet from the bed of the -harbour. I The second submarine is believed .to be identical with the first, having a length of 75 i'eet and a beam of 7 feet. These underwater craft could carry ;i maximum crew of six or seven—but I technically Uioy are siill mid,set sub- ! marines. Their raiu;e is estimated <it ! 390 mi let. ' Net cutters are fixed to the after j aa well as to the nose section of the j submarine. The propellers are pro-

tected 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.