ANOTHER SHIP SUNK

Southland Times, Issue 24764, 8 June 1942, Page 5

ANOTHER SHIP SUNK

ATTACK OFF N.S.W. COAST

(Rec. 9.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, June 7. Another Australian merchantman has been torpedoed and sunk off the New South Wales coast 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 Allied planes seconds after the torpedoing, and is believed to have been sunk. Swooping to within 20 feet of the water a plane dropped three bombs, the third of which is said to have caused an explosion within the submarine.

The five survivors from the torpedoed ship were landed at an Australian port. They were rescued by a ship that was following and was within sight when the submarine was attacked. The search for 12 men still missing from the first cargo ship attacked and sunk by an enemy submarine on Wednesday will be continued until all hope has vanished.

The hunt for enemy submarines has been extended ovei 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. Another enemy submarine was sunk off the east coast on Saturday. Enemy losses since the beginning of the submarine drive in the Tasman Sea are seven and probably eight, including those sunk in Sydney Harbour. The

exact time and place of the latest sinking i snot given for tactical reasons, but it is believed to have been off the New South Wales coast. The news of the sinking was contained in the following communique issued on Sunday: “An Allied plane bombed and destroyed an enemy submarine. This brings the enemy’s losses in his submarine drive in this sector to seven and probably eight.” 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. The torpedo exploded 200 yards beyond the ship and showered it with fragments. The ship was the third of those attacked by the Japanese off th" New South Wales coast on Wednesday. Members of the crew of the vessel said the torpedo was fired at point blank range. It exploded with a shattering roar and shook the ship from stem to stem. Bright yellow flashes lit up the scene. No one was injured but some of the crew had narrow escapes when one large fragment crashed through a hatch. SUBMARINES RAISED

A message from the special Australian correspondent of the New Zealand Press Association states that the wreckage of a second Japanese submarine sunk in Sydney Harbour has been raised. 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 motors, propellors and conning tower. In the first submarine raised a section had been destroyed by depth charges. The explosion killed the crew and blew 15 feet of the stern of the submarine to pieces. 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 tubes is still on the harbour floor. This submarine, which 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 until 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 crash-dived when 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 floating crane attempted to lift the submarine 42 feet from the bed of the harbour. DETAILS OF CRAFT The second submarine is believed to be identical with the first, having a length of 75 feet, and a beam of seven feet. These under-water craft could ! carry a maximum crew of six or seven j —but technically they are still midget | submarines. Their range is estimated at i 300 miles. Net-cutters are fixed to the ; after as well as to the nose section of : the submarine. The propellors 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.