The Tiny Submarines that Shocked an Entire Country

The Australian shores first experienced war on the last day of May 1942. Until then, the global conflict had been just a distant rumor. But when the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked Sydney Harbor and surprised everyone, yet another continent had been pulled into the chaos.
An uneasy atmosphere could be felt in the port shortly before midnight, and the sailors in the docked vessels were restless. Some claimed that there was a Japanese submarine in the harbor, but others dismissed the idea.
Even Rear Admiral Gerard Muirhead-Gould of the Royal Navy, in charge of the port that night, sarcastically said: "If you see another sub, see if the captain has a black beard. I'd like to meet him."
Then, a ship exploded.

[@scottcrawford7310]

The think that pissers me off the most is that we fail to teach our history, majority of people don’t know and don’t care about it, and even worse the majority of our Bureaucrats and Politicians have no idea.

[@MrComfyAustralia]

Thank you, I live up the coast in Newcastle which was also attacked.

[@dalehogan1038]

As well as the attack on Sydney Harbour, on the night of 7/8th June 1942 the Japanese submarine I - 21, shelled the city of Newcastle, N.S.W. firing 34 shells. 113 Coastal Battery replied with 4 shells and drove I - 21 away. If you google about this attack you will get more information about it.

[@patrickroohan7633]

Dale Hogan how are you? We were in the same gun crew. You were our No 1. I am on f/b under my own name. Cheers mate!

[@ThatUntitledPublisher]

The best Mashup of the year, tell me a better one ill wait.

[@nathanorchard201]

Always consistent and high quality! Thanks for the videos

[@richardcostello360]

It's actually a really poorly researched video with glaring errors in the names of the vessels involved at the time line

[@jonw3738]

Great video. I was not aware that the IJN attacked Sydney harbor. I will search this further. You always do great work!

[@DeepThought9999]

At the relevant time, my Dad was flying an RAAF training mission with his trainee in a Fairey Battle aircraft near Evans Head NSW when he spotted a large submarine further out to sea. As there was no allied shipping or submarines reported to be in the area at that day’s briefing, he broke off from the training mission and attacked. All his aircraft had on board was the live machine gun rounds fitted for attacking towed aerial targets, no bombs or anything like that but he attacked anyway, forcing the submarine to crash-dive. By the time he got to the submarine, it was underwater so his bullets probably had no effect and did’t do much to disrupt the enemy’s operation. Nevertheless, it was reported by him when he returned to base at Evans Head and patrols were sent out but nothing was found.

[@MichaelBrandon10]

I near guarantee bullets had no effect once a foot under the surface. That's one thing movies get wrong. Stopping power of water's incredible. But salute to your father for going in too courageously give it a shot regardless. Good man!

[@leondillon8723]

No radio?

[@DeepThought9999]

@@leondillon8723 probably radio silence - it was wartime. Unfortunately, I can’t ask him - he passed away 7 years ago.

[@aarons6935]

Yeah sure pal.

[@notbraindead7298]

Another great video by Dark Seas. Very well done!

[@kpskingdom]

One of those submarines now resides in my home city of Canberra at the Australian War Museum. About 10 minutes drive from the KPs Kompound. They are quite large for how they escaped for the best part our crappy defences at the time. Thank you for this informative video and keep up the good work, I am as old as dirt and I am still learning things.

[@1936Studebaker]

Thanks for covering this, it's an important part of my countries history but the attack on Sydney harbour wasn't the first attack on Australia, On the 19th November 1941, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran ("cormorant") engaged each other in a battle off the coast of Western Australia. Then there was The Bombing of Darwin by the Japanese, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942. It was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. Other parts of Australia were also attacked by Japan! WW2 didn't start for us on the last day of May 1942 as you state, it wasn't a distant rumor, we had been fighting in WW2 since 1939 as we are a Commonwealth country! I think you needed to do a little bit more research on this topic before uploading it!

[@I_Cunt_Spell]

asstralia - always backwards...

[@smith5312]

Also Newcastle was shelled and actually had more rounds land in Newcastle that landed in Sydney.

[@exF3-86]

And then there was the attack on Broome... And assorted torpedoings. More research for all!

[@smith5312]

@@exF3-86 exactly ! 👍👍

[@rcaddict3815]

Have you heard of dracenfel? He does alot of warship documentaries and I think he made a video about the comorant

[@PeterEdwards45]

Thank you for your video on midget submarines in Sydney Harbour , my grandfather was in the Sydney [NSW] Water Police and told us many times of chasing the submarines in a lightly armed Police launch, but Mark there are so many inaccuracies in your reporting of Australia's involvement in the early days of WW2 . More research is needed.

[@DanielCPhillips]

It is sobering to think that the IJN managed to fly an observation sea plane around Sydney, as bold as brass, at relatively low level, getting close up photos and drawing diagrams of pretty much everything they wanted to see - and we could not manage to get anything airborne up to do anything about stopping an aircraft that could literally be run down by a Cessna 172 trainer today, and would have been totally outmatched by something as relatively toothless as a Wirraway trainer at the time. Only after a lot of stuffing around, did two US P-39 AirCobras get airborne from Bankstown / HMS Nabberly airodrome to Sydney's west, to eventually even go look for them. Apparently air spotters around Sydney could not tell the difference between a low wing Japanese monoplane and a US operated biplane ,and the alarm was not raised, even though the aircraft was close enough for an observer to almost count the rivets on the aircraft, flying lower than 400 feet / 200 metres above sea level. With this level of disorganisation and incompetence on the allied side, it is a miracle that the japanese did not have a go with the larger submarines and really put the boot in. They probably could have sunk at least a few warships in Sydney harbour and got away with a clean pair of heels if they had.

[@Geebax2]

Yeah, but they didn't, as a raid it was almost a total failure. Kuttabul could have been sunk by a carefully position kick in the slats.

[@stevefindlay7155]

The Japanese also had reconnaissance plane survey Melbourne from a mother ship in Bass strait…

[@DanielCPhillips]

@@Geebax2 You are dead right on that score - it was a waste of lives and equipment for little return on effort. However, the level of panic that was caused in the Sydney population, particularly around parts of Sydney that were shelled by the deck gun, meant that if you were in the right place and the right time, you probably could have bought up half the real estate in suburbs like Sans Souci and Brighton Le Sands for pennies on the pound. So from a propaganda point of view - it really did put the fear of God into the Australian population.

[@crowfurprouductions7545]

Agreed. It truly is saddening

[@markfryer9880]

@@stevefindlay7155 Yes, I know about that flight from two sources, one a documentary and the other an oral history from the daughter of the eye witness. I know from the documentary that the aircraft was spotted over Point Cook Air Base by a Bofors gun crew and unfortunately for the gun crew their officer was trying to ring Victoria Barracks for permission to open fire. Good luck with that early on a Sunday morning! I also know that the aircraft was spotted by a qualified eye witness (Air Raid Warden) flying over Croxton Railway Station in Thornbury. Mark from Melbourne Australia

[@JukeboxGothic]

Both my father and my mothers father watched the action when it was happening. My dad was only a kid and told me it was the greatest show he'd ever seen. Small boats circling, dropping charges. My grandfather had put his daughters under the kitchen table before he went to watch. They lived at Bondi. My dads mother had come to Sydney from Cairns with the kids because they though it would be safer.

[@stevetaylor8298]

Oh my mother lived in Bondi at the time of the shelling of Sydney, she recounted that when she heard the crashes, she got up, put the light on and looked out the window. Poor mum she was life-long embarrassed about that. Dad was a RAAF pilot in Britain at the time. Life was tough.

[@robgraham5697]

Very cool. Did not know about this. Thanks.

[@antoncameron1134]

Father was working at Garden Island Naval Dockyard when one of those sank HMAS Kuttabul.

[@robr2389]

I'm a US NAVY retired submariner. There was a Japanese midget submarine - as I recall, two of them - on display outside the submarine base museum in New London, Connecticut. That museum is definitely worth a visit of you're in the area. It's open to the public and free. Since it's on the submarine base, you have to stop and get a one trip pass. It's for sure worth it if you've got the time.

[@Wooargh]

One of these subs is kept at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. It was outside for decades. As kids we used to play on it. Then they built a hall for it and had it suspended from the ceiling. It's a key exhibit at the most popular museum in Australia. Sadly, like everything else the Australian Public Service touches, the museum has been ruined.

[@robr2389]

@@Wooargh That's shameful. When many people who care about history and the major impact it has had on every one of our lives put so much into trying to preserve it to tell the story, it's allowed to fall into disrepair. I never got to visit Australia. I wish I had. Maybe one day. There's a Civil War museum inside of a store in Galax, Virginia where my late Mother was born and raised. Small, yet VERY much worth the time to check out.

[@Wooargh]

@@robr2389 Oh the actual exhibits are safe, although so many are no longer on display. Australia doesn't have much in the way of art and history, so we take good care of what we do have. And when it comes to military relics we actually have some good stuff. It's the management of the place. This is a small example but it sums it up well: anyone used to be able to go there for free as it's a public museum. You could just walk in the door. In 80 odd years there was never a single problem. Now they have security guards who will record your details and search your bags, and they're doing it directly under the names of the people who died so that we wouldn't have to deal with crap like that. This country has gone to hell.

[@1936Studebaker]

If I remember rightly, it's been many many years since I've been there but we have two of the three midget subs on display the the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, if I'm incorrect someone please correct me on that.

[@Wooargh]

@@1936Studebaker They managed to retrieve the one caught in the nets and the one in which the crew shot themselves from the harbour floor. They apparently pulled both apart to study them then put one back together using parts from both for the display. They chose the blown up section from the sub that self detonated interestingly, even though they could have used the section from the complete sub. Suppose it makes it more dramatic. And it does allow you to look inside too. I'm guessing they would have kept all the parts but no idea if they still know which are from which sub. It was a time of war after all. As for the sub that blew up the ferry, it got away, although we know it didn't make it back to it's mother sub. There's debate about whether it ever intended to. Might have been a suicide mission. Also might have been abandoned. There was a show a couple of years ago claiming it was buried in the mud in an estuary up towards Newcastle. As with most garbage on Australian TV looks like that was an outright lie though. Apparently it was found by amateur divers near Sydney in 2006, but it's location has been kept secret because as Australians we are no longer allowed to know anything. Pack of convicts.

[@MelodicMethod]

A light to guide us...thank you good sir.

[@peterclark7879]

Thank you for covering this my mother was on a hospital ship that was the last ship that departed Sydney harbour before the attack. They only found out about the attack when they docked in Townsville due to radio silence.

[@barryallison16]

Sorry mate , the first attack on Oz was 19 Feb 42 , by the same carrier fleet that attacked Pearl Harbour . The place destroyed , hundreds dead .

[@1936Studebaker]

Thanks Barry, I said the same thing in my post, the research on this topic wasn't done very well. Us Aussies seem to know our war history very well, it seems the rest of the world has forgotten our contribution and that our war started back in 1939!

[@waterheaterservices]

@@1936Studebaker In the USA we are learning how man genders there are and to have Party approved Correct Speech.

[@1936Studebaker]

@@waterheaterservices No disrespect but Australia ain't the USA, I think the USA needs to remember that, it would make the World a lot happier place! Sorry for not being university educated or for not using "correct speech" on the internet if that's what your implying? I didn't have the privilege of a higher education, I left school 37 years ago before computers and the internet existed for general public use and I took up a trade at the age of 15! I think you need to take a look at your grammar because it doesn't even read correctly, I ran that through a grammar check! It looks like 64 other people seem to like what I said, you seem to be the only one on here that not part of the conversation!

[@smith5312]

The attack did NOT take place in summer, the end of May is well into Autumn here in Australia. Just because it’s summer in the USA don’t assume it’s summer everywhere.

[@peteanderson2533]

Surprised they acknowledge Australia exists, aren't we a rumour? lol!

[@smith5312]

@@peteanderson2533 yes indeed we are a rumour.🤣 I used to work at the navy base HMAS Kuttabul for several years and was involved in running the ceremony every year held at the site of the sinking and have actually sat in the wrecked conning tower of the recovered Japanese sub.

[@eboracum2012]

I'm sure several Europeans could be found who aren't clear on seasonal differences between the hemispheres. Quite a few persons, actually, if you're counting.

[@oneangrycanadian6205]

Wow

[@smith5312]

@@WillSnider ummm, you are aware there is difference in seasons between the northern and Southern Hemisphere?

[@primpal08]

Japan just loved those subs . . . and surprise attacks.

[@chrishewitt1165]

The conning tower from one was kept at HMAS Kuttabul when I was there in 2003/04. We brought it out for open days. I'm from Newcastle and my family remembered the shelling by the mothership.

[@elwoogie1963]

Midget sub M-24 could not have attacked "many" ships, since it only carried 2 torpedoes, use of the inherent demolition charge would be the final attack, and could not possibly shell anything, since it didn't have a deck gun.

[@Wooargh]

The midgets didn't have deck guns. The mother ships did though and one did shell some poor bastard's front room in Woollahra at the harbour's entrance. Actually he was probably rich so bugger him.

[@elwoogie1963]

@@Wooargh Indeed, but the video stated it was the midget that did the shelling. Oopsie on the writing.

[@garyfasso6223]

That’s what I thought... “shelled” with what? A pistol? Then he says four torpedo tubes. Huh?

[@movingaboveandbeyond]

Excellent excellent video! Very exciting! So impressive. 😀👍🏻

[@tbarry4990]

Wow .... I had never heard of this as well. Thanks .... I found it very interesting.

[@Mrgunsngear]

Thanks

[@cliffhigson7581]

Up here in queensland off the state capital Brisbane in 1943 a hospital ship the "centaur " was sunk by Japanese submarine and the wreck was discovered in 2008 in 2000 meters of water. Would make a good documentary on here.

[@paulorchard7960]

200 metres, I have seen footage of the wreck and it is draped with trawl nets!

[@georgewnewman3201]

Might I suggest Dr Alexander Clarke or Drachinifel to make that that video instead

[@QurikyBark32919]

I was able to see I-19 in Fredericksburg in December. Crazy to think she and Mikasa are the only surviving IJN naval vessels.

[@Necrodermis]

No there is one other IJN vessel. the icebreaker / patrol / research vessel Sōya (PL107) still floats to this day now as a museum ship and is generally considered the last IJN ship. Though heavily modified during its 39 years of service from 1939 to1978 it is by all means the last IJN ship still floating

[@Someaussie87]

Lol 'Distant Rumour'? Australia had been involved in WW2 since they were at war with Germany the same day as the brits in 1939 being part of the Commonwealth... Bit more than a distant rumour when Australians had been fighting for almost 3 years already. It wasn't even the first attack on Australian soil given Japan had bombed Darwin earlier that year.

[@AdmiralLynx]

Thanks for covering one of the engagements on Australia during the second world war there's a miget sub in the Canberra war memorial museum (though good luck going too see it as that part of the museum is currently closed for renovations)

[@davidash7536]

Good information

[@yetanotherjohn]

I was a boy in middle school living in the Panama Canal Zone. There had been a mini sub attack on the canal during WW2,, the sub was raised and put on display in front of a small museum on what is now called Naos Island. I was able to climb into the sub, I barely fit. It was terrifying to think of the sailors who used it.

[@gregmccartney5780]

One of the mother subs also stood off shore and shelled houses in the eastern suburbs south of the harbour entrance.

[@oldmanriver1955]

My grandfather was working on the new railway bridge at Mooney Point to the north of Sydney and they reported seeing a periscope just days before the attack. Considering the importance of the sole northern railway, they would have been better off destroying the bridge. Some of the artillery shells landed just down the road from my mother's. Destroyed a backyard toilet!!! Scots College decided to establish a country campus and I worked there as a teacher in the 80s - Scots School, Bathurst.

[@leondillon8723]

The USS Barb(SS-220) is the only sub credited with sinking a train."Torpedo Run" by Don Keith. There was an attempt on San Francisco, Calif. Golden Gate Bridge. A beached torp was found after WW II.

[@bearmegmoo]

The torpedo that hit the rocks , the marks from the torpedo are still there.

[@amaccama3267]

Dig your Aussie stories. 🇦🇺👍🇦🇺🤘

[@_R-R]

Even though war was tearing across the globe, honor remained.

[@chrisreardon7185]

My grandparents lived in sydney and they’d telly my parents stories of the sudden explosions and the months of paranoia afterwards. i was months old when they died, so i never got to hear these myself. But the war memorial in canberra where i live has one of the submarines on display, atleast the half of it that wasn’t obliterated when it was sunk

[@damonbrown5233]

There is one on display at the War of the Pacific Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas. It was captured intact at Pearl Harbor. I'm fairly sure they said 4 were used in that attack.

[@brucermarino]

I believe it was 5.

[@desimonevd]

Correct. Latest research concluded that several were used at Pearl and one may even have successfully entered the harbor.

[@SwiftTrooper5]

@@desimonevd , maybe two got in the harbor. One definitely got in and fired at USS Curtis then USS Monaghan. Monaghan rammed the sub and dropped depth charges on her (in 40ft of water)! As for a second sub in the harbor, one may have fired at Battleship Row while the air attack was happening. 5 were part of the attack and all five wrecks have been accounted for.

[@johnnybanks5321]

Walter Lord records 5 midget subs at Pearl Harbor in his book "Day of Infamy".

[@guidor.4161]

This channel has very interesting topics, but unfortunately you can't trust the details...

[@Wayne.J]

The Japanese sailors were given military honours in front of the Japanese diplomats in a hope that mass Australian POWs captured at Singapore, Ambon and Rabaul would be treated well.

[@chuckokelley2448]

Well that didn't work

[@OverlordGrizzaka]

Can I have more context.

[@CyBerCat6410]

Lmao were probally given beatings for it!!

[@nickashton3584]

@@OverlordGrizzaka they were buried with full military honours

[@peterlovett5841]

There would not have been any Japanese diplomats in Australia at that time. I believe the military honours was the decision of the commanding admiral mentioned in the video, however, I was not aware that the ashes of the Japanese seamen had been returned to Japan during the war.

[@davidhandyman7571]

Australia had been involved in the war long before this event.

[@pauls478]

Australian Troops had been involved in WW2 for years yes. But the war had been considered as "over there" until 1942 brought it home.

[@harryc6181]

Good stuff

[@Will_CH1]

Wrong. Darwin was heavily bombed in February 1942. The midget submarine attack on Sydney harbour was a mere pin prick that failed miserably. 3 subs were lost and they only managed to sink a disused passenger ferry with a torpedo intended for the USS Chicago.

[@navret1707]

The channel “Kings and Generals” did an excellent video of this incident in their “War in the Pacific” documentary.

[@georgewnewman3201]

Once again, history has been ignored by this presenter. The fighting for Australia began on 19 Feb 1942 withe the Bombing of Darwin on the North coast by the Kido Butai (Main Striking Force, the same force that had attacked the US Naval Base Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 1941). There would be more than 100 attacks on Australia between 1st Darwin raid and 12 Nov 1943, most on the western and northern coasts. The Sydney raid depicted here was one of the if not the longest raid against Australia undertaken by the Japanese.

[@joshmedley7896]

Cool video!

[@darson100]

Excellent video and thankyou for covering this mostly forgotten part of Australian history. Perhaps you could do one on the Darwin air raids and how the true impact of the raids and the panicked response was hidden from the public for years.

[@edwinlamont4187]

Yes the Adelaide River stakes. There's a story that one guy made a tactical withdrawal to Melbourne!

[@AcuraLvR82]

You have to admit those men in the midget subs had nerves of steel to perform those types of missions.

[@jackass123455]

the one that "escaped" wasn't found until the mid 00's it's exact location is KNOWN publicly in australia but is a declared military grave site it illegal to dive on or disturb the site.

[@HollywoodMarine0351]

YT channel "Kings and Generals" covered more details on their video titled "Japanese Attack on Sydney - Pacific War #30 Animated DOCUMENTARY".

[@rayroche94]

There were many attacks on the Australian west, north and east coasts during WWII, and much evidence remains of this activity. If you visit Broome in the north of Western Australia, you can still see the wrecks of a number of flying boats shelled and sunk by a Japanese attack. There is also evidence of at least one submarine-launched plane flying over Melbourne. The WWII RAAF operations bunker museum at Mallacoota in Victoria has extracts of the logs of a Japanese submarine reporting on this mission. I have also met a railway worker who spoke of a number of Japanese air attacks on the railway yards at Townsville in North Queensland.

[@Cooee239]

The second sub lies about 3 miles off the coast near long reef,it sits in the middle of trawl grounds trawlers have been hooking up on it for year's

[@jimparsons6803]

My thanks for this clip. I had not known of the attack at Sidney. I recall my Dad mentioning that he had spent several weeks in and round New Zealand during WWII, as he was in the US Navy. He had a number of b/w pictures of his times there with New Zealand officers and enlisted men as they had played poker and drank beer together and had also traded stories. I do recall how much more elaborate the dress uniforms of the New Zealanders were when compared to the US versions. That was my impressions, anyway.

[@Geebax2]

Military dress uniforms of almost all forces around the globe are decorated in inverse proportion to the numbers or strengths of the forces. Look at any of the small island nations of the Pacific, all generals, no enlisted men, and 'fruit salad' dripping off their uniforms everywhere.

[@kristinehayes4885]

It's spelt Sydney.

[@prudencepineapple9448]

My family lived through this. My grandfather had built an air-raid shelter using a built-in wardrobe with sand-bags encasing it in an inner room of the house. They spent the next 2 nights in that shelter. Shortly after this happened beach-side and harbour property prices fell sharply. My aunt left her harbour house to live with my grandparents due to fear.

[@prudencepineapple9448]

Forgot to add that a torpedo was also fired towards Bondi beach I think.

[@theworkshopmechanicchannel3296]

The m24 wreck is actually marked and there is an exclusion around it

[@michaeldobson107]

This guy has the best "military history narrator voice" ever. lol.

[@markchorlton60]

What was the date of the bombing of Darwin? Was it before or after the sub attack on Sydney?

[@1936Studebaker]

Battle of Darwin was 19 February 1942. Don't forget an earlier event, 19 November 1941, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran ("cormorant") engaged each other in a battle off the coast of Western Australia.

[@FE428Power]

I grew up in the Panama Canal Zone from the 60s to the 80s. On one of our school field trips, we saw a Japanese mini sub that was captured during WW2.

[@steveroberts6118]

This wasn't the first attack on Australian soil. Darwin was bombed by 242 Japanese planes on February 19th 1942.

[@jeffmcdonald4225]

I have never been able to understand how Japan thought they could win the war. It seems most of their successes were due to a lack of sufficient vigilance.

[@gustyschimmel6091]

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[@meditationsoundscapes5203]

Thanks for telling this story. It was a stunt but it woke us up to the danger coming

[@johnryder1713]

The Brits also produced the Welman Midget Submarine but it was not particularly successful operationally

[@jevnope5718]

Actually 19 February 1942 Darwin was bombed by the Japanese. Approximately 100 times Australia was bombed. Between March 42 and November 43. Love your work though 😊

[@ewen832]

The wheel house from HMAS Kuttabul was repurposed and used as the Main entrance security check point for Garden Island. I think it has only recently been replaced. The war memorial museum in Canberra has one of the midget submarine’s on display.

[@obi1kahnobee549]

One of those subs is on display at the Australian War Museum in Canberra.

[@jimmorrison5493]

I have in my possession a letter from someone visiting the remains of these Japanese subs all those years ago

[@paulfri1569]

Japanese were very brave in this battle.

[@lolaridgeback5875]

War is just horrible. But we need to defend our country and keep it safe. TO LIVE IN PEACE AND SAFTEY ,,.

[@nordicson2835]

Typical of the military leadership at the beginning of WW2 , sparky and ineffective because of lack of traing and years of pacifist thought , sadly right back where we are today.

[@waterheaterservices]

Yes, but a COEXIST sticker on a Prius in San Francisco will save humanity and the planet and universe and stuff.

[@nordicson2835]

@@waterheaterservices while our joint chiefs , read about CRT and try on prom dresses the rest of the world trains to mop us up.

[@richardcostello360]

Our ADF are highly trained and motivated....no matter what the clowns with birdshit on their shoulder (care of a legal degree) try to do to us

[@charletonzimmerman4205]

We call them - "HOAGIES", here in Philadelphia, Pa.

[@capnbobretired]

You order 'wit?'

[@Ezekiel903]

the Italian achieved much more with far less material!!! with little two man "u-boat" they sunk two major British Battleships in Alexandria and a lot more cargo ships in Gibraltar!!

[@indianasgreatestgeneration]

The Japanese Midget submarines played a part during the attack on Pearl Harbor. 5 of them were launched, 3 were sunk, 2 are said to have entered the harbor and torpedoed the Oklahoma or the West Virginia. The USS Antares, a Cargo ship on it's way back to Pearl Harbor from Australia spotted a Japanese Midget Sub that was going into the harbor. They alerted the destroyer USS Ward to drop depth charges which destroyed the Midget sub. The USS Antares is a ship that's not known about and it should be given credit for being the first ship to see the Japanese and the first ship to spot one of the five Japanese Midget subs

[@JohnJ469]

Am I the only one who wonders where all those lovely photos are? The IJN must have made a number of sorties, what a treasure trove of data.

[@jondoe8816]

Thanks with more on Australian. We were all ways tools about midget subs in Sydney harbour but was brushed off as not being dangerous. Just like Darwin. Kids talked about pearl. My mum said yeh we got bombed at Darwin. No one said we got bombed to pieces and every hour for weeks. And all along the top of Australia.. thanks again too for the American service men who helped.

[@scottnicholes9232]

Australian shores first experienced war on the 19th of February 1942! The same flotilla that attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, raided Darwin, Northern Australia. All aspects of this air raid were suppressed, loss of life, civilians killed, ships sank, planes destroyed etc!!

[@TheWuffball]

Not used to being this early lol

[@adventrising8555]

^^That's what she said^^

[@domenicozagari2443]

The Japanese never attacked Pearl Harbor.

[@jeremygreen3392]

I realise the third mini submarine is a war grave but I’m sure plenty would love to see her raised and displayed at the Australian war museum A.C.T.

[@richardcostello360]

Why? They already have two there.....it should be taken to the National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour

[@garyholt4445]

Remnants of the submarines are in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. There is the front half of one and the rear half of another.

[@wilsonwombat3456]

Fact check: The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, happened on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. This proceeds the opening claim by several weeks.

[@drewwagner4802]

When you underestimate your enemy, bad things can happen to you!

[@slidefirst694]

Naval officers in command didn't get to their posts because of brains.

[@pieterreynders5607]

There are so many things that happened and might still be happening around us that we don't know about. Sobering thought hey?

[@Battleneter]

STRAYA CAN"T !!!

[@adaml7148]

Correction.....Australia was attacked well before the torpedo attacks on Sydney Harbour,..Earlier that year, 19th February, Darwin was attacked by pretty much the same carriers planes and pilots that attacked Pearl Harbour. It is still, to date, the largest attack on Australian soil by a foreign power....

[@sharonwhiteley6510]

You would have thought after Pearl Harbor, the Allies would have remembered these little subs. Why does it seem like commanders in Ally ports, never believe they are in danger?

[@frankjrmuchnok2647]

The biggest story of WW2 was how many incompetent officers managed to find themselves in command due to name or connections and how many lives they cost needlessly. It’s one thing to make the wrong call, quite another to insult your men over their reports. Sheer hubris.

[@josephwarra5043]

As usual, the front line soldiers, seamen and airmen pay for the incompetence and downright stupidity of their "leaders" with their blood. I'm a 20+ year veteran and I've often watched higher ups get away with just about anything while enlisteds get hauled before military tribunals for minor and inconsequential infractions. High ranking military and political leaders can get hundreds or even thousands killed with nothing but a slap on the wrist or a "strongly" worded letter of disapproval for their files, as we used to say, "Different spanks for different ranks."

[@Wayne.J]

Gould was drunk that night too Doubling up the bad decisions

[@mongolike513]

Sounds like Dugout Doug.

[@thomasklimchuk441]

150 US submarine attains were releived of command during the 2nd WW As they say the peacetime navy is alot different then the war time navy

[@isilder]

10:20 . .."M24 is believed to have attacked many ships in the week following" .. WHAT ??? M24 would not have had any torpedoes left when it left the harbour that night. It was not doing anything except returning its crew to the mothership... or failing to, as the Japanese record them as MIA from that night. . Maybe you mean that the big submarines were attacking ships.

[@michaelgolch]

that took a lot of guts to do that.

[@dogwithhat947]

2:02 my great uncle was a sailor on that ship when it sank

[@rayjames6096]

The mini sub that was captured at Pearl Harbor and the surviving crew member became the first US POW is on display in Fredericksburg TX at the Pacific war museum.

[@NjK601]

I'm not proud of it, but this mission made me rage quit Battlestations Pacific, one of the few times that ever occurred

[@garryfair825]

A great account of one Australian battle. Australian's did not consider the war to be a 'distant rumor'. Australia had been at war from 1939 seeing action in the battle of Britain, the Middle East and and New Guinea. Many Australians had been killed and wounded and the nation was fully aware of the terrible cost of this war. Get your facts right before you publish sport.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Darwin had bit of of a battering, didn't it? Air raid.

[@robman2095]

Basically the same force that attacked pearl harbour and same scale, but instead of bombing darwin once it was bombed many times over an extended period in repeated raids.

[@btaylor289]

The city in Japan, Yokosuka is pronounced Ya-ku-ska. I was stationed there in the early 1980's on the US Navy base.

[@richardstaples8621]

One of the midget subs was in display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra when I was schoolboy 50 years ago. I assume it's still there.

[@GregStonham]

The first sentence of this is objectively wrong. The city and port of Darwin were bombed on Feb 19, 1942. The raid was bigger than the attack on Pearl Harbour, including the same fleet that launched that attack and land based bombers from occupied Timor.

[@davidrivero7943]

The most iconic pic of a Harbor in Australia & i was unaware that a Naval battle was fought there. I do know of a place with high ground that once had a submarine watch tower in Greynolds Park, Miami . The sight was diff then , glancing the whole Beach for miles. Now you just see high rises built on the water & barely a sight of the Ocean. This was video was enlightening , TY.

[@kennethjackson7574]

I explored the remains of one of the Japanese midget submarines on a beach at Kiska in the early 1980s, including the interior.

[@brianpatmore8418]

There was a Japanese midget submarine in the harbor and it sunk a ship, a Manly ferry (plied a route from Circular Quay in Sydney to Manly on the north side of the harbor, and the second Manly Ferry was then steered into a circular pattern to avoid the submarine. Both my parents were on the second ferry following the first ferry. I don't know if they were able to see the first ferry being sunk. This is true.