Being on ex-Army land it may not be widely known to many in the RAN which is unfortunate, as it commemorates actions following the Japanese submarine attacks on 31 May 1942. HMAS Kuttabul (naval base).
The band of the Victorian Naval Brigade was a well known musical unit in the Melbourne area during the late 19th century. We were approximately 85ft down, almost two atmospheres of water and the air would have expanded very quickly in my suit and bloated me. Its musicians promote awareness in the wider community of Navy’s critical contribution to the nation and maintain one of the RAN’s most consistent and significant public engagement profiles.Music has had a long and distinguished association with the military, the band of the British Grenadier Guards having been formed over 300 years ago, and the Royal Marine bands 239 years ago. They were single mission boats, but the specially-trained crews were to be recovered for further actionsTwo other accompanying fleet submarines carried reconnaissance seaplanes in sealed deck containers. HMAS Kuttabul is a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base located in Potts Point in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Following the attack his considerable skills rendered safe the remains of two midget submarines for further handling and recovery.He removed the armed pistol from the warhead of a torpedo fired from Japanese midget submarine M24. With all the activity going on in the harbour at the time and the small opening in the net, it would have to be a miracle for the submarine to have left the harbour.A remarkable employee of the RAN Gunmounting and Torpedo Depot on Garden Island in early June 1942 during the attack was Mr Frank J. Lingard. Experience from the unsuccessful Pearl Harbor attack was applied to provide access to the midgets via a watertight hatch from the mother boat plus attachment releases operated from within the submarine.The midgets were capable of submerged speeds to 19 knots for a range of 18 nautical miles or at low speed up to 100 miles. The aircraft made several passes over Sydney Harbour enabling the pilot and his observer to sketch the position of the anti-submarine defences and the position of some of the warships. Neither man survived.
The eastern direction was reconnoitered with submarine-carried Glen aircraft over Sydney in February of 1942 and then again on the day prior to the attacks on 1st June.On that night, the three midget submarines M27, M22 and M24 entered Sydney Harbour with the intention of attacking Allied warships.
Spencer was on top of the sub and the two armed torpedoes had their noses jammed by a malfunction in the doors not letting them leave the tubes after being fired. HMAS Kuttabul, formerly SS Kuttabul, was a Royal Australian Navy depot ship, converted from a Sydney Ferries Limited ferry.. I called through my microphone to the surface to call Dave Spencer to come down the bottom to help. With their vessel damaged, and realizing they would not be able to complete their mission or return to the parent submarine, the crew took their own lives.At about 0030 on the morning of 1 June, a third boat M24 which had earlier avoided fire from USSThe second torpedo finished up at the seawall nearby without exploding and was not discovered until later in the morning causing some alarm.This daring and spectacular submarine action had an extraordinary impact on the national and strategic thinking of the day, precisely as it was intended to do.In two months’ time the RAN will commemorate the commissioning of submarine base HMAS Today with UAV reconnaissance and autonomous and remotely operated armed vehicles, Australia’s submarine force is enabled to conduct the same kind of action on a would-be attacker on Australia’s national interests. In addition to his Torpedo Depot experience, he had formerly been an RAN Engine Room Artificer.
With the passing of time unfortunately very few now have first hand memory of this event.The monument takes the form of a lookout with a gangplank leading to a deck complete with stainless steel rails, providing a fine nautical exhibit. There were five Naval Divers employed in the operation and their names were, Spencer, Bullard, Coots, Marr and Martin.