For more than 60 years the whereabouts of the
M24, a Japanese midget submarine, was one of the greatest Australian wartime and maritime mysteries. Three midget submarines invaded Sydney Harbour on the evening of 31 May 1942. That night, the harbour was full of Allied naval vessels and the midget submarines were on a mission to inflict maximum damage.
Two of the midget submarines (
M22 and
M27) were destroyed almost immediately and recovered from Sydney Harbour within a week, but the third (
M24) could not be found.
The
M24 was the only submarine of the three able to launch its torpedoes, and with terrible effect. It sank a naval vessel, HMAS
Kuttabul, which before the war had operated as a ferry. Twenty-one men on board were killed and another 10 injured.
There were many theories about what might have happened to the missing submarine and many so-called 'discoveries'. It was not until November 2006 that a group of weekend divers called 'No Frills Divers' located the still-intact Japanese midget submarine
M24 off Bungan Head, Newport (Sydney, Australia). The submarine was on the seabed and entangled in nets 54 metres below the surface.
Like all shipwrecks, the
M24 has a fascinating story to tell. It played a major part in the events in Sydney Harbour on the night of 31 May and the early morning of 1 June 1942 and its discovery recalls the role of Japanese midget submarines and the Japanese submarine campaign along Australia’s eastern seaboard during World War II.
Feature Wreck: M24 Midget Submarine | Heritage NSW