HMNZS Kiwi

Survived

Royal New Zealand Navy

Type	Corvette
Class	Bird
War	Second World War
Main guns	1 × 4 inch gun

Minesweeping trawler. Rammed the much larger submarine I-1 three times off Guadalcanal in January 1943.

On the night of 29-30 January 1943, a David and Goliath-type struggle took place between a Japanese submarine and two small ‘Bird’ class minesweepers, the HMNZS Kiwi and Moa. Kiwi and Moa were patrolling one mile apart off Kamimbo Bay at the north-west end of Guadalcanal when the Japanese submarine Photo: Archives New Zealand from New Zealand, CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Armament and specifications

Armament

1 × 4 inch gun
2 × 1 Hotchkiss guns
Twin Lewis guns
40 depth charges

Builder	Henry Robb Ltd. Scotland.
Commissioned	20 October 1941
Displacement	607 tons standard 923 tons full load
Length	168 ft (51 m)
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h)
Complement	33-35

As built, from the ship's Wikipedia article. Figures there may cover later refits too.

Career

Commissioned

20 October 1941

Kiwi and Moa against I-1

Damaged

29 January 1943

Rammed I-1 three times

Decommissioned

Survived

20 December 1956