Sinking of I-124

20 January 1942, Beagle Gulf, off Darwin

Allied success; I-124 sunk, the first Japanese warship sunk by the Royal Australian Navy

Four Japanese minelaying submarines were sent to lay mines and attack shipping off Darwin in January 1942. On 20 January I-123 fired at the American oiler Trinity, and the Australian corvettes Deloraine, Lithgow and Katoomba came out to hunt her. Deloraine got there first and found I-124 instead, which fired a torpedo that passed just astern of her. Deloraine's depth charges brought the submarine's bow briefly to the surface, and she sank to the bottom in 150 feet of water, where the corvettes and the American destroyers Edsall and Alden went on depth-charging her into the night. All 80 men aboard were killed. American divers found the wreck six days later.