Kiwi and Moa against I-1

29 January 1943, Off Kamimbo Bay, Guadalcanal

New Zealand victory

Two small New Zealand minesweeping trawlers on patrol off the north-west of Guadalcanal picked up the submarine I-1, more than three times their size, coming in with supplies. She surfaced and fought it out with her deck gun while Kiwi, under Lieutenant Commander Gordon Bridson, rammed her three times. The submarine ran aground on a reef and was abandoned. Her crew tried to destroy her secret papers, but the Allies recovered codebooks and other documents from the wreck, and Japan had to change its codes.

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