Attack on Sydney Harbour

31 May – 1 June 1942, Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia

Japanese attack failed; only the depot ship Kuttabul sunk

Three large Japanese submarines, I-22, I-24 and I-27, launched three midget submarines off Sydney on the evening of 31 May 1942, a week after a floatplane had flown over the harbour and seen the American heavy cruiser Chicago there. M-14 got caught in the anti-submarine net and her crew blew her up. M-24 got into the harbour and fired both her torpedoes at Chicago; they missed, and one ran on under the old ferry Kuttabul, moored at Garden Island as a barracks ship, and sank her, killing 21 sailors asleep aboard. M-21 was depth-charged by the patrol boats Yandra, Sea Mist and Steady Hour, and her crew shot themselves. M-24 slipped out to sea and disappeared; her wreck was found off the northern beaches in 2006. A week later Japanese submarines shelled Sydney and Newcastle.