Axis naval activity in Australian waters

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

was remote from the main battlefronts, there was considerable Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

naval activity in Australian waters during the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. A total of 54 German

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

and Japanese

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

s and submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets. Among the best-known attacks are the sinking of HMAS Sydney

Battle between HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran

The battle between HMAS Sydney and German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran was a single ship action between the Australian light cruiser , with Captain Joseph Burnett commanding, and the German auxiliary cruiser , under Fregattenkapitän Theodor Detmers...

by a German raider in November 1941, the bombing of Darwin by Japanese naval aircraft in February 1942, and the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour

Attack on Sydney Harbour

In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, submarines belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy made a series of attacks on the cities of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia...

in May 1942. In addition, many Allied

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

merchant ships were damaged or sunk off the Australian coast by submarines and mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

s. Japanese submarines also shelled

Naval artillery

Naval artillery, or naval riflery, is artillery mounted on a warship for use in naval warfare. Naval artillery has historically been used to engage either other ships, or targets on land; in the latter role it is currently termed naval gunfire fire support...

several Australian ports and submarine-based aircraft flew over several Australian capital cities.

The Axis threat to Australia developed gradually and until 1942 was limited to sporadic attacks by German armed merchantmen

Armed merchantmen

Armed merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value...

. The level of Axis naval activity peaked in the first half of 1942 when Japanese submarine

Imperial Japanese Navy submarines

Imperial Japanese Navy submarines originated with the purchase of five Holland type submarines from the United States in 1904. Japanese submarine forces progressively built up strength and expertise, becoming by the beginning of World War II one of the world's most varied and powerful submarine...

s conducted anti-shipping patrols off Australia's coast, and Japanese naval aviation attacked several towns in northern Australia

Northern Australia

The term northern Australia is generally known to include two State and Territories, being Queensland and the Northern Territory . The part of Western Australia north of latitude 26° south—a definition widely used in law and State government policy—is also usually included...

. The Japanese submarine offensive against Australia was renewed in the first half of 1943 but was broken off as the Allies pushed the Japanese onto the defensive. Few Axis naval vessels operated in Australian waters in 1944 and 1945, and those that did had only a limited impact.

Due to the episodic nature of the Axis attacks and the relatively small number of ships and submarines committed, Germany and Japan were not successful in disrupting Australian shipping. While the Allies were forced to deploy substantial assets to defend shipping in Australian waters, this did not have a significant impact on the Australian war effort

Military history of Australia during World War II

Australia entered World War II shortly after the invasion of Poland, declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. By the end of the war, almost a million Australians had served in the armed forces, whose military units fought primarily in the European theatre, North African campaign, and...

or American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

-led operations in the South West Pacific Area

South West Pacific theatre of World War II

The South West Pacific Theatre, technically the South West Pacific Area, between 1942 and 1945, was one of two designated area commands and war theatres enumerated by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of World War II in the Pacific region....

Australia Station and Australian defences

The definition of "Australian waters" used throughout this article is, broadly speaking, the area which was designated the Australia Station

Australia Station

The Australia Station was the British—and later Australian—naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.-History:In the early years following the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, ships based in Australian waters came under the control of the East Indies...

prior to the outbreak of war. This vast area consisted of the waters around Australia and eastern New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, and stretching south to Antarctica. From east to west, it stretched from 170° east

170th meridian east

The meridian 170° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

to 80° east

80th meridian east

The meridian 80° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

, and from north to south it stretched from the Equator

Equator

An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....

to the Antarctic. While the eastern half of New Guinea was an Australian colonial possession during the Second World War and fell within the Australia Station, the Japanese operations in these waters formed part of the New Guinea

New Guinea campaign

The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...

and Solomon Islands Campaign

Solomon Islands campaign

The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942...

s and were not directed at Australia.
The defence of the Australia Station was the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

's main concern throughout the war. While RAN ships frequently served outside Australian waters, escort vessels and minesweeper

Minesweeper (ship)

A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

s were available to protect shipping in the Australia Station at all times. These escorts were supported by a small number of larger warships, such as cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

s and armed merchant cruisers, for protection against surface raiders. While important military shipping movements were escorted from the start of the war, convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

s were not instituted in Australian waters until June 1942. The Australian naval authorities did, however, close ports to shipping at various times following real or suspected sightings of enemy warships or mines prior to June 1942.
The Royal Australian Air Force

Royal Australian Air Force

The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...

(RAAF) was also responsible for the protection of shipping within the Australia Station. Throughout the war, RAAF aircraft escorted convoys and conducted reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols from bases around Australia. The main types of aircraft used for maritime patrol

Maritime patrol

Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities....

were Avro Anson

Avro Anson

The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces prior to, during, and after the Second World War. Named for British Admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance, but was...

s, Bristol Beaufort

Bristol Beaufort

The Bristol Beaufort was a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber....

s, Consolidated PBY Catalinas and Lockheed Hudson

Lockheed Hudson

The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter...

s. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

, RAAF fighter squadrons were also stationed to protect key Australian ports and escorted shipping in areas where air attack was feared.

The Allied naval forces assigned to the Australia Station were considerably increased following Japan's entry into the war and the beginning of the United States military build-up in Australia. These naval forces were supported by a large increase in the RAAF's maritime patrol

Maritime patrol

Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities....

force and the arrival of United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

patrol aircraft. Following the initial Japanese submarine attacks, a convoy system was instituted between Australian ports, and by the end of the war the RAAF and RAN had escorted over 1,100 convoys along the Australian coastline. As the battlefront moved to the north and attacks in Australian waters became less frequent, the number of ships and aircraft assigned to shipping protection duties within the Australia Station was considerably reduced.

In addition to the air and naval forces assigned to protect shipping in Australian waters, fixed defences were constructed to protect the major Australian ports. The Australian Army

Australian Army

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...

was responsible for developing and manning coastal defences

Coastal defences of Australia during World War II

This list contains a List of Coastal Batteries in Australia and Territories during World War II. The main threat came early in the war from German raiders and threat of Japanese raids or invasion, and hence all available ordnance was pressed into service, including some obsolete guns and field guns...

to protect ports from attacks by enemy surface raiders. These defences commonly consisted of a number of fixed guns defended by anti-aircraft guns and infantry. The Army's coastal defences were considerably expanded as the threat to Australia increased between 1940 and 1942, and reached their peak strength in 1944. The Royal Australian Navy was responsible for developing and manning harbour defences in Australia's main ports. These defences consisted of fixed anti-submarine booms and mines supported by small patrol craft, and were also greatly expanded as the threat to Australia increased. The RAN also laid defensive minefields in Australian waters from August 1941.

While the naval and air forces available for the protection of shipping in Australian waters were never adequate to defeat a heavy or coordinated attack, they proved sufficient to mount defensive patrols against the sporadic and generally cautious attacks mounted by the Axis navies during the war.

German surface raiders in 1940

While German surface raiders

Armed merchantmen

operated in the western Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

in 1939 and early 1940, they did not enter Australian waters until the second half of 1940. The first Axis

Axis Powers

The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

ships in Australian waters were the unarmed Italian

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

ocean liner

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

s Remo and Romolo, which were in Australian waters when Fascist Italy

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

entered the war on 11 June 1940, Eastern Australian Time

Time in Australia

Australia uses Standard time, i.e: the same well defined time for a region. The proper names of Australia's time zones are Australian Western Standard Time , Australian Central Standard Time , and Australian Eastern Standard Time...

. While Remo was docked at Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

and was easily captured, Romolo proved harder to catch, as she had left Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

on 5 June bound for Italy. Following an air and sea search, Romolo was intercepted by near Nauru

Nauru

Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...

on 12 June and was scuttled

Scuttling

Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...

by her captain to avoid capture.

The German surface raider was the first Axis warship to operate in Australian waters during World War II. After operating off the northern tip

Axis naval activity in New Zealand waters

A small number of Axis surface raiders and submarines operated in New Zealand Waters during World War II.-Surface raiders:The following German surface raiders operated in New Zealand waters: *Small auxiliary raider Adjutant *Tanker Ole Jacob A small number of Axis surface raiders and submarines...

of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

and the South Pacific, Orion entered Australian waters in the Coral Sea

Coral Sea

The Coral Sea is a marginal sea off the northeast coast of Australia. It is bounded in the west by the east coast of Queensland, thereby including the Great Barrier Reef, in the east by Vanuatu and by New Caledonia, and in the north approximately by the southern extremity of the Solomon Islands...

in August 1940 and closed to within 120 nmi (138.1 mi; 222.2 km) north-east of Brisbane on 11 August. Following this, Orion headed east and operated off New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

before proceeding south into the Tasman Sea

Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...

, sinking the merchant ship Notou south-west of Noumea

Nouméa

Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...

on 16 August and the British merchant ship Turakina in the Tasman Sea four days later. Orion sailed south-west after sinking Turakina, passing south of Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, and operated without success in the Great Australian Bight

Great Australian Bight

The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.-Extent:...

in early September. While Orion laid four dummy mines

Naval mine

off Albany, Western Australia

Albany, Western Australia

Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....

on 2 September, she departed to the south-west after being spotted by an Australian aircraft the next day. After unsuccessfully patrolling in the Southern Ocean

Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...

, Orion sailed for the Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

to refuel, arriving there on 10 October.
was the next raider to enter Australian waters. Pinguin entered the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

from the South Atlantic in August 1940 and arrived off Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

in October. Pinguin captured the 8998 LT (9,142.4 t) Norwegian tanker Storstad off North West Cape

North West Cape

North West Cape is a large peninsula of land in the north west coast of Western Australia. Cape Range runs down the spine of the peninsula and Ningaloo Reef runs along the western edge...

on 7 October and proceeded east with the captured ship. Pinguin laid mines between Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

and Newcastle

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

on 28 October, and Storstad laid mines off the Victorian

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

coast on the nights of 29–31 October. Pinguin also laid further mines off Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

in early November. The two ships then sailed west for the Indian Ocean. Pinguin and Storstad were not detected during their operations off Australia's eastern and southern coasts, and succeeded in sinking three ships. Mines laid by Storstad sank two ships off Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland and is located at . South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia...

in early November, and the mines laid off Sydney by Pinguin sank one ship and a further merchant ship was damaged after striking a mine off Adelaide. Pinguin added to her tally of successes in Australian waters by sinking three merchant ships in the Indian Ocean during November.

On 7 December 1940, the German raiders Orion and arrived off the Australian protectorate of Nauru

Nauru

. During the next 48 hours, the two ships sank four merchant ships off the undefended island

German attacks on Nauru

There were two German attacks on Nauru in December 1940. These attacks were conducted by auxiliary cruisers between 6 and 8 December and on the 27th of the month. The raiders sank five Allied merchant ships and inflicted serious damage on Nauru's economically important phosphate-loading...

. Heavily loaded with survivors from their victims, the raiders departed for Emirau Island

Emirau Island

Emirau Island, also called Emira, is an island in the Bismarck Archipelago located at . It is currently part of the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. The local language is a dialect of the Mussau-Emira language...

where they unloaded their prisoners. After an unsuccessful attempt to lay mines off Rabaul

Rabaul

Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...

on 24 December, Komet made a second attack on Nauru on 27 December and shelled the island's phosphate

Phosphate

A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...

plant and dock facilities. This attack was the last Axis naval attack in Australian waters until November 1941.

German surface raiders in 1941

Following the raids on Nauru, Komet and Orion sailed for the Indian Ocean, passing through the Southern Ocean well to the south of Australia in February and March 1941 respectively. Komet re-entered the Australia station in April en route to New Zealand, and sailed east through the southern extreme of the Australia Station in August. Until November, the only casualties from Axis ships on the Australia Station were caused by mines laid by Pinguin in 1940. The small trawler Millimumul was sunk with the loss of seven lives after striking a mine off the New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

coast on 26 March 1941, and two ratings from a Rendering Mines Safe

Bomb disposal

Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:*Military:...

party were killed while attempting to defuse a mine which had washed ashore in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

on 14 July.

On 19 November 1941, the Australian light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

—which had been highly successful in the Battle of the Mediterranean

Battle of the Mediterranean

The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940-2 May 1945....

— encountered the disguised German raider , approximately 150 mi (130.3 nmi; 241.4 km) south west of Carnarvon, Western Australia

Carnarvon, Western Australia

Carnarvon is a coastal town situated approximately 900 kilometres north of Perth, Western Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Gascoyne River on the Indian Ocean. The popular Shark Bay world heritage area lies to the south of the town and the Ningaloo Reef lies to the north...

. Sydney intercepted Kormoran and demanded that she prove her assumed identity as the Dutch freighter Straat Malakka. During the interception, Sydneys captain brought his ship dangerously close to Kormoran. As a result, when Kormoran was unable to prove her identity and avoid a battle she had little hope of surviving, the raider was able to use all her weaponry against Sydney. In the resulting battle

Battle between HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran

, Kormoran and Sydney were both crippled, with Sydney sinking with the loss of all her 645 crew and 78 of Kormorans crew being either killed in the battle or dying before they could be rescued by passing ships.

Kormoran was the only Axis ship to conduct attacks in Australian waters during 1941 and the last Axis surface raider to enter Australian waters until 1943. There is no evidence to support claims that a Japanese submarine

Imperial Japanese Navy submarines

participated in the sinking of HMAS Sydney. The only German ship to enter the Australia Station during 1942 was the blockade runner

Blockade runner

A blockade runner is usually a lighter weight ship used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait, as opposed to confronting the blockaders to break the blockade. Very often blockade running is done in order to transport cargo, for example to bring food or arms to a blockaded city...

and supply ship Ramses, which was sunk by and HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerk

HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerk

HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck was a Tromp-class light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy, named after Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk ....

on 26 November, shortly after Ramses left Batavia

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

bound for France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. All of Ramses crew survived the sinking and were taken prisoner.

1942

The naval threat to Australia increased dramatically following the outbreak of war in the Pacific

Pacific War

. During the first half of 1942, the Japanese mounted a sustained campaign in Australian waters, with Japanese submarines

Imperial Japanese Navy submarines

attacking shipping and aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

s conducting a devastating attack on the strategic port of Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

. In response to these attacks the Allies increased the resources allocated to protecting shipping in Australian waters.

Early Japanese submarine patrols (January – March 1942)

The first Japanese submarines to enter Australian waters were , , and , from the Imperial Japanese Navy's (IJN's) Submarine Squadron 6. Acting in support of the Japanese offensive in the Netherlands East Indies these boats laid minefields in the approaches to Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

and the Torres Strait

Torres Strait

The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland...

between 12 and 18 January 1942. These mines did not sink or damage any Allied ships.

After completing their mine laying missions the four Japanese boats took station off Darwin to provide the Japanese fleet with warning of Allied naval movements. On 20 January 1942 the Australian Bathurst-class

Bathurst class corvette

The Bathurst class corvettes were a class of general purpose vessels produced in Australia during World War II. Originally classified as minesweepers, but widely referred to as corvettes, the Bathurst class vessels fulfilled a broad anti-submarine, anti-mine, and convoy escort role.Sixty Bathurst...

corvettes , and sank I-124 near Darwin. This was the only full-sized submarine sunk by the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

in Australian waters during World War II. Being the first accessible ocean-going IJN submarine lost after Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, USN divers attempted to enter I-124 in order to obtain its code books, but were unsuccessful.

Following the conquest of the western Pacific the Japanese mounted a number of reconnaissance patrols into Australian waters. Three submarines operated off Western Australia

Western Australia

in March 1942, sinking the merchant ships Parigi and Siantar on 1 and 3 March respectively. In addition, conducted a reconnaissance patrol down the Australian east coast in February and March. During this patrol Nobuo Fujita

Nobuo Fujita

was a Warrant Flying Officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy who flew a floatplane from the long-range submarine aircraft carrier , and conducted the only wartime aircraft-dropped bombing on the continental United States of America, which became known as the Lookout Air Raid...

from the I-25 flew a Yokosuka E14Y

Yokosuka E14Y

|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, Ph.D., René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1979. ISBN 0-370-30251-6....

1 floatplane

Floatplane

A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...

over Sydney

Sydney

(17 February), Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

(26 February) and Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

(1 March). Following these reconnaissances, I-25 sailed for New Zealand and conducted overflights of Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

and Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

on 8 March and 13 March respectively.

Japanese naval aviation attacks (February 1942 – November 1943)

The bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942, was the heaviest single attack mounted by the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

against mainland Australia. On 19 February, four Japanese aircraft carriers launched a total of 188 aircraft from a position in the Timor Sea

Timor Sea

The Timor Sea is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, to the south by Australia and to the west by the Indian Ocean....

. The four carriers were escorted by four cruisers and nine destroyers. These 188 naval aircraft inflicted heavy damage on Darwin and sank nine ships. A raid conducted by 54 land-based bombers later the same day resulted in further damage to the town and RAAF Base Darwin

RAAF Base Darwin

RAAF Base Darwin is a Royal Australian Air Force base located in the city of Darwin, Northern Territory. The base shares its runway with Darwin International Airport.-History:...

and the destruction of 20 Allied military aircraft. Allied casualties were 251 killed and between 300 and 400 wounded, the majority of whom were non-Australian Allied sailors. Only four Japanese aircraft were confirmed to have been destroyed by Darwin's defenders.

The bombing of Darwin was the first of many Japanese naval aviation

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, the organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War.It was controlled by the Navy Staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy and...

attacks against targets in Australia. The carriers , and —which escorted the invasion force dispatched against Port Moresby

Port Moresby

Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...

in May 1942—had the secondary role of attacking Allied bases in northern Queensland once Port Moresby was secured. These attacks did not occur, however, as the landings at Port Moresby were cancelled when the Japanese carrier force was mauled in the Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea

The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...

.

Japanese aircraft made almost 100 raids, most of them small, against northern Australia

Northern Australia

during 1942 and 1943. Land-based IJN aircraft took part in many of the 63 raids on Darwin which took place after the initial attack. The town of Broome, Western Australia

Broome, Western Australia

Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...

experienced a devastating attack

Attack on Broome

The town of Broome, Western Australia was attacked by Japanese fighter planes on 3 March 1942, during World War II. At least 88 people were killed....

by IJN fighter planes on 3 March 1942, in which at least 88 people were killed. Long-range seaplanes operating from bases in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

made a number of small attacks on towns in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

.

Japanese naval aircraft operating from land bases also harassed coastal shipping in Australia's northern waters during 1942 and 1943. On 15 December 1942, four sailors were killed when the merchant ship Period was attacked off Cape Wessel. The small general purpose vessel was sunk by a Japanese floatplane near the Wessel Islands

Wessel Islands

The Wessel Islands are a group of islands belonging to the Northern Territory of Australia. They extend in a more or less straight line from Buckingham Bay and the Napier Peninsula of Arnhem Land, and Elcho Island, to the northeast. Marchinbar Island is the largest of the group...

on 22 January 1943 with the loss of nine sailors and civilians. Another civilian sailor was killed when the merchant ship Islander was attacked by a floatplane during May 1943.

Attacks on Sydney and Newcastle (May – June 1942)

In March 1942, the Japanese military adopted a strategy of isolating Australia from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

by capturing Port Moresby

Port Moresby

in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

, Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

and New Caledonia

New Caledonia

. This plan was frustrated by the Japanese defeat in the Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea

and was postponed indefinitely after the Battle of Midway

Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...

. Following the defeat of the Japanese surface fleet, the IJN submarines were deployed to disrupt Allied supply lines by attacking shipping off the Australian east coast.

On 27 April 1942, the submarines and left the major Japanese naval base at Truk Lagoon

Chuuk

Chuuk — formerly Truk, Ruk, Hogoleu, Torres, Ugulat, and Lugulus — is an island group in the south western part of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia , along with Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. Chuuk is the most populous of the FSM's...

in the Japanese territory of the Caroline Islands

Caroline Islands

The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...

to conduct reconnaissance patrols of Allied ports in the South Pacific

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

. The goal of these patrols was to find a suitable target for the force of midget submarine

Midget submarine

A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to 6 or 8, with little or no on-board living accommodation...

s, designated the Eastern Detachment of the Second Special Attack Flotilla, which was available in the Pacific. I-29 entered Australian waters in May and made an unsuccessful attack on the neutral Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

freighter Wellen off Newcastle

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

on 16 May. I-29s floatplane overflew Sydney on 23 May 1942, finding a large number of major Allied warships in Sydney Harbour. I-21 reconnoitred Suva

Suva

Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

and Auckland

Auckland

, New Zealand in late May but did not find worthwhile concentrations of shipping in either port.

On 18 May, the Eastern Detachment of the Second Special Attack Flotilla left Truk Lagoon under the command of Captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

Hankyu Sasaki. Sasaki's force comprised , and . Each submarine was carrying a midget submarine. After the intelligence gathered by I-21 and I-29 was assessed, the three submarines were ordered on 24 May to attack Sydney. The three submarines of the Eastern Detachment rendezvoused with I-21 and I-29 35 mi (30.4 nmi; 56.3 km) off Sydney on 29 May. In the early hours of 30 May, I-21s floatplane conducted a reconnaissance flight over Sydney Harbour that confirmed the concentration of Allied shipping sighted by I-29s floatplane was still present and was a worthwhile target for a midget submarine raid.

On the night of 31 May, three midget submarines were launched from the Japanese force outside the Sydney Heads

Sydney Heads

Sydney Heads , is the entrance to Port Jackson in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north, South Head and Dunbar Head are to the south. Middle Head, Georges Head and Chowder Head are to the west and within the bay...

. Although two of the submarines (Midget No. 22 and Midget A, also known as Midget 24) successfully penetrated the incomplete Sydney Harbour defences

Sydney Harbour defences

Sydney Harbour was protected by coastal batteries and other fixed defences from the early 19th century until the 1960s. These defences were constructed to protect the Australian city of Sydney from attack by enemy warships and submarines....

, only Midget A actually attacked Allied shipping in the harbour, firing two torpedoes at the Aermican heavy cruiser

Heavy cruiser

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...

. These torpedoes missed Chicago but sank the depot ship

Depot ship

A depot ship is a ship which acts as a mobile or fixed base for other ships and submarines or supports a naval base. Depot ships may be specifically designed for their purpose or be converted from another purpose...

, killing 21 seamen on board, and seriously damaged the Dutch submarine . All of the Japanese midget submarines were lost during this operation (Midget No. 22 and Midget No. 27 were destroyed by the Australian defenders and Midget A was scuttled by her crew after leaving the Harbour).

Following this raid, the Japanese submarine force operated off Sydney and Newcastle, sinking the coaster Iron Chieftain off Sydney on 3 June. On the night of 8 June, I-24 conducted a bombardment of the eastern suburbs of Sydney and I-21 bombarded Newcastle

Shelling of Newcastle

The Shelling of Newcastle was conducted by the Japanese submarine I-21 in the early hours of 8 June 1942. The bombardment followed the Attack on Sydney Harbour on 31 May, and was conducted shortly after I-24 shelled the eastern suburbs of Sydney. During the attack I-21 fired 34 shells at Newcastle,...

. Fort Scratchley

Fort Scratchley

Fort Scratchley is a former coastal defence installation and now museum, located in Newcastle East, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1882 to defend the city against a possible Russian attack. However, its guns were not fired in anger until 8 June 1942, during the...

at Newcastle returned fire, but did not hit I-21. While these bombardments did not cause any casualties or serious damage, the bombardments generated concern over further attacks against the east coast. Following the attacks on shipping in the Sydney region, the Royal Australian Navy instituted convoys between Brisbane and Adelaide. All ships of over 1200 LT (1,219.3 t) and with speeds of less than 12 kn (14.6 mph; 23.5 km/h) were required to sail in convoy when travelling between cities on the east coast. The Japanese submarine force left Australian waters in late June 1942 having sunk a further two merchant ships. The small number of sinkings achieved by the five Japanese submarines sent against the Australian east coast in May and June did not justify the commitment of so many submarines.

Further Japanese submarine patrols (July – August 1942)

The Australian authorities enjoyed only a brief break in the submarine threat. In July 1942, a division of three submarines from Japanese Submarine Squadron 3 commenced operations off the East Coast. These three submarines sank five ships (including a small fishing trawler) and damaged several others during July and August. In addition, conducted a patrol off the southern coast of Australia while en route from New Caledonia

New Caledonia

to Penang

Penang

Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...

, though the submarine was not successful in sinking any ships in this area. Following the withdrawal of this force in August, no further submarine attacks were mounted against Australia until January 1943.

While Japanese submarines sank 17 ships in Australian waters in 1942 (14 of which were near the Australian coast) the submarine offensive did not have a serious impact on the Allied war effort in the South West Pacific

South West Pacific Area

South West Pacific Area was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific theatres of World War II, during 1942–45...

or the Australian economy. Nevertheless, by forcing ships sailing along the east coast to travel in convoy the Japanese submarines were successful in reducing the efficiency of Australian coastal shipping. This lower efficiency translated into between 7.5% and 22% less tonnage being transported between Australian ports each month (no accurate figures are available and the estimated figure varied between months). These convoys were effective, however, with no ship travelling as part of a convoy being sunk in Australian waters during 1942.

1943

Japanese submarines returned to Australian waters in January 1943 and conducted a campaign against Australian shipping during the first half of the year. The IJN also conducted a diversionary bombardment of Port Gregory, a small West Australian town.

East coast submarine patrols (January – June 1943)

Japanese submarine operations against Australia in 1943 began when and I-21 sailed from Rabaul on 7 January to reconnoitre Allied forces around Nouméa and Sydney respectively. I-21 arrived off the coast of New South Wales just over a week later. I-21 operated off the east coast until late February and sank six ships during this period, making it the most successful submarine patrol conducted in Australian waters during the Second World War. In addition to these sinkings, I-21s floatplane conducted a successful reconnaissance of Sydney Harbour on 19 February 1943.

In March, and entered Australian waters. While I-6 laid nine German-supplied acoustic mines in the approaches to Brisbane this minefield was discovered by and neutralised before any ships were sunk. Although I-6 returned to Rabaul after laying her mines, the Japanese submarine force in Australian waters was expanded in April when the four submarines of Submarine Squadron 3 (I-11, , and ) arrived off the east coast and joined I-26. This force had the goal of attacking reinforcement and supply convoys travelling between Australia and New Guinea.

As the Japanese force was too small to cut off all traffic between Australia and New Guinea, the Squadron commander widely dispersed his submarines between the Torres Strait and Wilson's Promontory with the goal of tying down as many Allied ships and aircraft as possible. This offensive continued until June and the five Japanese submarines sank nine ships and damaged several others. In contrast to 1942, five of the ships sunk off the Australian east coast were travelling in escorted convoys at the time they were attacked. The convoy escorts were not successful in detecting any submarines before they launched their attacks or counter-attacking these submarines. The last attack by a Japanese submarine off the east coast of Australia was made by I-174

Japanese submarine I-174

Japanese submarine I-174 was a Kaidai class submarine operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy between 1938 and her sinking in 1944. She completed eight war patrols during the Pacific War. She attacked the Convoy GP55 on 16 June 1943. During her ninth war patrol she was sunk near Truk on 12 April...

on 16 June 1943 when she sank the merchant ship Portmar and damaged U.S. Landing Ship Tank LST 469 as they were travelling in Convoy GP55

Convoy GP55

Convoy GP55 was a convoy of Allied ships that travelled from Sydney to Brisbane in June 1943 during World War II. It comprised ten cargo ships, three landing ships, tank and an escort of five corvettes. The Japanese submarine I-174 attacked the convoy on 16 June, sinking the United States...

off the New South Wales north coast.

The single greatest loss of life resulting from a submarine attack in Australian waters occurred in the early hours of 14 May 1943 when torpedoed and sank the Australian hospital ship

Hospital ship

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

Centaur

AHS Centaur

Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was a hospital ship which was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 14 May 1943...

off Point Lookout, Queensland

Point Lookout, Queensland

Point Lookout is a headland and small coastal village located on the eastern coast of North Stradbroke Island. To the north lies Cape Moreton and to the south the next major headland is Point Danger on the New South Wales/Queensland border. The other towns on the island are Dunwich and Amity Point....

. After being hit by a single torpedo, Centaur sank in less than three minutes with the loss of 268 lives. While hospital ships—such as Centaur—were legally protected against attack under the terms of the Geneva Conventions

Geneva Conventions

The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...

, it is unclear whether Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

Hajime Nakagawa of I-177 was aware that Centaur was a hospital ship. While she was clearly marked with a red cross

Emblems of the Red Cross

The emblems of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, under the Geneva Conventions, are to be placed on humanitarian and medical vehicles and buildings to protect them from military attack on the battlefield. There are four such emblems, three of which are in use: the Red Cross,...

and was fully illuminated, the light conditions at the time may have resulted in Nakagawa not being aware of Centaurs status, making her sinking a tragic accident. However, as Nakagawa had a poor record as a submarine captain and was later convicted of machine gunning the survivors of a British merchant ship in the Indian Ocean, it is probable that the sinking of Centaur was due to either Nakagawa's incompetence or indifference to the laws of warfare. The attack on Centaur sparked widespread public outrage in Australia.

The Japanese submarine offensive against Australia was broken off in July 1943 when the submarines were redeployed to counter Allied offensives elsewhere in the Pacific

Pacific Theater of Operations

The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...

. The last two Japanese submarines to be dispatched against the Australian east coast, I-177 and I-180, were redirected to the central Solomon Islands shortly before they would have arrived off Australia in July. The Australian Naval authorities were concerned about a resumption of attacks, however, and maintained the coastal convoy system until late 1943 when it was clear that the threat had passed. Coastal convoys in waters south of Newcastle ceased on 7 December and convoys off the north-east coast and between Australia and New Guinea were abolished in February and March 1944 respectively.

Bombardment of Port Gregory (January 1943)

In contrast to the large number of submarines which operated off the east coast, only a single Japanese submarine was dispatched against the Australian west coast. On 21 January 1943, left her base at Surabaya

Surabaya

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

, East Java

East Java

East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...

, destined for Western Australia

Western Australia

. The submarine—under Lt. Cdr.

Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

Kennosuke Torisu—was tasked with creating a diversion to assist the evacuation of Japanese forces

Operation Ke

was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal at the conclusion of the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both army and navy forces under the overall direction of the Japanese Imperial...

from Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...

following their defeat there. Another submarine——had undertaken a diversionary bombardment of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The Territory of the Cocos Islands, also called Cocos Islands and Keeling Islands, is a territory of Australia, located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Christmas Island and approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka....

on 25 December 1942. It appears that Torisu's original objective was to bombard the port of Geraldton, Western Australia

Geraldton, Western Australia

Geraldton is a city and port in Western Australia located north of Perth in the Mid West region. Geraldton has an estimated population at June 2010 of 36,958...

.

After a six-day voyage southward, I-165 reached Geraldton on 27 January. However, Torisu believed that he had sighted lights of aircraft or a destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

near the town and broke off his attack. I-165 instead headed north for Port Gregory

Port Gregory, Western Australia

Gregory is a small town and fishing port in the Mid West region of Western Australia. At the 2006 census, Gregory had a population of 46.Port Gregory, located close to the mouth of the Hutt River, was established in 1849 and named after brothers Augustus and Frank Gregory, two of Western...

a former whaling, lead and salt port. At around midnight on 28 January, the submarine's crew fired 10 rounds from her 100 mm (3.9 in) deck gun

Deck gun

A deck gun is a type of artillery cannon mounted on the deck of a ship or submarine.The deck gun was used as a defensive weapon against smaller boats or ships and in certain cases where torpedo use was limited. Typically a crew of three; gunner, loader, and layer, operated the gun, while others...

at the town. The shells appear to have completely missed Port Gregory and did not result in any damage or casualties for the town was not occupied and the raid initially went unnoticed. While gunfire was sighted by nearby coastwatchers

Coastwatchers

The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II to observe enemy movements and rescue stranded Allied...

, Allied naval authorities only learned of the attack when Lt. Cdr. Torisu's battle report radio signal was intercepted and decoded a week later. As a result, the attack was not successful in diverting attention away from Guadalcanal.

I-165 returned twice to Australian waters. In September 1943, she made an uneventful reconnaissance of the north west coast. I-165 conducted another reconnaissance patrol off north western Australian between 31 May and 5 July 1944. This was the last time a Japanese submarine entered Australian waters.

German raider Michel (June 1943)

was the final German surface raider to enter Australian waters. Michel departed from Yokohama, Japan on her second raiding cruise on 21 May 1943 and entered the Indian Ocean in June. On 14 June she sank the 7715 LT (7,838.8 t) Norwegian tanker Høegh Silverdawn about 1800 mi (1,564.2 nmi; 2,896.8 km) north-west of Fremantle. Michel followed up this success two days later by sinking a second Norwegian tanker, the 9940 LT (10,099.5 t) Ferncastle, in the same area. Both tankers were sailing from Western Australia to the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

and 47 Allied sailors and passengers were killed as a result of the attacks. Following these sinkings Michel sailed well to the south of Australia and New Zealand and operated in the eastern Pacific. On 3 September, she sank the 9977 LT (10,137.1 t) Norwegian tanker India west of Easter Island

Easter Island

Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...

while the tanker was sailing from Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

to Australia.

1944–1945

The Axis naval threat to Australia declined in line with the Allied successes in the Pacific Theatre in 1944, and only three ships were sunk by Axis naval vessels on the Australia Station during 1944 and 1945. While the Japanese conducted their only landing on the Australian mainland during 1944, this was a small reconnaissance operation. As the threat from Axis attacks declined the Allies further reduced the forces assigned to protecting shipping in Australian waters. These forces were not completely disbanded until the end of the war, however.

The Japanese landing in Australia (January 1944)

While the Japanese government never adopted proposals to invade Australia, a single reconnaissance landing was made on the Australian mainland. Between 17 and 20 January 1944, members of a Japanese intelligence unit named Matsu Kikan ("Pine Tree") made a reconnaissance mission to a sparsely populated part of the Kimberley region of Western Australia

Kimberley region of Western Australia

The Kimberley is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northern part of Western Australia, bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, and on the east by the Northern Territory.The region...

. The unit, operating from Kupang

Kupang

Not to be confused with Tanjung Kupang in JohoreKupang is the provincial capital of East Nusa Tenggara province in southeast Indonesia....

, West Timor

West Timor

West Timor is the western and Indonesian portion of the island of Timor and part of the province of East Nusa Tenggara, .During the colonial period it was known as "Dutch Timor" and was a centre of Dutch loyalists during the Indonesian National Revolution...

, used a converted 25 LT (25.4 t) civilian vessel called Hiyoshi Maru and posed as a fishing crew. The mission was led by Lt. Susuhiko Mizuno of the Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

and included another three Japanese army personnel, six Japanese naval personnel and 15 West Timorese sailors. Their orders, from the Japanese 19th Army headquarters at Ambon, were to verify reports that the U.S. Navy was building a base in the area. In addition, the Matsu Kikan personnel were ordered to collect information which would assist any guerrilla

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

attacks against the Australian mainland.

Hiyoshi Maru left Kupang on 16 January and was given air cover for the outward leg by an Aichi D3A

Aichi D3A

The , Allied reporting name "Val") was a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy . It was the primary dive bomber in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and participated in almost all actions, including Pearl Harbor....

2 "Val" dive bomber

Dive bomber

A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...

which reportedly attacked an Allied submarine en route. On 17 January, Hiyoshi Maru visited the Ashmore Reef area. The following day the crew landed on the tiny and uninhabited Browse Island, about 100 mi (86.9 nmi; 160.9 km) north west of the mainland. On the morning of 19 January, Hiyoshi Maru entered York Sound

York Sound

York Sound is a sound located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia opening into the Indian Ocean.The sound in bounded by Cape Pond to the North and Hardey Point with the Coronation Islands to the South....

on the mainland. Although the crew saw smoke emanating from hills to the east of their location, they anchored the ship and camouflaged it with tree branches. Local historians state that Matsu Kikan landing parties went ashore near the Roe

Roe River (Western Australia)

The Roe River is a river in the Kimberley of Western Australia.The headwaters of the river rise in the Prince Regent Nature Reserve below Bushfire Hill then flow in a north westerly direction. The river discharges into Prince Frederick Harbour to York Sound and out onto the Indian Ocean...

and Moran River

Moran River

-References:*...

s. They reportedly explored the area for about two hours, and some members of the mission filmed the area using an 8 mm camera

8 mm film

8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...

. The Matsu Kikan personnel spent the night on the boat and reconnoitred the shore area again the following day, before returning to Kupang. The Japanese did not sight any people or signs of recent human activity and little of military significance was learnt from the mission.

Japanese operations in the Indian Ocean (March 1944)

In February 1944, the Japanese Combined Fleet withdrew from its base at Truk

Chuuk

and was divided between Palau

Palau

Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...

and Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. The appearance of a powerful Japanese squadron at Singapore concerned the Allies, as it was feared that this force could potentially conduct raids in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

and against Western Australia

Western Australia

.

On 1 March, a Japanese squadron consisting of the heavy cruisers (flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

), and —under Vice Admiral

Vice Admiral

Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...

Naomasa Sakonju

-Notes:...

—sortied from Sunda Strait

Sunda Strait

The Sunda Strait is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean...

to attack Allied shipping

Japanese Indian Ocean raid (1944)

In March 1944, a force of three Imperial Japanese Navy heavy cruisers raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. The cruisers departed Japanese territory on 1 March with the support of other IJN vessels and aircraft. On 9 March, they encountered and sank the British steamer Behar, with the heavy...

sailing on the main route between Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

and Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

. The only Allied ship this squadron encountered was the British steamer Behar, which was sunk midway between Ceylon and Fremantle on 9 March. Following this attack the squadron broke off its mission and returned to Batavia as it was feared that Allied ships responding to Behar's distress signal posed an unacceptable risk. While 102 survivors from Behar were rescued by Tone, 82 of these prisoners were murdered after the cruiser arrived in Batavia on 16 March. Following the war Vice Adm. Sakonju was executed for war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s which included the killing of these prisoners, while the former commander of Tone, Capt.

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

Haruo Mayazumi, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. The sortie mounted by Aoba, Tone and Chikuma was the last raid mounted by Axis surface ships against the Allied lines of communication in the Indian Ocean, or elsewhere, during World War II.

While the Japanese raid into the Indian Ocean was not successful, associated Japanese shipping movements provoked a major Allied response

Western Australian emergency of March 1944

On 6 March 1944 the Australian Government and military received an incorrect report that two Imperial Japanese Navy battleships had entered the Indian Ocean, possibly to attack Fremantle and Perth. In response, the Allied forces in the state of Western Australia were rapidly reinforced...

. In early March 1944, Allied intelligence reported that two battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

s escorted by destroyers had left Singapore in the direction of Surabaya

Surabaya

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

and a U.S. submarine made radar contact with two large Japanese ships in the Lombok Strait

Lombok Strait

The Lombok Strait is a strait connecting the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean, located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side....

. The Australian Chiefs of Staff Committee reported to the Government on 8 March that there was a possibility that these ships could have entered the Indian Ocean to attack Fremantle. In response to this report, all ground and naval defences at Fremantle were fully manned, all shipping was ordered to leave Fremantle and several RAAF squadrons were redeployed to bases in Western Australia

Western Australia

.

This alert proved to be a false alarm, however. The Japanese ships detected in the Lombok Strait

Lombok Strait

The Lombok Strait is a strait connecting the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean, located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side....

were actually the light cruisers and which were covering the return of the surface raiding force from the central Indian Ocean. The alert was lifted at Fremantle on 13 March and the RAAF squadrons began returning to their bases in eastern and northern Australia on 20 March.

The German submarine offensive (September 1944 – January 1945)

On 14 September 1944, the commander of the Kriegsmarine—Großadmiral

Grand Admiral

Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, generally being the highest such rank present in any particular country. Its most notable use was in Germany — the German word is Großadmiral.-France:...

(Grand Admiral) Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...

—approved a proposal to send two Type IXD

German Type IX submarine

The Type IX U-boat was designed by Germany in 1935 and 1936 as a large ocean-going submarine for sustained operations far from the home support facilities. Type IX boats were briefly used for patrols off the eastern United States in an attempt to disrupt the stream of troops and supplies bound for...

U-Boats

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

into Australian waters with the objective of tying down Allied anti-submarine assets in a secondary theatre. The U-Boats involved was drawn from the Monsun Gruppe
Monsun Gruppe
The Monsun Gruppe or Monsoon Group was a force of German U-boats that operated in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during World War II...

("Monsoon Group"), and the two selected for this operation were and . An additional submarine——was added to this force at the end of September.

Due to the difficulty of maintaining German submarines in Japanese bases, the German force was not ready to depart from its bases in Penang

Penang

and Batavia

Jakarta

(Jakarta) until early October. By this time, the Allies had intercepted and decoded German and Japanese messages describing the operation and were able to vector Allied submarines onto the German boats. The Dutch submarine Zwaardvisch sank U-168 on 6 October near Surabaya

Surabaya

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

and the American submarine sank U-537 on 10 November near the northern end of the Lombok Strait. Due to the priority accorded to the Australian operation, was ordered to replace U-168. However, U-196 disappeared in the Sunda Strait

Sunda Strait

The Sunda Strait is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean...

some time after departing from Penang on 30 November. The cause of U-196s loss is unknown, though it was probably due to an accident or mechanical fault.

The only surviving submarine of the force assigned to attack Australia—, under Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Timm

Heinrich Timm

Heinrich Timm was a German U-boat commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross....

—departed Batavia on 18 November 1944, and arrived off the south west tip of Western Australia

Western Australia

on 26 November. The submarine had great difficulty finding targets as the Australian naval authorities, warned of U-862s approach, had directed shipping away from the routes normally used. U-862 unsuccessfully attacked the Greek freighter Ilissos off the South Australian coast on 9 December, with bad weather spoiling both the attack and subsequent Australian efforts to locate the submarine.

Following her attack on Ilissos, U-862 continued east along the Australian coastline, becoming the only German submarine to operate in the Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. After entering the Pacific U-862 scored her first success on this patrol when she attacked the U.S.-registered liberty ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...

Robert J. Walker off the South Coast of New South Wales

New South Wales

on 24 December 1944. The ship sank the following day. Following this attack, U-862 evaded an intensive search by Australian aircraft and warships and departed for New Zealand

New Zealand

.

As U-862 did not find any worthwhile targets off New Zealand, the submarine's commander planned to return to Australian waters in January 1945 and operate to the north of Sydney. U-862 was ordered to break off her mission in mid-January, however, and return to Jakarta

Jakarta

. On her return voyage, the submarine sank another U.S. liberty ship—Peter Silvester—approximately 820 nmi (943.6 mi; 1,518.6 km) southwest of Fremantle on 6 February 1945. Peter Silvester was the last Allied ship to be sunk by the Axis in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

during the war. U-862 arrived in Jakarta

Jakarta

in mid February 1945 and is the only Axis ship known to have operated in Australian waters during 1945. Following Germany's surrender

End of World War II in Europe

The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April and early May 1945.-Timeline of surrenders and deaths:...

, U-862 became the Japanese submarine but was not used operationally.

While Allied naval authorities were aware of the approach of the German strike force and were successful in sinking two of the four submarines dispatched, efforts to locate and sink U-862 once she reached Australian waters were continually hampered by a lack of suitable ships and aircraft and a lack of personnel trained and experienced in anti-submarine warfare. As the southern coast of Australia was thousands of kilometres behind the active combat front in South-East Asia and had not been raided for several years, it should not be considered surprising that few anti-submarine assets were available in this area in late 1944 and early 1945.

Conclusions

Casualties

A total of six German surface raiders, four Japanese aircraft carriers, seven Japanese cruisers, nine Japanese destroyers and twenty eight Japanese and German submarines operated in Australian waters between 1940 and 1945. These 54 warships sank 53 merchant ships and three warships within the Australia Station, resulting in the deaths of over 1,751 Allied military personnel, sailors and civilians. Over 88 people were also killed by IJN air attacks on towns in northern Australia. In exchange, the Allies sank one German surface raider, one full-sized Japanese submarine and two midget submarines within Australian waters, resulting in the deaths of 157 Axis sailors. A further two German submarines were sunk while en-route to Australian waters with the loss of 81 sailors.

The six German and three Japanese surface raiders that operated within Australian waters sank 18 ships and killed over 826 sailors (including the 82 prisoners murdered on board Tone in 1944). Kormoran was the only Axis surface ship to be sunk within the Australia Station, and 78 of her crew were killed.
The 17 ships in the Japanese carrier force that raided Darwin in 1942 sank nine ships and killed 251 people for the loss of four aircraft. A further 14 sailors and civilians were killed in the sinking of HMAS Patricia Cam and the attacks on Period and Islander in 1943 and 88 people were killed during the raid on Broome in 1942.
The 28 Japanese and German submarines that operated in Australian waters between 1942 and 1945 sank a total of 30 ships with a combined tonnage of 151000 LT (153,423.6 t); 654 people, including 200 Australian merchant seamen, were killed on board the ships attacked by submarines. It has also been estimated that the RAAF lost at least 23 aircraft and 104 airmen to flying accidents during anti-submarine patrols off the Australian coast. In exchange, the Allies sank only a single full-sized Japanese submarine in Australian waters (I-124) and two of the three midgets that entered Sydney Harbour. A total of 79 Japanese sailors died in these sinkings, and a further two sailors died on board the third midget, which was scuttled after leaving Sydney Harbour.

Assessment

While the scale of the Axis naval offensive directed against Australia was small compared to other naval campaigns of the war such as the Battle of the Atlantic, they were still "the most comprehensive and widespread series of offensive operations ever conducted by an enemy against Australia". Due to the limited size of the Australian shipping industry and the importance of sea transport to the Australian economy and Allied military in the South West Pacific, even modest shipping losses had the potential to seriously damage the Allied war effort in the South West Pacific

South West Pacific theatre of World War II

.

Despite the vulnerability of the Australian shipping industry, the Axis attacks did not seriously affect the Australian or Allied war effort. While the German surface raiders which operated against Australia caused considerable disruption to merchant shipping and tied down Allied naval vessels, they did not sink many ships and only operated in Australian waters for a few short periods. The effectiveness of the Japanese submarine campaign against Australia was limited by the inadequate numbers of submarines committed and flaws in Japan's submarine doctrine. The submarines were, however, successful in forcing the Allies to devote considerable resources to protecting shipping in Australian waters between 1942 and late 1943. The institution of coastal convoys between 1942 and 1943 may have also significantly reduced the efficiency of the Australian shipping industry during this period.

The performance of the Australian and Allied forces committed to the defence of shipping on the Australia station was mixed. While the threat to Australia from Axis raiders was "anticipated and addressed", only a small proportion of the Axis ships and submarines which attacked Australia were successfully located or engaged. Several German raiders operated undetected within Australian waters in 1940 as the number of Allied warships and aircraft available were not sufficient to patrol these waters and the loss of HMAS Sydney was a high price to pay for sinking Kormoran in 1941. While the Australian authorities were quick to implement convoys in 1942 and no convoyed ship was sunk during that year, the escorts of the convoys that were attacked in 1943 were not successful in either detecting any submarines before they launched their attack or successfully counter-attacking these submarines. Factors explaining the relatively poor performance of Australian anti-submarine forces include their typically low levels of experience and training, shortages of ASW

Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....

assets, problems with co-ordinating searches and the poor sonar

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

conditions in the waters surrounding Australia. Nevertheless, "success in anti-submarine warfare cannot be measured simply by the total of sinkings achieved" and the Australian defenders may have successfully reduced the threat to shipping in Australian waters by making it harder for Japanese submarines to carry out attacks.

Books and printed material

Australia in the War of 1939–1945
- G. Herman Gill (1957), Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy. Volume I 1939–1942. Australian War Memorial
  Australian War Memorial
  The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
  
  , Canberra.
- G. Herman Gill (1968), Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy. Volume II – Royal Australian Navy, 1942–1945. Australian War Memorial
  Australian War Memorial
  The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
  
  , Canberra.
- Douglas Gillison (1962), Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 3 - Air. Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942. Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
- George Odgers (1968), Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 3 - Air. Volume II – Air War Against Japan, 1943–1945. Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
- Gavin Long (1973), The Six Years War. A Concise History of Australia in the 1939–45 War. Australian War Memorial and Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. ISBN 0-642-99375-0
Steven L Carruthers (1982), Australia Under Siege: Japanese Submarine Raiders, 1942. Solus Books. ISBN 0-9593614-0-5
John Coates (2001), An Atlas of Australia's Wars. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. ISBN 0-19-554119-7
Tom Frame
Tom Frame (bishop)
Tom Frame is an Australian Anglican bishop, historian, academic, author and social commentator.Frame was born in Stanmore, New South Wales and raised in Wollongong by his adoptive parents.-Career:...

(1993), HMAS Sydney. Loss and Controversy. Hodder & Stoughton, Sydney. ISBN 0-340-58468-8
Tom Frame (2004), No Pleasure Cruise: The Story of the Royal Australian Navy. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. ISBN 1-74114-233-4
Henry P. Frei (1991), Japan's Southward Advance and Australia. From the Sixteenth Century to World War II. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. ISBN 0-522-84392-1
David Horner (1993). 'Defending Australia in 1942' in War and Society, Volume 11, Number 1, May 1993.
David Jenkins (1992), Battle Surface! Japan's Submarine War Against Australia 1942–44. Random House Australia, Sydney. ISBN 0-09-182638-1
Paul Kemp (1997), U-Boats Destroyed. German Submarine Losses in the World Wars. Arms and Armour, London. ISBN 1-85409-321-5
Tom Lewis
Tom Lewis (author)
Dr. Tom Lewis OAM is an Australian author and military historian.In June 2003, Lewis was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for meritorious service to the Royal Australian Navy, particularly in the promotion of Australian naval history....

(2003). A War at Home. A Comprehensive guide to the first Japanese attacks on Darwin. Tall Stories, Darwin. ISBN 0-9577351-0-3
Samuel Eliot Morison
Samuel Eliot Morison
Samuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years...

(1949 (2001 reprint)). Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, May 1942–August 1942, Volume 4 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II
The History of United States Naval Operations in World War II is a 15-volume account of the United States Navy in World War II, written by eminent historian Samuel Eliot Morison and published by Little, Brown and Company between 1947 and 1962....

. University of Illinois Press, Champaign. ISBN 0-252-06995-1
Robert Nichols 'The Night the War Came to Sydney' in Wartime Issue 33, 2006.
Albert Palazzo (2001). The Australian Army : A History of its Organisation 1901–2001. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2001. ISBN 0-19-551506-4
Seapower Centre - Australia (2005). The Navy Contribution to Australian Maritime Operations. Defence Publishing Service, Canberra. ISBN 0-642-29615-4
David Stevens, 'The War Cruise of I-6, March 1943' in Australian Defence Force Journal No. 102 September/October 1993. Pages 39–46.
David Stevens (1997), U-Boat Far from Home. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. ISBN 1-86448-267-2
David Stevens, 'Forgotten assault' in Wartime Issue 18, 2002.
David Stevens (2005), RAN Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs No. 15 A Critical Vulnerability: The impact of the submarine threat on Australia's maritime defence 1915–1954. Seapower Centre - Australia, Canberra. ISBN 0-642-29625-1
Sydney David Waters (1956), The Royal New Zealand Navy. Historical Publications Branch, Wellington.

External links and articles

Australian War Memorial website
Alastair Cooper (2001). Raiders and the Defence of Trade: The Royal Australian Navy in 1941. Paper delivered to the Australian War Memorial conference Remembering 1941.
Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp (2006). combinedfleet.com - Japanese Submarines
Tanaka Hiromi 'The Japanese Navy's operations against Australia in the Second World War, with a commentary on Japanese sources' in The Journal of the Australian War Memorial. Issue 30 - April 1997.
Dr. Peter Stanley (2002). He's (Not) Coming South: The Invasion That Wasn't. Paper delivered to the Australian War Memorial conference Remembering 1942.
Dr. Peter Stanley (2006). Was there a Battle for Australia? Australian War Memorial Anniversary Oration, 10 November 2006.
David Stevens Japanese submarine operations against Australia 1942–1944.
U-Boat.net Monsun boats U-boats in the Indian Ocean and the Far East
David Joseph Wilson (2003) The Eagle and the Albatross: Australian Aerial Maritime Operations 1921–1971. PhD thesis.

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