Japanese midget sub found off Sydney, Australia, page 1

posted on Nov, 27 2006 @ 07:50 AM

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The government has declared the sub a war grave and has told divers not to disturb the wreck. The video link in the story suggests it was sunk by machinegun fire from the USS Chicago.

news.ninemsn.com.au...

Japanese midget sub found after 64 years

Friday Nov 24 18:00 AEDT
By ninemsn staff

A Japanese midget submarine that disappeared during a wartime raid in Sydney Harbour more than 60 years ago has been discovered by a group of amateur divers.

The story of the accidental discovery and pictures of the submarine — still containing the remains of two Japanese sailors — will be aired on 60 Minutes this Sunday.

"It's really nice to see that there's this amazing mystery that has been solved by ordinary Australians," 60 Minutes' Liam Bartlett told ninemsn. "It's not a question of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of hi-tech electrical search gear or anything like that. You've just got these seven amateur scuba divers who have lucked onto this amazing mystery."

Twenty-one Australian sailors were killed by the sub known as M24 when it entered Sydney Harbour with two similar craft on May 31, 1942. The other subs were recovered soon after the attack, but mystery has surrounded the location of the third craft ever since.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

[edit on 27-11-2006 by JamesinOz2]

secret_aircraft6

posted on Nov, 28 2006 @ 08:04 PM

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Very cool. I remember a show on "Discovery" about how they seached for a Japanese mini sub next to Pearl harbor. Kind of what they are talking about here:

"It's not a question of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of hi-tech electrical search gear or anything like that. You've just got these seven amateur scuba divers who have lucked onto this amazing mystery."

WestPoint23

posted on Nov, 28 2006 @ 08:55 PM

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Yeah they found it and proved once and for all that technically US forces fired the first shots of the coming war. It was shot by a US deck gun right through the sail as it surfaced in Pear Harbor and presumably sank some time later.

JamesinOz2

posted on Nov, 29 2006 @ 03:07 AM

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The Commander of the local Naval Museum said in the video link to the article that the midget sub surfaced and had its periscope blown off by the USS Chicago, forcing the crew of the sub to aim their torpedoes at the Chicago using visual line of sight. They fired their two torpedoes, both of which went under the Chicago narrowly missing it. The sub was then peppered with heavy machine gun fire from the Chicago before it left the harbour and sank. This has only now been confirmed with the discovery of the wreck.