Australian 5 spoke carrier wheels

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Jared Archibald

G'day everyone,

I was suprised to find a image of a number of Australian carriers that were about to be loaded onto ships to be taken to Timor. This occured and the convoy set off in mid Feb 1942. It only got halfway when it came under air attack and returned to Darwin. The ships were subsequently sunk in Darwin harbour during the first enemy attack on Australian soil on the 19 Feb 1942.
In 1959-60, Japanese salvors returned and cut up the wrecks and shipped them back to Japan as scrap. There are apparently a couple of these carriers still on the bottom of the harbour which are regularly dived upon -the water is always murky so I have never seen a photo.

Jared

See This thread for some pics and info on the USA Transports Meigs and Mauna Loa in Darwin harbour. There is a pic of one of the carriers, can't make it out but IS THAT a 5 spoke wheel on the coral encrusted wreck? Check it out for us when you pop down and check the hull number, but watch out for Crocs!

Can't have been too much scrap removed from the wrecks, the ships seem fairly intact, and I think they may have been a war grave?: