Hospital Ship Wreck found

[cliff]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8450511.stm

The Australian Hospital Ship Centaur torpedoed & sunk off the Queensland Coast during WW2 by a Japanese Submarine has been found and photographed by a search team 66 years after she went down with the loss of 268 lives. The Japanese Government refuses to acknowledge it was sunk by the Japanese and a statement from the country's (Japan) embassy in Canberra said the details surrounding the sinking were inconclusive, so again no opology from Japan for past war crimes the Imperial Japanese Forces committed.

I hope the 268 Doctors, Nurses and non combatant people on the ship who lost their lives can now rest in peace and that their families finally find closure.

Cliff

[KrisHamilton]

barbaric and senseless..... Indeed!!

[cliff]

further photos were shown on TV last night and even though the wreck is sitting a long way down there was a perfectly preserved hat and shoes sitting on the seabed around the wreck. This really drove home to me the large loss of life.

On another note another unknown 'Mystery' object of a similar size to the hospital ship was found using sonar in the search area so I wonder what it is? I am also wondering whether they will try and photograph it with the submersable now they have surveyed the Centaur?

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by cliff

On another note another unknown 'Mystery' object of a similar size to the hospital ship was found using sonar in the search area so I wonder what it is? I am also wondering whether they will try and photograph it with the submersable now they have surveyed the Centaur?

Cliff, on the headland at Coolangatta/Tweed Heads there is a memorial walk of the shipping lost on the East Coast to Japanese submarine activity (all inconclusive, naturally!). A total of 17 ships were sunk off the coast from Gabo Island to Townsville, by Japanese Submarines and 1 ship sunk by a German Sub. Anti-ship Mines were also laid by the Germans and Japanese (although not in the area off Brisbane) and it is not known if these mines claimed any shipping.

Iron Chieftan, on June 3rd 1942 by I-24.

Iron Crown, on June 4th 42 by I-27.

The Panamanian Guatemala, on June 12th 42, 40 miles NE of Sydney, by I-21.

George S Livanos, on July 11th 42by I-11.

Coast Farmer, on July 21st 42 by I-11.

US Liberty ship William Dawes, on July 22nd 42 by I-11.

Mamuta, on August 6th 42 by Submarine RO-33.

Kalingo, on January 18th 1943 by I-21.

Iron King, on February 8th 43 by I-21.

Starr King, on February 10th 43 by I-21.

Recina, on April 11th 43 by I-26.

Kowarra, on April 24th 43 by I-26.

Limerick, on April 26th 43 by I-177.

Lydia M. Childs, on April 27th by I-178.

Wollongbar, on April 29th 43 by I-180.

Fingal, on May 5th 43 by I-180.

Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, on May 14th 43 by I-177.

Portmar, on June 16th 43 by I-178. The last victim to fall to Japanese Submarines.

By mid June in 1943, the IJN had abandoned submarine operations off the Australian East coast.

The German Submarine U-862 also attacked and sank the US Liberty ship Robert J Walker off Jervis Bay on December 25th 1944.



Japanese Submarine patrols were usually conducted by the large I-Class submarines of 2900 tons. Famously, 5 were involved with the launching of the Midget subs that attacked Sydney Harbour and the shelling of Sydney and Newcastle the following week. A total of 27 different I-Class subs made 40 patrols of the East Coast for periods of up to 3 mths.

18 ships, of 86,600 tons were sunk off our east coast, and another 25 ships had suffered some damage when attacked, but still survived.

467 had died, and that figure includes those killed when HMAS Kuttabul was destroyed during the Midget attack in 1942.

The Japanese Submarine I-177 was sunk on 3 October 1944 with the loss of her entire crew of 101 sailors. However, I-177's Captain of May 43 survived.

Quote: "The master of I-177 was Lieutenant Commander Hajime Nakagawa. He had reported sinking a ship off Australia on the date of the Centaur's sinking. In 1979 an official history of Japanese naval operations stated fleetingly that the I-177 was responsible for sinking the Centaur. This is about as close as Japan has ever come to an apology. But one writer of Japan's official war history, Kanemi Sakamoto, said in 1981 there was no evidence to say Nakagawa, or his crew, were aware that their target was a protected ship.

But Nakagawa's reputation has courted suspicion. He was jailed for six years in 1948 for shooting survivors of a British merchant ship that his submarine had sunk in the Indian Ocean. There was insufficient evidence for bringing charges against him over the Centaur. He refused to comment on the hospital ship, and died in 1991."

Some reading on the sinking of the Centaur HERE.

[cliff]

Thank you for that informative reply Tony it has enlightened me to more of the events happening around the same time as the Centaur was torpedoed.