Submersible Goliath Dispatched by Down-Under Davids January 29, 1943: Night Action off Guadalcanal The Record: On the night of 29 January 1943, the large Japanese submarine I-1 was intercepted and destroyed by two small New Zealand navy minesweepers. The Goliath: The I-1 was an over-sized cruiser-type submarine which was built in Japan and completed in 1926. Large for submarines of that era, she was 320 feet long and displaced, submerged, 2,791 tons. Her speed was 18 knots (surface) and 8 knots (submerged). She was manned by a crew of 68 officers and men. Her offensive weaponery consisted of six torpedo tubes and two, 5.5-inch naval rifles, positioned atop her pressure hull and located fore and aft of the sub's conning tower. The Davids: KIWI [right] and MOA were socalled 'Bird Class' minesweepers that had been built in Scotland in 1941 for the Royal New Zealand Navy. As warships go, they were not big, powerful or heavily armed. In actuality, they were based on a commercial trawler design; modified by the Admiralty to allow them to function as minesweepers.
These vessels were each just 168 feet long, and displaced only 923 tons. Their maximum speed was 13 knots. Each vessel's crew consisted of 33-35 officers and men. The majority of the crews were volunteer reservists. Their initial armament, intended for defense, consisted of a single 4-inch gun, and two machine guns. In addition to carrying minesweeping gear, they each carried a small number of depth charges and underwater sound detecting gear. The Situation: In 1942, America launched its first amphibious campaign in the Pacific; invading the enemy-held island of Guadalcanal. After a several months' struggle, Japanese forces on the island were running short of food and ammunition. Operating mainly at night, small Japanese ships, barges and even submarines were employed to penetrate the allied defenses and deliver supplies. The Japanese submarine I-1 was pressed into this abnormal duty. To make room for transporting barges on her deck, the sub's aft 5.5-inch gun was removed. After dropping off a barge loaded with supplies and replacements offshore at a remote Guadalcanal location in the evening of January 29, 1943, I-1 submerged. Part of the allied forces attempting to deny the Japanese support of their beleaguered troops were units of the New Zealand minesweeping flotilla. As the submarine I-1 was trying to silently slip away, KIWI and MOA were patrolling nearby. Heavy rain squalls limited visibility on the surface. At 2105 hours, the KIWI's asdic [sonar] operator reported a suspicious underwater contact. The Encounter: The contact appeared to be a submarine, but it was 3,000 yards away; almost at the limit of the KIWI's detection gear. Moving in closer and accompanied by MOA, further contacts by both minesweepers confirmed the presence of a submarine. Moving right over the plotted location of the sub, KIWI dropped six depth charges. Coming around to make a second attack, her crew spotted the phosphorescent outline of the big enemy sub almost directly beneath them in the clear tropical waters. A second release of well-aimed depth charges damaged the sub structurally and also disabled its electric motors; vital for underwater propulsion. Forced to the surface, her captain switched to diesel engines and attempted to fight it out in order to escape. Although out-numbered two to one, the I-1 was a formidable opponent. She was bigger and faster than either of the New Zealand vessels, and her deck gun was more powerful and had a greater range than any weapons the minesweepers carried. Plus, she also had machine guns, which her crew quickly activated. 2
Nevertheless, the KIWI's captain, Lt. Cmdr Gordon Bridson, pressed the attack in spite of Japanese 5.5 inch shells passing by. A member of the minesweeper's crew later said they sounded 'like an express train coming through a tunnel'. Illuminating the sub with her searchlight, the KIWI raced towards the enemy with all guns blazing in order to negate the sub's advantage in gun size. Fortunately, prior to that evening's action the KIWI's resourceful captain had acquired a 20mm Oerlikon cannon [he bartered for it with bottles of gin] to augment her original, meager weaponry. Fortuitously mounted on the minesweeper's bow, that additional weapon was instrumental in putting the sub's larger deck gun out of action. MOA supported her sister ship, firing star shells to help illuminate the murky nighttime scene. At one point in the action, the captain of the MOA, Lt. Cmdr Peter Phipps, radioed his counterpart, asking if the KIWI was firing at her. The captain of the KIWI laconically replied, in the midst of his initial attack on the sub: "No, that's the submarine firing at you!" At a distance of 150 yards, the KIWI's skipper decided to ram the sub...and did. He struck her on the port side, just aft of her conning tower. But the KIWI was unable to cut through the I-1's heavy shell plating and deal a mortal blow. Backing off, KIWI rammed her a second time, but only managed a glancing hit. On a third attempt, the KIWI's bow slid up on the sub's deck, knocking Japanese sailors into the water and damaging the submarine's diesel oil tanks. The I-1 then started to limp towards shore. When the KIWI's guns got too hot to continue firing, the MOA moved in and continued to punish the submarine and her crew. Before the submarine could reach shore, at 2320 hours she hit a submerged reef and rode up on it about forty feet at a 45-degree angle. Throughout this entire sequence of events, 22 yearold Acting Leading Signalman Campbell H. Buchanan [left] continued to illuminate the enemy sub, in spite of being mortally wounded early in the action by Japanese machine gun fire. Taken ashore after the battle ended, he died two days later. Buchanan was initially buried at Tulagi, Solomon Islands. After the war, is remains were moved to the New Zealand War Cemetery in New Caledonia. He was the only member of the KIWI's or the MOA's crew to be wounded or killed that night. 3
The Results: After the I-1 struck the reef, she was abandoned by the surviving members of her crew. Two hours after the action had begun, the badly damaged submarine slid into deeper water, leaving 50 feet of her bow projecting above water. During the battle, 27 of the submarine's crew were killed, including her captain. The remainder, including several wounded, made it ashore and were briefly sheltered at a Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal. But they left behind critical code books and other documents. The Japanese tried unsuccessfully to destroy the submarine and her contents through a series of attacks. The US Navy was able to salvage a wealth of intelligence from the wreck. Her bow badly damaged from the multiple ramming efforts, the KIWI limped back to her home port of Auckland, New Zealand, where she was placed in dry dock [right]. Before being visited by high-ranking RNZN officials, the KIWI's crew wisely removed the unauthorized armament from her bow and hid it below deck. While in Auckland the ship's crew was treated grandly by local citizens, whose morale had been boosted by her exploits. A parade was held in which the ship's company participated [below]. KIWI survived the war. Afterwards, she swept mines and then served as a training vessel during the Korean War. KIWI was laid up in 1958, and then scrapped seven years later. 4
MOA, undamaged, stayed on patrol in the Solomon Islands. On the night of January 31, 1943, her crew spotted four armed enemy barges. She destroyed two of them, but was hit by a four-inch shell during that fight, suffering several minor causalities. On April 7, 1943. While being refueled in Tulagi harbor by a US Navy tanker, a Japanese air attack that was concentrated on the tanker hit, instead, the minesweeper and sank her. MOA went down in just four minutes, and five of her crew were killed that day, plus fourteen wounded, including her captain. The Recognitions: The commanding officers of both of the minesweepers that sank the I-1 were decorated by the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Additional members of both ship's crews were also recognized 'in dispatches'; a Royal Navy tradition as treasured as the receipt of medals. Because their successful action on the night of January 29, 1943 was in direct support of and of benefit to the American forces fighting on Guadalcanal, Lt Cmdrs Bridson and Phipps were presented with the Navy Cross. This medal is the US Navy's second highest military decoration for valor. The Navy Cross was also presented to the parents of Acting Leading Signalman Howard Buchanan. These three members of the Royal New Zealand Navy are amongst only nineteen foreign recipients of the Navy Cross during World War II. Gordon Bridson [left], was born in 1909 in Auckland. A champion swimmer in his youth, he became a naval reservist in 1927. After World War II ended, he returned to civilian life, went into the hardware business and then farming. He passed away in 1972 at age 63. Peter Phipps [right] stayed in the navy after the war, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral; the first New Zealander to attain that rank in the RNZN. Also born in 1909, he had been an enlisted man in New Zealand's navy before receiving a commission. In 1964, one year before he retired, Admiral Phipps was knighted. He died in an automobile accident in 1989 at age 80. The Artifacts: In 2010 the family of Acting Leading Signalman Buchanan donated his Navy Cross to the National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy in Auckland. 5
A number of years before, in 1968, the 5.5-inch deck gun from the I-1 was removed from the sub; a live round still in the gun's breech. The weapon is now on display [below] in the RNZN museum...minus the live round, of course! The Remains: Even today, a portion of the Japanese submarine I-1 is still visible; albeit badly damaged. In 1970 an Australian treasure hunter in search of valuables planted explosives on the exposed bow of the partly sunken sub. That chap got more than he bargained for, since the sub's bow still contained live torpedoes, which also detonated when he set off his small explosive charge. He was shaken, but uninjured and the resulting damage to the wreck [right] made it impossible for him to recover anything of value. The MOA lies on an even keel at the bottom of Tulagi harbor in 114 feet of water. Her superstructure was destroyed in 1975 when a vessel's anchor was dragged across it. In spite of the murky waters in which she rests, recreational divers can safely visit MOA and inspect her 4-inch gun. But, nothing remains of the valiant little minesweeper KIWI...except her motto: AKE AKE KIA KAHA (Forever be Strong) 6