HMAS Kuttabul (ship)

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For other units of the Royal Ausralian Navy by this name, see HMAS Kuttabul.

Career (Australia (Sydney Ferries, RAN))
Kuttabul after sinking
Namesake:	Aboriginal word meaning "wonderful"
Builder:	Newcastle State Dockyard
In service:	1922
Fate:	sunk
General characteristics
Length:	56 m
Beam:	11 m

HMAS Kuttabul was a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) depot ship, which was sunk by a Japanese midget submarine on 31 May 1942 during the attack on Sydney Harbour, killing 21 Australian and British naval personnel.

Kuttabul originated as a steam ferry, built by the Newcastle State Dockyard, in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1922. It spent most of its life as a double-ended Sydney suburban ferry, carrying passengers across Sydney Harbour, linking the downtown ferry terminal at Circular Quay with various suburban ferry wharves, but especially the heavy route between the Quay and Milsons Point. Made redundant by the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, Kuttabul was laid up, along with its sister ship, Koompartoo.^[1] After the outbreak of World War II, Kuttabul was requisitioned by the RAN, and moored at the Garden Island naval base to provide accommodation for Allied naval personnel.^[1]

As a ferry, Kuttabul was rated at 448 gross and 201 net tonnes (1269 and 569 m³), being 183' (56 metres) long, with a beam of 36' (11 metres), capable of seating approximately 2,250 passengers. Kuttabul and Koompartoo were the largest ferries ever operated on the inner harbour ferry routes. They were constructed of steel, with wooden decks and superstructure.

On the night of 31 May-1 June 1942, a group of five Imperial Japanese Navy submarines made a series of attacks on Sydney. During these attacks, three Ko-hyoteki class midget submarines entered Sydney Harbour with the intention of attacking Allied shipping. A torpedo launched by one of these submarines "M24", and aimed at the heavy cruiser USS Chicago, missed its target and instead passed under HMAS Kuttabul. The torpedo exploded against the stone breakwater Kuttabul was moored against, causing extensive damage and killing 21 of its occupants.^[1] The ferry was sunk. Later one of its wheelhouses was salvaged and served for many years as a police guard house. The wheelhouse is now exhibited at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, together with a composite midget submarine comprising the wreckage of two of the Japanese vessels involved.