Kuttabul after sinking |
|
| Career (Australia) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Kuttabul |
| Namesake: | Aboriginal word meaning "wonderful" |
| Operator: | Sydney Ferries (1922-1939) Royal Australian Navy (1939-1942) |
| Builder: | Newcastle State Dockyard |
| In service: | 1922 |
| Fate: | Sunk on 1 June 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Harbour ferry |
| Tonnage: | 448 GT 201 NT |
| Length: | 183 ft (56 m) |
| Beam: | 36 m (118 ft) |
| Capacity: | 2,250 passengers as ferry |
HMAS Kuttabul was a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) depot ship, and former Sydney harbour ferry. During the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour on 31 May 1942, Kuttabul was torpedoed and sunk, with 21 Commonwealth naval personnel aboard.
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Kuttabul originated as a steam-powered ferry, built in 1922 by the Newcastle State Dockyard in Newcastle, New South Wales. Kuttabul was rated at 448 gross and 201 net tonnes (1269 and 569 m³), was 183 feet (56 m) long, with a beam of 36 metres (118 ft), and capable of seating approximately 2,250 passengers. Kuttabul and near sister ship Koompartoo were the largest ferries ever operated on the inner harbour ferry routes, however Koompartoo had a slightly larger passenger capacity and was built with a steel hull and wooden superstructure, instead of the all-wood Kuttabul.
Kuttabul 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 and Koompartoo were laid up, but were later made available for tourist cruises on the harbour.[1][2]
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 whle they awaited transfer to their ships.[1]
On the night of 31 May-1 June 1942, three Ko-hyoteki class midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy entered Sydney Harbour with the intention of attacking Allied warships. Only one of the submarines, designated M-24, was able to fire her torpedoes, but both missed their intended target: the heavy cruiser USS Chicago.[1] The torpedoes, fired around 00:30, continued on to Garden Island: one ran aground harmlessly, but the other hit the breakwater against which Kuttabul and the Dutch submarine K-IX were moored.[3][4] The explosion broke Kuttabul in two and sank her,[1]
The attack killed 19 Royal Australian Navy and two Royal Navy sailors asleep aboard the ferry, and wounded another 10.[5] It took several days for the bodies of the dead sailors to be recovered, with a burial ceremony held on 3 June.[6] One of the ferry's wheelhouses was salvaged and used as a naval police guardhouse at the Garden Island naval base; the base was commissioned on 1 January 1943 as the stone frigate HMAS Kuttabul in commemoration of the ferry and the lives lost.[5] The wheelhouse later came into the possession of the Australian War Memorial, and is on display alongside a composite submarine built from the wreckage of two of the Japanese midget submarines.[7]