The Fujita salvage operation was a two-year marine salvage operation of World War II shipwrecks in Darwin Harbour in the Northern Territory of Australia from 1959 to 1961.
The Fujita salvage operation was a two-year marine salvage operation of World War II shipwrecks in Darwin Harbour in the Northern Territory of Australia from 1959 to 1961.
Darwin was bombed by the Japanese Imperial Navy on 19 February 1942. Four Japanese aircraft carriers launched 188 aircraft during the morning led by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida targeting ships in Darwin Harbour as well as the town's port facilities. [1]
The Japanese raiders arrived over Darwin at 9:58 am. HMAS Gunbar was the first ship to be attacked, being strafed by several Zero fighters. At about this time, the town's air raid sirens were belatedly sounded. The Japanese bombers then conducted dive bombing and level bombing attacks on the ships in Darwin Harbour. These attacks lasted for 30 minutes and resulted in the sinking of three warships and six merchant vessels, damaging another ten ships. The ships sunk were the USS Peary, HMAS Mavie, USAT Meigs, MV Neptuna (which exploded while docked at Darwin's main wharf), Zealandia, SS Mauna Loa, MV British Motorist. The oil tanker Karalee and the coal storage hulk Kelat sank later. At least 21 labourers working on the wharf were killed when it was bombed. On their way back to the carriers, some Japanese aircraft passed over the Florence D. and Don Isidro, which enabled planning for an afternoon strike which sank both freighters. [2]
By the late 1950s, seven large wrecks remained in Darwin Harbour, an impediment to shipping and port development. After numerous attempts to find a contractor, a Japanese company, the Fujita Salvage Company successfully secured the tender and obtained the rights to the wartime wrecks, many from Darwin salvage expert Carl Atkinson. [3] Ryogo Fujita and his crew of 120 workers arrived in Darwin on 21 July 1959. [4]
The first ship they raised from the ocean floor was a transporter, the MV British Motorist. [5] The ship became the living quarters for Fujita's workers who were initially not permitted on Australian soil so soon after World War 2. They were not permitted to work in Darwin if they had any involvement in the Japanese war efforts. [6]
They salvaged seven wrecks over two years including MV Neptuna, USAT Meigs and the USS Peary. Fujita also salvaged other metal materials from across the Darwin region the guns at East Point in Darwin. [7]
A Japanese diver, Hayashi Sanzo died during the operation, when his air line became detached from his helmet. [8]
Relationships between the Darwin community and Fujita Salvage Company crew grew over the two-year operation. The salvage operations on the harbour coincided with the building of a new church on the Smith Street site of the former US military headquarters, destroyed during the war. Fujita, in a spirit of generosity, commissioned his team to create 77 bronze crosses for the church from scrap salvaged from the Australian vessel Zealandia. [9] He spoke at the official opening of the church on 23 July 1960, a year after the arrival of the Japanese salvage team. [10]
Fujita considered the salvage operation his life work. A propeller blade from the Meigs features on his gravestone. [11] The blade was gifted and relocated to Darwin Memorial Uniting Church in 2017. [12]
The Fujita family album is held at Northern Territory Library. [13] It was exhibited in 2016. [14]
The Battle of the Java Sea was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II.
The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin's harbour and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II.
USS Peary (DD-226) was a Clemson-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She was commissioned in 1920 and sunk by Japanese aircraft at Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, on 19 February 1942.
The USAT Meigs was a United States Army transport ship that was built in 1921 and sunk in Darwin Harbour in the first Japanese air raid against the Australia mainland on 19 February 1942.
HMAS Mavie was a 19-ton auxiliary patrol boat operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II.
MV Neptuna was a 5,952 ton cargo motor vessel. She was launched as MV Rio Panuco in 1924, renamed MV Neptun in 1931 and finally became MV Neptuna in 1935. She was sunk during the Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942, during World War II.
The history of Darwin details the city's growth from a fledgling settlement into a thriving colonial capital and finally a modern city.
SS Zealandia, nicknamed "Z", was an Australian cargo and passenger steamship. She served as a troopship in both World War I and World War II. Zealandia transported the Australian 8th Division. Her crew were the last Allied personnel to see HMAS Sydney, which was lost with all hands in 1941. Zealandia was sunk in the air raids on Darwin of 19 February 1942.
I-124, originally named Submarine Minelayer No. 52 and then named I-24 from before her launch until June 1938, was an I-121-class submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy that served during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict, she operated in support of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and was sunk during anti-shipping operations off Australia in January 1942.
Thomas Anthony Lewis, OAM is an Australian author, popular military historian, editor, teacher, and former naval officer. An author since 1989, Lewis worked as a high school teacher, and served as naval officer for 20 years, seeing active service in Baghdad during the Iraq war, and working in East Timor. In June 2003, Lewis was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for meritorious service to the Royal Australian Navy, particularly in the promotion of Australian naval history.
The Victoria Hotel, or The Vic as it is commonly known, is a heritage listed pub located in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Built in 1890, it is an important historical building but is currently closed.
SS Mauna Loa was a steam-powered cargo ship of the Matson Navigation Company that was sunk in the bombing of Darwin in February 1942. She was christened SS West Conob in 1919 and renamed SS Golden Eagle in 1928. At the time of her completion in 1919, the ship was inspected by the United States Navy for possible use as USS West Conob (ID-4033) but was neither taken into the Navy nor commissioned.
MV British Motorist was a 6,891 ton tanker, built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1924 for the British Tanker Company.
MV Macdhui was a steel-hulled passenger and cargo motor ship built by Barclay Curle & Company at the Clydeholm Yard, Whiteinch, Scotland for Burns, Philp & Company, Limited, Sydney NSW, Australia. She was launched on 23 December 1930 and completed during March 1931. She operated with the company's Burns, Philp Line with service to Papua and New Guinea. She was sunk in 1942, as a result of damage suffered by being hit by bombs from Japanese aircraft, near Port Moresby.
Ormond Harold Edward George Snell, best known as Harold Snell, was a soldier, miner, primary producer, carpenter, builder and businessman in the Northern Territory of Australia. He built many historic buildings in Darwin.
The 1897 cyclone was a tropical cyclone that destroyed the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is considered the worst cyclone to strike the Northern Territory of Australia prior to Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Prior to contemporary naming conventions, the storm became known as the "Great Hurricane".
Carl Atkinson (-1985) was a renowned Australian diver and salvage expert from Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Wikipedia's articles on recreational dive sites. The level of coverage may vary:
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.