The Last Great Naval Sword Fight of World War II
by Ernest A. Herr
At the left, is the Imperial Japanese Navy Submarine I-1sitting on the shoreline at Guadalcanal as an American PT boat closes in for close inspection. The shoreline is under the control of Japanese troops at night but in daylight American control of the channel keeps Japanese troops in the jungles.
This one is for the record books when considering the actions of the Imperial Japanese Navy's submarine I-1. Coming in not too long after dark in order to exploit as many hours of darkness as possible, the Captain of the large submarine managed to cruise beneath and avoid the many American destroyers patrolling Sealark Channel off the shores of the island of Guadalcanal. On a critical mission to deliver supplies and troops to the hard pressed Japanese forces on shore, the sub's captain managed to arrive close to shore and near the part of the island under Japanese control.
However, taking one final and careful look around the harbor before surfacing, he managed to miss seeing the rather small corvette vessel KIWI of the New Zealand Navy (where else with a name like KIWI). When the large submarine burst upon the surfaced directly in front of the KIWI, the KIWI's Captain could not believe his eyes. With everyone on the bridge in a state of high excitement, the Captain cried out for full speed ahead and a ramming of the sub. Considering the size of the sub, the Engineering Officer expressed doubts as to the wisdom of such a small ship ramming such a large sub, but the Captain would hear none of it.
To insure proper enthusiasm for the venture, the Captain cried out promising a week-end leave in Auckland to the crew for a successful ramming. Enough said; the KIWI was underway at full speed and managed to ram the sub on the port side. On the deck of the sub, Japanese troops in full packs had already emerged, many of whom were forced to jump overboard. As the KIWI backed away, her gunners fired into landing barges strapped to the sub's after deck causing them to burst into flame and light up the area in a dull red light. During this wild melee, the gun crews on the sub managed to fire a few rounds at the KIWI but missed. In return, gun crews on the KIWI managed to cut down the subs gun crew and the sub's captain, this left the sub's navigator in command.
As the sub refused to sink, the Captain of the KIWI mounted a second ramming with the battle cry, "Hit her again! It'll be a week's leave!" The battle raged on with reserve gun crews pouring out on the deck of the sub to man the guns. The sub's gunners continued the battle and claimed a hit on the KIWI bringing cheers of exaltation from the submarine crew. The battle, which would last over ninety minutes, showed no end in sight.
Battered, the KIWI mounted a third ramming with the Captain's cry of, "Once more for a fortnight in Auckland !" This encounter, had the KIWI landing on the of the sub's deck before bouncing off. With this, the navigator of the sub (now in command) rushed down the conning tower ladder yelling "Swords! Swords!" The Navigator, a famous swordsman in Japan, reemerged topside accompanied by a the first lieutenant, both with swords in hand. By now, pandemonium reigned on the I-boat. As the KIWI closed for another embrace, one of the swordsmen jumped to board the corvette and succeeded in grabbing the railing of the KIWI.
At this point in time, the stage was set for what could have been one of the most astounding battles of World War Two: a full fledged sword fight taking place (with sabers swinging) on the deck of the KIWI. The battle could have gone down as one of the most amazing battles in the annals of modern naval warfare. This was not to be however, as the Captain of the KIWI lacked a romantic flair and love for the dramatic. Perhaps a bit isolated in New Zealand, he had not been inspired enough by those great swash-buckling movies of pirate ships of the 1930's. The Navigator on the I-1 perhaps had seen one too many.
Now it was as if the submarine was taking matters in hand by deciding that it was time to sink. The First Lieutenant onboard tried to run the sub aground as the stern went underwater. In a mass of confusion, the corvette KIWI had enough action and backed off giving a second corvette of the New Zealand Navy (the MOA) a chance to take its place. In the confined waters near shore, there had not been enough maneuvering room for the MOA to participate in the engagement earlier. Now forty-seven sub crew members crawled ashore carrying secret documents (including current code books) which they tore up and mostly destroyed but over 200,000 pages of secret documents fell into Allied hands.
The sword wielding navigator (the incurable romantic) was captured by the crew of the MOA as the I-1 was half way underwater. The Japanese were now trying to destroy the sub themselves and were anxious enough to send bombers in about a week later to try to blow it up. This, after learning of an article written by a thoughtless Australian journalist boasting of the intelligence-gathering work of American divers around the submarine.
So ended what could have been one of the most exciting sea battles of World War II if it had been left to the Japanese. Instead it hardly made the news, except in New Zealand, of course. Unfortunately, no information is available to tell of the riotous fortnight in Auckland.
Source Material: Richard B. Frank's "GUADALCANAL, A DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF THE LANDMARK BATTLE
A Reader's Comments
Subject: Corvette Kiwi
Date:
Thu, 28 Jan 1999 23:54:58 +0800
From: "Rick
Scoones" <pearlwa@iinet.net.au>
To: <ernieh@ols.net>
Hi Ernie
I read with fascination your account of the action at Guadalcanal involving the New Zealand Corvette Kiwi - you Americans used to You Yanks call her K-one-W-one!! when she was in Honiara!!! How do I know - my Dad served as No 1 on Kiwi for a fair part of the war. I have never spoken much to Dad about his war experiences - he just doesn't talk about his memories of that time - I suspect he had some very bad experiences and that some of the actions they were involved in resulted in the losses of some good friends.
Anyway, I wanted, among other things, to correct just one small error but it would be nice to get it right for historical reasons ...KIWI's sister ship was MOA (like the large extinct flightless bird) as opposed to MAO (NZ doesn't have strong links with China!). There was also a third sister ship (TUI) another NZ native but the tui can fly! I believe that MOA was sunk in a subsequent action in the same area as the action with the cargo sub.
I did enjoy reading the account of the action of which I was aware from Dad but had no details - got a bit of my "past" which Dad can't manage to give me. By the way, his name is Stewart - we share the same surname(!), and he is now almost 79, and lives in France and keeps pretty well still despite a chequered medical history.
Best wishes
Rick
Rick Scoones
Aquaculture and Pearling Consultant
NEDLANDS
WESTERN AUSTRALIA 6909
Subject: Re: Corvette Kiwi
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 08:36:26 +0800
From: "Rick Scoones"
<pearlwa@iinet.net.au>
To: "ernieh" <ernieh@ols.net>
Hi again Ernie
Many thanks for your reply - aren't PC's and the internet wonderful... Just one thing, Dad was First Mate (= No1) not the Captain - he was a lieutenant or 1st lieutenant (I think the latter) by the time of that action. I don't recall ever knowing the skipper's name. Strangely, I walked into an old bookshop (old books!) in Perth and saw a book on NZ naval ships - unfortunately it was $150 and beyond my budget. Anyway, curious, I looked up KIWI and found not only mention of it and the action to which your article relates but also a picture of her! Another piece of my heritage if you like!
Many thanks for the reply - I'll tell Dad about our exchanges and if he wishes he may look up your page - I don't think he will though for previously-mentioned reasons.
Kindest regards Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: ernieh
<ernieh@ols.net>
To: Rick Scoones
<pearlwa@iinet.net.au>
Date: Friday, 29 January 1999
00:54
Subject: Re: Corvette Kiwi
Hi Rick, Thank you for your comments on my story of the KIWI. I thought it as a story worth putting together. It surely would make a nice motion picture with all that action. I take it that your Dad as No 1 was the captain of the KIWI. If so, his comments on the story would be interesting. Maybe the story could jar his reluctant memory for you. I do know that many veterans do not care to bring back memories that are so painful. I made the corrections that you recommended a few minutes after receiving your email. It is wonderful how these computer programs can accomplish these changes with little effort. If you don't mind I will put your response into my "Response from Readers" column. Sincerely, Ernie Herr