On the Legend of New Zealand kiwi minesweeper World War I In the magnificent World War II, New Zealand, as a member of the Commonwealth, had a low sense of existence, far from Australia, Canada and even India, which were members of the Commonwealth. In the Royal New Zealand Navy, there are a number of small tonnage minesweepers that are equally inconspicuous, but these boats, like their comrades-in-arms, follow the slogan of the Royal Navy that "every enemy must fight", and they will never back down even in the face of stronger and bigger opponents than themselves. In a night encounter along Guadao at the end of 1943 1, two New Zealand minesweepers faced tonnage, speed, firepower, and even sailors' combat experience far beyond their own Japanese submarines, and fought tenaciously until they made a continuous impact and completely defeated the Japanese, and finally won! ▲ New Zealand War Poster-The story of loyal dogs with Maori patterns begins with 1943. On the southwest Pacific front, the US military is gaining the initiative, and the Japanese officers and men on Guadalcanal Island are short of ammunition and supplies. For the Japanese base camp, how to smuggle materials to Guadao under the tight blockade of the US military has become a top priority. In view of the strength of allied surface ships, the Japanese army began to consider using submarines to transport materials at night. According to the Japanese idea, the submarine can secretly transport the materials near the coastline of Guadalcanal Island at night, and then transport them to the shore by the Dafa boat, that is, the landing boat, and then transport them away by the land support personnel. In order to carry out this secret transportation, the Japanese navy modified some large ocean-going submarines, including the protagonist of this paper, submarine I-1. This is a submarine launched in the 1920s, with a full surface displacement of 2 135 tons, an underwater displacement of 279 1 ton and a crew of 60 people. The main weapons are a Dazheng 1 1 year 140mm main gun in front of and behind the tower, and six 533mm torpedo tubes. In order to carry the Dafa boat, the Japanese navy dismantled the 140mm main gun at the back of the command tower of the submarine I-/kloc-0, freeing up a lot of space. ▲ The Japanese Navy submarine "I-1" has two front and rear doors 140mm main guns and bright flags clearly visible at the stern ▲ This is a large ship captured by the Allied Forces, which can carry 70 infantry or1/ton of cargo 19438. At this frontier fortress, the submarine accepted the task of transporting it to Guadao, which was filled with enough food for 3,000 people to eat for two days, including rice, bean paste, curry, bacon and sausage. These foods are sealed in rubber tubes and then stuffed into Dafa ships. At about 65438+1October 24 16, the "I-1" left rabaul in secret, and its target was Cambo Bay in Guadalcanal. For Japan's submarine transportation, the allies are not ignorant. Two days after "I-1" set out, that is, on October 26th, 65438/kloc-0, the U.S. Solomon Islands Naval Command got wind and informed all ships on Guadalcanal Island and Tulaji Island that the Japanese army was likely to use submarines to attack Japanese ground troops near Cambo Bay on the night of October 27th or 29th, 65438/kloc-0. According to this information, the Royal New Zealand Navy's 25 Minesweeper Sub-fleet accepted the task of conducting anti-submarine operations at night near Cambo Bay. 65438+1On the evening of October 29th, "I- 1" approached Guadao sea area. At this time, it is raining heavily along the coast, and the bad weather makes the visibility extremely low. Every sailor in the Japanese submarine is secretly happy. It seems that there should be no danger in tonight's mission. At 20: 30, the submarine "I-1" sailed against the water in the storm and gradually approached Kambo Bay. The hill-like waves on the dark sea kept washing the submarine's deck. Because the allied forces have almost completely blocked the coastline of Guadalcanal, the Japanese dare not be too slack. The submarine's small command tower is crowded with lookouts and routinely monitors the sea surface. ▲ Cambo Bay can be seen in the picture. The red arrow next to it is the direction in which the remnants of the Japanese army suddenly retreated a few days later. The lookout in the stern direction of the warning boat exclaimed: "Two enemy torpedo boats have been found!" Captain Yi Rong Shaozuo Sakamoto ordered the submarine to dive to a depth of about 30 meters, and at the same time turned left rudder in an attempt to get rid of the allied surface ships. The torpedo boats discovered by the Japanese army are kiwis and phobias of the 25th minesweeper sub-fleet of the Royal New Zealand Navy. These are two bird-class minesweepers with a standard displacement of 607 tons. The main weapons are 1 102 mm front main gun, 2 25mm air-breathing Keyes guns and 40 depth charges. It is worth mentioning that these two ships arrived in New Zealand only for about half a year, and they were still in the running-in period when the naval battle broke out. ▲ The Royal New Zealand Navy "Kiwi" minesweeper However, even without experience, the allied sailors still performed well. 2 1: 05, Captain Graham, the sonar officer of Kiwi, reported that the sonar detected a suspicious target at a maximum distance of 3,000 yards (about 2,700 meters). The captain, Major Gordon BuRisdon, immediately ordered a battle alarm to be sounded, and informed the sister ship "Fear of Birds" with a light signal. Then, Major Bu riston ordered the kiwi to turn quickly and hit the sonar contact point at full speed, trying to figure out whether it was a misjudgment or a Japanese submarine. As the distance between the two sides gradually shortens, the sonar echo becomes clearer and clearer, indicating that this is probably a submarine! About 1 mile from the coast of Guadalcanal, the kiwi finally caught its target. At this time, New Zealand sailors can even see with the naked eye that the submarine hull under the water surface is covered with a layer of phosphorescence (fish in tropical oceans or lagoons often emit flickering phosphorescence when swimming, which is a unique natural phenomenon in tropical oceans). Kiwi did not hesitate to attack. In the first round, it dropped six depth charges in the direction of submarine periscope. The kiwi quickly passed the position of the submarine, then immediately turned at full speed and attacked the submarine with six deep bombs in the second round. ▲ Major Gordon riston, captain of the Kivi Minesweeper, at this time, the submarine I-1 didn't know that his whereabouts had been clearly seen by his opponent and was bombed red-handed! The submarine was hit by a violent explosion at close range, some sailors lost control and fell to the ground, the rear hull was damaged, and water began to enter the storage room. Two rounds of deep bomb attacks made the water pump, steering gear and left motor fail. In addition, the explosion broke the high-pressure flow valve and sprayed fine water mist in the control room, which caused some lines of the main distribution board to be short-circuited and all lights went out. In the blink of an eye, the submarine began to sink involuntarily at an angle of 45 degrees, and soon sank to the depth of 180 meters, which greatly exceeded the submarine's 70-meter deep diving limit, and there was a serious leak in the torpedo compartment at the bow. Just as the kiwi was preparing for the third round of deep-water bomb attack, the Japanese couldn't stand it. Yi Rong Sakamoto, the captain, ordered the main ballast tank to be drained with compressed air. At the same time, another motor that was still running at full speed reversed, and the submarine stopped sinking. However, the troubles of the Japanese have just begun. The seawater that flooded into the cabin flooded the battery pack, and a chemical reaction took place, releasing deadly chlorine gas-if you continue to stay at the bottom of the sea, you can only be poisoned alive! In desperation, Sakamoto was forced to order floating. The submarine emerged from the sea with a strange attitude that the stern came out first, immediately started the starboard diesel engine, and sailed to the shore at the speed of 1 1 knots, trying to rush to the beach and run aground. At the same time, Sakamoto ordered the cannon group on the front deck and the 13.2 mm machine gun group on the control tower to be in place, and he personally took the helm. All this was clearly seen by New Zealand sailors, and kiwi soon found the submarine about 2000 yards (about 1800 meters) ahead of her right side. The kiwi swerved quickly and bit the submarine I-1 at close range. Its102mm main gun and the 20mm Irbil gun at the bow began to turn to aim at the target. In order to see more clearly in the dark, kiwi kept firing flares and illuminated its opponents with 10 inch searchlights on the bridge. The nearby "Terror Bird" also frequently fired flares to assist sister ships in attacking. Under the strong light, the gunner of kiwi quickly aimed at I-1 and fired violently at the submarine superstructure. 20 mm shells hit the submarine bridge continuously, killing Sakamoto Yirong and most gunners on the spot. The submarine lost control and began to turn slowly to the right. ▲ "I-1"submarine map, notice that the main gun on the back deck has been dismantled. At this time, the pilot of the "I-1" submarine climbed on the bridge carefully to see the situation, and was shocked to find that the people on the bridge were either dead or injured. According to the rules of the Japanese navy, this submarine is under the direct command of the acting torpedo captain. The fanatical militarist did not hesitate to order the crew to prepare for the dock battle-he would launch a jump-and-help melee and win the kiwi in one fell swoop! Under the direct command, the crew prepared the gunner to board the deck and control the front 140 mm main gun to fight back. Several crew members with the best marksmanship were assigned to four 38 rifles, and all officers pulled out dense and discerning sabers to prepare for close combat! At 2 1: 20, Major Bu riston, the captain of the "Several Dimensions", felt that the situation was getting more and more difficult: the tonnage of our warships was too small-in fact, it was only a quarter of that of our opponents, and the firepower of naval guns could not overwhelm the140mm cannon of Japanese submarines, and the distance between the two sides had been shortened to 150 yards. He is determined to carry out the impact. With the roar of the engine, the kiwi broke through the waves and the bow crashed into the port side of I-1 near the control tower. There was a deafening noise, and the sailors on the two warships were staggered by the earthquake. The New Zealand minesweeper was beaten to pieces-it was a dead corner, and the artillery boundary on the 140mm deck of the Japanese submarine was blocked by its own control tower, so it was impossible to turn the muzzle to bombard the kiwi! ▲ This oil painting shows the moment when the kiwi minesweeper crashed into the I-1 submarine. Next, kiwi began to reverse at full speed and then left. At this point, the Japanese on the submarine can adjust the angle of their guns and start firing at kiwifruit. The gunners shot at random in the dark and soon reported that a shell hit one of the two enemy ships and set the other on fire! In fact, the Japanese army didn't even hit a shot in the whole battle. Two shells flew over the kiwi, and the other three shells almost missed the distant Mimo. At the same time, the observation post on the submarine began to alarm nervously, saying that three torpedoes had grazed the submarine. In the panic, the acting captain Zhi was completely at a loss, so he could only turn the rudder desperately to avoid a non-existent torpedo, and ordered the deck gun to continue firing to attack the kiwi. After adjusting the angle, the kiwi immediately went ahead at full speed and began its second impact. However, this round of "I-1" unexpectedly escaped, but the hull was scraped and the front horizontal rudder was damaged. Seizing the opportunity of the two ships approaching, the Japanese riflemen deployed on the bridge took the opportunity to shoot at the Kiwi Bridge, and a bullet hit Campbell Buchanan, the signalman who operated the searchlight. Despite being seriously injured, Buchanan insisted on operating the searchlight until the end of the battle. Because of his injuries, he died heroically and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross after the war. When Buchanan, the heroic signalman on the Kivi, passed the two ships, the navigator's small universe broke out on the deck of I-1. I saw him screaming at the top of his lungs, holding a saber in one hand and grasping the handrail of kiwi's bow in the other, and jumping onto kiwi's deck! The master of the third section of kendo brushed and pulled out the discerning saber, and roared and prepared to kill. However, his solo show ended here-"Kiwifruit" retreated at full speed, he lost his foothold, shook his body and plunged back into the wet deck of the submarine. The Japanese have no more opportunities. The third impact of Kiwi actually hit the starboard side of the submarine again, seriously damaged one of the main ballast tanks of the submarine, and then grazed the back deck of the submarine and lost contact. In the continuous impact, the kiwi's bow and sonar detector were also seriously damaged, so it had to be evacuated from the battlefield and returned to the rear for maintenance. But the injury of submarine "I-1" is more serious. Except for one bilge drainage pump, all other drainage pumps failed, and a large amount of water made the submarine's right deviation more and more serious. ▲ The violent impact caused the kiwi's bow to be severely deformed. After kiwi quit the battle, Mimo continued to chase the dying submarine. Flares and searchlights concealed the submarine, and the "Fear of Birds" bombed the submarine continuously, but most of them failed to hit. On the contrary, the spray generated by the near explosion helped the Japanese to put out the raging fire on the back deck, and several direct hit shells were also bounced off the turtle shell structure of the hull. At 23: 00 15, the worried "I-1" hit a rock about 300 meters from the shore in the northern part of Cambo Bay, and could no longer move. At this time, half of the submarine's hull has entered the water, and the right deviation is becoming more and more serious. In desperation, the acting captain had to give an order to abandon the ship. In this way, the submarine finally plunged into the seabed, leaving only the bow about 3 meters above the water at a 45-degree angle. ▲I- 1 submarine wreckage (1)▲I- 1 submarine wreckage (2) "The secret transport mission of I-1"failed in such a shameful way. Twenty-seven people were killed, including captain Sakamoto Yi Rong Shaozuo, and the remaining 66 people were covered by heavy rain and night. Although they were soaked to the skin, these sailors finally descended from the sky and fortunately joined the Japanese army at dawn the next day. When abandoning the ship, the submarine quartermaster took the JN-25D- 13 cipher book and destroyed it immediately after landing. Soon after, the Japanese were horrified to find that the quartermaster destroyed only the password book currently used by the Japanese navy, and another suitcase containing password-related information and the submarine "I-1" navy flag was missing! 654381When the sun rose in the early morning of October 30, the "Fear of Birds" did not leave Cambo Bay, but still circled around the wreckage of the submarine and waited patiently. New Zealand soldiers found two survivors when checking the wreckage of the submarine. One of them was killed by an agile gunner and the other was captured. In addition, New Zealand sailors also seized the log book and some charts of the submarine I-1. Then, "Fear of Birds" was satisfied and returned to the base happily. ▲ The "Terror Bird" that finally cleaned up the mess turned around and said that the Japanese army was coming. In February 1943, 1, most of the survivors of the submarine "I-1" boarded the first destroyers and returned to rabaul. At the rear base camp, they were immediately questioned by the liaison officer of the Joint Fleet Command, confessing that the other passwords of the submarine had not been brought out and might have been leaked. The Joint Fleet Command was deeply shocked by this, because the password book is related to the life and death of the entire Japanese submarine force. Without a moment's hesitation, the headquarters ordered the wreck of the submarine "I-1" to be destroyed at all costs. On the night of February 2 19, two other officers and two sailors of Chi and the submarine, together with the army 1 regiment 1 1 soldiers, returned to the wreckage of the submarine in a big boat. They installed two depth charges and four small explosives in the bow and torpedo compartment of the submarine, hoping to detonate them. However, after several loud noises, the Japanese were disappointed to find that the explosion did not induce torpedoes, but the explosion of the deep-water bomb was enough to cause great damage to the submarine, so that it could not be salvaged again. On February 10, in view of the failure of the first sabotage operation, the Japanese army organized the second operation. This time, Guadao has been completely controlled by the US military. In order to destroy the submarine, the Japanese army paid a huge price-nine Type 99 dive bombers, under the cover of 28 Zero fighters, set off from Boone base in Papua New Guinea and headed straight for Kambo Bay. In the afternoon 14: 45, the fleet arrived over the target area. After hovering for a while to determine the wreckage of the submarine, nine Type 99 bombers lowered their noses and rushed to the target one after another. However, in the third year of the war, Japanese pilots were no longer the elite of the year, and most of the bombs dropped by bombers failed completely. Only one 250kg bomb dropped by No.3 aircraft which is easy to be driven by Erkongcao landed near the submarine control tower, but this nearly missed bomb still failed to completely destroy the "I-1" submarine. At this time, the US military began to pay attention to the wreckage of the submarine I-1-since the Japanese spent so much effort to completely destroy this pile of wreckage, there may be something very important in it! On February 1 1, American intelligence personnel were inspecting the "I-1" wreckage on the PT65 torpedo. ▲ American torpedo boat PT65 is checking the wreckage of I-1 submarine. On February 13, the American submarine rescue ship Outland arrived at the wreckage of I-1 submarine and conducted a comprehensive search for it. American divers found some records of immersion in water from the submarine control tower and handed them over to the US military base on Guadalcanal Island, and then these data were immediately sent to Pearl Harbor. These materials * * * have five cipher books, among which one JN-25 cipher book has been changed into a new cipher book, and the list of radio call signs (ships and ports) implemented by the Japanese Navy since 1942. In this way, thanks to the Japanese warning, the Allies can always seize as many as 200,000 pages of various materials from the wreckage of the "I-1" submarine and return with full load. Almost at the same time, the Japanese navy submarine "I -2" sailed into Kampo Bay, ready to launch a third sabotage operation, but failed to locate the wreckage and left angrily. 1943 February 15, with an immortal heart, the submarine "I -2" sneaked into Kambo Bay again in an attempt to carry out the destruction task. At one time, the boat approached only 1.4 miles from the coastline, but it was finally discovered by allied torpedo boats. Under the attack of depth charges, "I -2" was thrown out of the bay at random. This was the last attempt by the Japanese to destroy the submarine "I-1", and this attempt was aborted again. In desperation, the Japanese navy's military command department felt that several passwords carried by the submarine "I-1" were likely to be leaked, so it was unnecessary to go to great lengths to update the three main passwords, and at the same time abolished the password book jointly used by the German and Japanese navies. It can be said that this is kiwi's greatest achievement besides sinking a Japanese submarine. In addition, because of his outstanding performance in combat, Captain Gordon BuRisdon was awarded the Cross for Distinguished Service and the Cross for the United States Navy. This ups and downs of submarine collision eventually became a brilliant legend in the history of naval warfare. ▲ After the war, the crew of Kiwifruit participated in * * * with high morale.