Kelanoa Harbour is a

harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

on the north coast of the Huon Peninsula in Papua New Guinea serving the town of Kelanoa. It is a large

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

with an impenetrable reef and a small island.

History

During World War II, the United States Navy PT boats '' PT-151'' and found a large

towed Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. Th ...

Japanese supply container floating off New Guinea on December 24, 1943, and destroyed it. The wreckage of the container drifted ashore on Gneisenau Point in Kelanoa Harbour, where it was photographed. The photograph has been widely reproduced and captioned with an assertion that the supply container′s wreckage is the wreck of the Imperial Japanese Navy ''Kaidai'' VII-type

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

. In fact, ''I-181'' was depth-charged and sunk in a running battle in the

Vitiaz Strait Vitiaz Strait is a strait between New Britain and the Huon Peninsula, northern New Guinea. The Vitiaz Strait was so named by Nicholai Nicholaievich Mikluho-Maklai to commemorate the Russian corvette '' Vitiaz'' in which he sailed from Octobe ...

off

Gali Gali may refer to: * Francisco Gali, a 16th-century Spanish sailor and cartographer * Gali (town), a town in Abkhazia, Georgia * Gali District, Abkhazia * Gali Municipality, Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia * Gali, Kermanshah31, a village in Kermans ...

, New Guinea, by an unidentified U.S. Navy

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

and PT boat on January 16, 1944, with the loss of all 89 men aboard,I-181 ijnsubsite.com December 1, 2018 Accessed 17 June 2022
/ref> and her wreck lies on the

sea floor The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

. The Japanese garrison at Gali witnessed the battle and ''I-181''′s destruction in Vitiaz Strait. Some sources claim U.S. Navy aircraft sank ''I-181'' in

St. George's Channel St George's Channel ( cy, Sianel San Siôr, ga, Muir Bhreatan) is a sea channel connecting the Irish Sea to the north and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. Historically, the name "St George's Channel" was used interchangeably with "Irish Sea" ...

in the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

between

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

and New Ireland on January 16, 1944.

References

Water transport in Papua New Guinea Ports and harbours of Papua New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-geo-stub