HMAS ''Kuttabul'', formerly ''SS Kuttabul'', was a

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

depot ship A depot ship is an auxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base for submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, fast attack craft, landing craft, or other small ships with similarly limited space for maintenance equipment and crew dining, berthing an ...

, converted from a

Sydney Ferries Limited Sydney Ferries Limited operated ferry services on Sydney Harbour from 1900 until June 1951. The company grew out of the North Shore Steam Ferry Company and took over smaller ferry operators to become the largest ferry operator in Sydney's his ...

ferry. ''Kuttabul'' and her identical sistership, ''

Koompartoo ''Koompartoo'' was a 1922 Sydney Ferries Limited K-class ferry later converted to a Royal Australian Navy boom defence vessel. ''Koompartoo'', described in the press as a "Dreadnought for the Milsons Point run" and "a titan amongst ferries", ...

'', were the largest and last K-class ferries built. ''Kuttabul'' had the highest passenger carrying capacity of any ferry on Sydney Harbour and was ordered for the crowded

Milsons Point Milsons Point is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of North Sydney Council. Mil ...

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

route. During the Japanese midget submarine

attack on Sydney Harbour In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, Imperial Japanese Navy submarines made a series of attacks on the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle. On the night of 31 May – 1 June, three ''Ko-hyoteki''-class midget submarine ...

on 31 May 1942, ''Kuttabul'' was sunk, with 21 naval personnel aboard.

Design and construction

To service the booming population growth on the North Shore prior to the construction of a bridge connection,

ordered the largest, and what would be the last, " K-class" ferries. They were ''Kuttabul'' and ''

'', steam-powered ferries, built in 1922 by the Walsh Island Dockyard and Engineering Works in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. Similar in size to Manly ferries, they were rated at 448 gross and 201 net register tons (1269 and 569 m³), and were long, with a beam of . They were the largest ferries ever operated on the inner harbour ferry routes, though ''Kuttabul'' had a larger passenger capacity (2,250) than ''Koompartoo'' (2,089). Their passenger capacity was the largest ever of any ferry on Sydney Harbour, exceeding even the largest Manly ferries by 500 passengers, a record that has not been beaten by any subsequent ferry. Both ferries were of steel construction with a wooden superstructure. Both vessels were constructed with 18 watertight compartments, regarded as being unsinkable and therefore were not required to carry life-saving equipment.SS Kuttabul
Ferries of Sydney

Sydney Ferries

''Kuttabul'' and ''Koompartoo'' had been ordered specifically for the short heavy lift commuter link across the harbour between

and

, a route that was approximately aligned with the location of the pending

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...

. Prior to the opening of the bridge, peak hour ferries were leaving either side of the harbour at the rate of one fully loaded vessel every six minutes. Supporting the large steel hulled twins, were usually the timber "K-class" '' Kuramia'' (1914), ''Kai Kai'', and ''Kulgoa''. With the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, the route became redundant. ''Kuttabul'' and ''Koompartoo'' were considered too big to be used on other routes and were laid up, but were later made available for tourist cruises on the harbour.Jenkins, ''Battle Surface'', p. 215 The Milsons Point wharf used by these ferries is now part of Luna Park.

Royal Australian Navy and sinking

After the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, ''Kuttabul'' was requisitioned by the

on 7 November 1940, and moored at the Garden Island naval base to provide accommodation for Allied naval personnel while they awaited transfer to their ships.HMAS Kuttabul
Royal Australian Navy On the night of 31 May/1 June 1942, three ''Ko-hyoteki'' class midget submarines of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

entered Sydney Harbour with the intention of attacking Allied warships. According to the official account, only one of the submarines, designated ''M-24'', was able to fire her torpedoes, but both missed their intended target: the heavy cruiser . 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.Jenkins, ''Battle Surface'', pp. 213–5Grose, ''A Very Rude Awakening'', p. 139 The attack killed 19

and two

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

sailors asleep aboard the ferry, and wounded another 10.Elbourne, ''Wonderful Kuttabul'' It took several days for the bodies of the dead sailors to be recovered, with a burial ceremony held on 3 June.Carruthers, ''Japanese Submarine Raiders 1942'', p. 151 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 A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a ' sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04 ...

in commemoration of the ferry and the lives lost. The wheelhouse later came into the possession of the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

, and is on display alongside a composite submarine built from the wreckage of two of the Japanese midget submarines.Grose, ''A Very Rude Awakening'', pp. 253–5

Chronological gallery

File:Sydney ferry KUTTABUL.jpg, In her original as-built livery of varnished timber, grey hull, black funnel, and white trim File:SLNSW 20822 2UW harbour cruise on Kuttabul.jpg, As an excursion boat in 1937 following her 1932 removal from regular ferry service File:Sydney Ferry KUTTABUL built 1922.jpg, In her new post-Sydney Harbour Bridge colours, 1930s

Citations

References

* * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuttabul Auxiliary ships of the Royal Australian Navy Ferries of New South Wales Kuttabul Iron and steel steamships of Australia Maritime incidents in June 1942 Ships built in New South Wales Ships sunk by Japanese submarines Shipwrecks of the Sydney Eastern Suburbs Region 1922 ships 1942 in Australia Sydney K-class ferries