Shelling of Newcastle
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The Shelling of Newcastle was conducted by the Japanese submarine ''I-21'' in the early hours of 8 June 1942. The bombardment followed the
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, and was conducted shortly after ''I-24'' shelled the
Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...
of
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. During the attack ''I-21'' fired 34 shells at
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 ...
, including eight illumination rounds, but caused little damage. The Australian gunners at
Fort Scratchley Fort Scratchley, a former coastal defence installation, is now a museum. It is located in Newcastle East, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales in Australia. It was built in 1882 to defend the city against a possible Russian attack. However, it ...
fired four shells at the submarine, but scored no hits.


Background

During 1942 and 1943
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 ...
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 ...
s conducted a number of patrols along Australia's east coast. On 16 May 1942 the submarine ''I-29'' attacked the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
freighter ''Wellen'' south-east of Newcastle, but did not cause any damage to the ship. In response, a naval force was dispatched from Sydney to attempt to locate the submarine and ships were not permitted to sail between Newcastle and Sydney for 24 hours. On 23 May ''I-29''s
floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
flew over Newcastle and Sydney searching for shipping which could be attacked by
midget submarine A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...
s. On the night of 31 May three Japanese midget submarines attacked shipping in Sydney Harbour. The ultimate aim was to sink the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
Heavy Cruiser , although unsuccessful in this objective, the attack did result in the sinking of the accommodation ship HMAS ''Kuttabul''. All three midget submarines were however lost in the attack. Following this raid, the large submarines which had launched the midgets attacked shipping off the east coast; these included two attacks on ships near Newcastle on the night of 3 June. At 10:18 pm the coastal steamer ''Age'' was shelled by ''I-24'' south-east of
Norah Head Norah Head, originally known as Bungaree Noragh Point, is a headland on the Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia, south of Newcastle and north of Sydney. The nearest suburbs are Noraville, Canton Beach and Toukley. Soldiers Beach is l ...
; she did not sustain any damage and docked at Newcastle at 1 am the next day. At about midnight on 3 June the coaster '' Iron Chieftain'' was torpedoed and sunk by ''I-24'' near where ''Age'' had been attacked.


Bombardment

During the early hours of 8 June ''I-24'' and ''I-21'' carried out brief bombardments of Sydney and Newcastle respectively. The purpose of these attacks was to generate what historian David Jenkins has called an "air of disquiet" rather than inflict significant damage on targets in the two cities.Jenkins (1992), p. 247 Between 00:15 and 00:20 ''I-24'' fired ten shells which landed in the suburbs of Bellevue Hill, Rose Bay and
Woollahra Woollahra is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located 5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woolla ...
. Only one of these shells exploded, and they caused little damage and only injured one person. While the
Sydney Harbour defences Sydney Harbour was protected by coastal batteries and other fixed defences from the early 19th century until the 1960s. These defences were constructed to protect the Australian city of Sydney from attack by enemy warships and submarines. Pre- ...
spotted ''I-24''s gun flashes, the submarine ceased its attack and submerged before the Australian gunners could open fire on it. ''I-21'' began her bombardment of Newcastle two hours after the attack on Sydney. At this time the submarine was from Newcastle, and was sailing eastwards as her
deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...
was stern-mounted. Prior to the attack the submarine's gun crew had prepared 34 rounds of ammunition; these comprised 26 conventional rounds and eight illumination rounds.Jenkins (1992), p. 250 The target of the attack was the
BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
steelworks in the city.Carruthers (2006), p. 197 Between 2:15 am and 2:31 am ''I-21'' fired 34 shells at Newcastle. These rounds landed over a wide area, however, and caused little damage. Only one of the 20 conventional shells exploded, causing damage to a house on Parnell Place. Another shell damaged a nearby tram terminus but did not explode.Jenkins (1992), p. 251 At 2:28 am the guns at
Fort Scratchley Fort Scratchley, a former coastal defence installation, is now a museum. It is located in Newcastle East, a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales in Australia. It was built in 1882 to defend the city against a possible Russian attack. However, it ...
near the entrance to Newcastle's harbour opened fire on ''I-21''. The submarine's commanding officer, Commander Matsumura Kanji, continued the bombardment for another three minutes as he believed that it would take time for the Australian gunners to locate the submarine. By the time the attack concluded the fort's two guns had fired two salvos each, but none of the four shells struck ''I-21''.


Aftermath

''I-21'' and ''I-24'' were not attacked by Allied ships during or after their bombardments as no anti-submarine warfare-capable vessels were available in either port.Stevens (2005), pp. 194–195 While one person was injured by falling masonry and debris in Sydney, there were no casualties in Newcastle. Although the bombardments caused little damage, they were successful in generating concern among Australians.


Notes


References

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Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newcastle, Shelling of Conflicts in 1942 1942 in Australia History of Newcastle, New South Wales Military attacks against Australia Battles and conflicts without fatalities 1940s in New South Wales