Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 2, 2008



The attack on Sydney Harbour was a raid during World War II by submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy on the cities of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. On the night of 31 May – 1 June 1942, three Ko-hyoteki class midget submarines, each with a two-member crew, entered Sydney Harbour to sink Allied warships. After being detected and attacked, the crews of two of the midget submarines scuttled their boats and committed suicide without engaging Allied vessels. The third attempted to torpedo the heavy cruiser USS Chicago but instead sank the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors. This midget submarine then disappeared, its fate remaining a mystery until 2006, when amateur scuba divers discovered the wreck off Sydney's northern beaches. Immediately following the raid the five Japanese fleet submarines that carried the midgets to Australia embarked on a campaign to disrupt merchant shipping in eastern Australian waters. The midget submarine attacks are among the best-known examples of Axis naval activity in Australian waters during World War II. The main impact was psychological and popular fear of an impending invasion forced the Australian military to upgrade defences. (more...)

Recently featured: Metallica – Treehouse of Horror – Mary Shelley