For good reason, the Japanese referred to Guadalcanal as “Starvation Island.”1 By late 1942 the situation of the Japanese troops had become indescribably wretched. Efforts to transport supplies by “Tokyo Express” destroyers under the command of the redoubtable Rear Admiral Raizo “Tenacious” Tanaka were increasingly inadequate, leading to the decision to also use submarines as transports.
Among the subs assigned this task were the four large junsen (cruiser) type boats of the I-1 class. The I-1 and I-2 were modified for use as transports with the after 5.5-inch gun removed, torpedo loads reduced, and provision made for carrying a 46-foot landing craft, amphibious tanks, or cargo rafts. These submarine supply missions were not particularly successful, with sister submarines I-3 sunk by PT-59 on 10 December 1942 and I-4 probably sunk by the submarine Seadragon (SS-194) on 20 December (although some sources attribute this sinking to PT-122).2
The Flotilla Arrives
In response to an offer by New Zealand to commander, South Pacific, the Royal New Zealand Navy’s 25th Minesweeping Flotilla, comprised of HMNZ ships Matai, Kiwi, Moa, and Tui, arrived in the Solomon Islands in mid-December 1942 to undertake antisubmarine patrols off Tulagi and Guadalcanal. Flotilla leader Matai was a converted government lighthouse tender, while the other three minesweepers (named after New Zealand native birds) had been ordered from Britain in 1939 as training vessels. Completed in late 1941, they sailed to New Zealand as additional convoy escorts.3 All four minesweepers were manned mostly by volunteer reservists, who had served in Royal Navy minesweepers escorting coastal coal convoys through the English Channel and were veterans of attacks from German aircraft, mines, and coastal artillery.
New Zealand minesweepers were very popular with U.S. Navy PT boat and support-vessel crewmen based at Tulagi for a simple reason: alcohol. This popularity was to be sorely tested on the night of 14 January 1943 when PT-45 mistook the Kiwi for a “Tokyo Express” destroyer and proceeded to fire two torpedoes. The Kiwi managed to elude both, and her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Gordon Bridson, called on the TBS radio and asked, “Are you little bastards shooting at us?” The skipper of PT-45, Lieutenant Lester H. Gamble, had to reply “Affirmative.” In response, Bridson declared, “The bar of His Majesty’s ship Kiwi will be closed to Americans for the duration.” The threatened “punishment” did not last long, if at all, with Bridson and Gamble meeting the next day to begin a long friendship.4
The Bird class was regarded as being inadequately protected forward against air attack, which was rectified by fitting additional 20-mm Oerlikon cannon unofficially “acquired” from the U.S. Navy or “liberated” from wrecked ships. Both the Kiwi and Moa procured an Oerlikon for the price of two bottles of gin apiece at Noumea. Still crated ex-U.S. Navy, they were assembled at sea before the flotilla reached the Solomons. These extra guns, especially the one mounted forward of the Kiwi’s 4-inch gun, were to prove crucial in the forthcoming fight.5
Close-Range Action
On the night of 29 January 1943, the Kiwi and Moa, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Peter Phipps, were patrolling one mile apart off Kamimbo Bay at the northwest end of Guadalcanal when Able Seaman E. McVinnie in the Kiwi obtained an asdic (sonar) contact at 3,000 yards. It was immediately identified as a submarine. The Kiwi at once altered course toward the enemy and increased to full speed to attack with depth charges, while the Moa maintained her course to act as “asdic directing vessel.”
The Kiwi dropped a pattern of six depth charges on her first attack. She gained then lost asdic contact during the run in for a second attack and did not drop any charges. After reversing course, she regained contact and dropped an additional six depth charges in a third attack. This forced the submarine to the surface, and she shaped course to escape in the darkness toward Guadalcanal.6
The Kiwi and Moa turned toward the enemy, firing star shells and high explosives with their 4-inch guns, while the submarine returned fire with her forward 5.5-inch gun. The Moa registered a hit with her third round, then fired star shells while the Kiwi prepared to ram. In the Kiwi, Bridson rang for full speed. When his chief engineer asked, “Why?” he responded: “Shut up. There’s a weekend’s leave in Auckland ahead of us.”7 With the 20-mm and machine guns blazing, the Kiwi rammed the submarine on the port side abaft the conning tower. Japanese soldiers with full packs were seen jumping overboard.
The Kiwi had to use full power astern to break free of the sub, which was now holed. The New Zealand ship’s fire had silenced the deck gun and set fire to a landing barge on the afterdeck. A second attempt at ramming, this time “for a week’s leave in Auckland,” struck the submarine a glancing blow well aft, causing some damage to the port hydroplane. A Japanese officer, most probably the submarine’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Eiichi Sakamoto, was hit by machine-gun fire.
During this stage of the action, the Kiwi’s searchlight kept the submarine well illuminated, and star shells fired by the Moa lit up the whole area. Despite being mortally wounded by machine-gun fire, Acting Leading Signalman Campbell “Buck” Buchanan remained at his post manning the searchlight until relieved.
Keeping up a hot fire at close range, the Kiwi steamed in to ram for a third time and a fortnight’s leave. She struck the submarine on the starboard side abaft the conning tower, rode up onto her deck, and lay there listing heavily to port, still firing every gun able to bear. At this point the submarine’s chief navigation officer drew his sword and unsuccessfully attempted to board the Kiwi, which had to work her engines hard astern to break clear.8 As she did, oil poured from the submarine. The action had lasted nearly an hour, and as the Kiwi’s main gun was now too hot to use and her bow had been badly damaged in the ramming, she hauled off to give the Moa a clear target.
The submarine moved ahead at about 12 knots and managed to quell the fire on her afterdeck. The action then developed into a stern chase, with the submarine altering course frequently while the Moa maneuvered to prevent the enemy’s deckgun being brought to bear. Star shells and searchlight were used to keep the submarine in view. At 2320, more than two hours after the action had commenced, the submarine struck hard on a submerged reef close inshore.
The Moa remained in the vicinity until daybreak, which revealed the battered bow of the submarine projecting some 40 feet out of the water at a 45-degree angle. She shot a man off the wreck with machine-gun fire and picked up a wounded officer from the sea before artillery fire forced her to withdraw by shore.
Remarkably, the two minesweepers suffered only one fatality in this bold and resolute action fought at very close range. As a result of the ramming, the Kiwi’s bow was stove in and buckled, plus she suffered minor gunfire damage. Bridson’s wish was granted, and the Kiwi was sent to Auckland for dockyard repairs with all unofficial armament tactfully removed beforehand. For the recently established Royal New Zealand Navy, this had been a morale-boosting victory, and the Kiwi’s crew was given the honor of marching through Auckland’s main street. In addition to local naval awards, Lieutenant Commander Bridson, Lieutenant Commander Phipps, and Acting Leading Signalman Buchanan received the U.S. Navy Cross (Buchanan posthumously).
Damage Done
An inspection of the submarine, now identified as the I-1, revealed extensive damage. The wreck contained food and medical supplies intended for landing at Kamimbo Bay. U.S. Navy divers estimated that there were some 40 to 50 bodies in various compartments. According to the official Japanese report on the loss of I-1, 65 survivors—other than senior commissioned officers and a junior lieutenant—reached shore and made contact with the local navy defense unit.
While the Japanese had made every effort to destroy all confidential books, maps, and other papers, documents of great value were subsequently recovered from the wreck.
In 2010 the family of Acting Leading Signalman Buchanan presented his U.S. Navy Cross to the National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy. As a final footnote, I-1’s 5.5-inch deckgun (with a live round still in the breech) was recovered by the frigate Otago in 1968 and is now a historic exhibit in the museum.
1. Hiroyuki Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy, (New York: Kodansha International Ltd., 2000), 338.
2. Norman Polmar and Dorr B. Carpenter, Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy: 1904–1945, (London: Conway Maritime Press Ltd.,1986), 91.
3. R. J. McDougall, New Zealand Naval Vessels, (Wellington: GP Books, 1989), 55–61.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. S. D. Waters, Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War: Royal New Zealand Navy (Wellington: R.E. Owen, Government Printer, 1956), 307–9.
7. Samuel Eliot Morrison, The Struggle for Guadalcanal: History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: August 1942–February 1943, Vol. 5 (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1949), 348–50.
8. Imperial Japanese Navy Official Reports, “Navy Operations in the South East Direction: The Sinking of the I-1 submarine, Advance Unit Report.” “History of the I-1 submarine and people that died in action.” Tokyo: National Institute for Defense Studies.