HMNZS Kiwi & Moa vs I-1 - David vs Goliath at Sea!

Today we take a look at one of the slightly odder ship vs sub engagements, when the sub was bigger than its attackers, but still lost!

Sources:

[joshstanton]

Woohoooo kiwis rejoice! We get a full story feature!!

[GaldirEonai]

Drach: "...until its crew hatched a plan."

Me: "It's gonna involve booze isn't it."

[RickEllis-bp]

Kiwis ramming again and again, Japanese crew on deck with katanas drawn...this story embodies the warrior spirit of both nations. Well done bringing it to us.

[Graeme-ti]

I served on HMNZS Otago in 1968. On our way back to NZ from Singapore, we stopped off at Honiara, Guadalcanal, where we loaded the I-1's main gun onto the Quarterdeck. I recall there was a little concern at the time whether there may still have been an unfired shell up the "spout". We offloaded it at Devonport Naval Base, Auckland, where it is now on display at the RNZ Naval Museum at North Head.

[johngregory]

"Signed, WF Halsey, Admiral, US Navy" When the Bull speaks with such respect, well...

The world is always looking for superheroes, but when they show up it's like this - a man who stayed at his station and continued doing his job so his mates could stay in the fight. Mad respect for a man who showed what being a Kiwi means.

[MsSteelphoenix]

I don't know what I love most about this - the 'acquiring' of the oerlikons, the fact that they were so lucky at spotting and engaging the I1, or the absolute insanity of ramming a submarine that's literally twice as big as your boat. Absolute legends.

[mrziff]

Kiwi here: My favourite story taught to me was when the CO called down the pipe to order ramming speed. “He [Bridson] shouted down the voice tube, ‘Stand by to ram!’ When the voice replied back from the engine room, ‘What the hell do you do when you ram?’ he [Bridson] replied, ‘I don’t know, I’ve never done it before.’”

[johnutting]

Later HMNZ Moa was sunk there was a loss of 5 crew members, my uncle J C O Moffat being one of them .RIP John, we remember them.

[johnmoore]

Getting a US Navy Cross when you aren't in the US Navy is quite a feat! I'm glad Halsey signed off on it! Too bad it was posthumous. Those ships and men did a great job!

[VhenRaTheRaptor]

Incidentally, I-1s deck gun is in our navies museum.

Along with HMS New Zealand's grass skirt and pendant.

I have personally seen all three.

[samuelmathis]

Man inflation is bad, a 20mm oerlikon is at least 10 bottles of gin now

[ColinPacker]

Aussie treasure hunter: "She'll be right mate."

And bloody well done the Kiwis.

[captainsensiblejr.]

Legendary fight in New Zealand. The repeated ramming to disable the I-1, is such a rugby tactic !!!

[jeffreybaker]

"Battle of Salamis reenactment"...Drach's sense of humor is part of the reason I look forward to these episodes.

[mitchm]

You know you're early to a video when Drach hasn't deleted the spam bot comments yet.

[JackG]

How has this not been made into a serious Hollywood blockbuster without a single actor from Japan or New Zealand?

[adrianjorgensen]

Glad HMNZS kiwi lived up to her avian namesake. Tuff scrappy little bird and a tuff scrappy little ship.

[Pusserdoc]

From across the Ditch... never, *ever* piss off a Kiwi.

[christopherreed]

The US Navy citation is, IMO, particularly impressive, given the bureaucratic labyrinth it and it's originating reccomendation had to negotiate to make it to Halsey's desk. The report had to have come from Henderson Field, which means either the senior US Navy officer there or General Vandegrift himself probably endorsed the recommendation in no uncertain terms to ensure it made it the full distance.

As an aside, why didn't they just order three Flower Class ships? The whole point of the design was that smaller yards that normally built trawlers could build them.

[samsmith]

Rest in Paradise Leading Signalman C. Buchanan, you held on til the bitter end to save the day.