THESE GALLANT LITTLE SHIPS

Kiwi & Moa and the sinking of the I-1

MAIN IMAGE:
HMNZS Kiwi while
underway.

(NATIONAL MUSUEM OF
THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND
NAVY)

t
n
a
l
THESE G a l L

New Zealands three small Bird-class corvettes ordered in 1939, HMNZS Kiwi, Moa and Tui were built by Henry Robb Ltd.
New Zealand Navy in Auckland. Yet, as he describes, for two of these inconspicuous craft, the consequences of their hero
100 www.britainatwar.com

THESE GALLANT LITTLE SHIPS

Kiwi & Moa and the sinking of the I-1

he Bird-class was based on

the design of an experimental
Royal Navy minesweeping
trawler and were the first ships
to enter service with the Royal
New Zealand Navy from new.
Their principal peacetime function
was training, and in wartime,
minesweeping and escort duties.
Orders for their construction in
the UK were placed in September
1939 as training ships, and they
were completed in late 1941 and
commissioned as minesweepers.
They were 51 metres long with a
beam of 9 metres and draught of
4.6 metres and armed with a single
4in (102mm) gun, minesweeping
equipment, ASDIC (the forerunner
of SONAR), 40 depth charges and
four machine guns. The ships
required a crew of 35 officers
and ratings and with their 1,100
horsepower steam plant were
capable of a maximum speed of
13 knots.
After working up in the north of
England, all three vessels arrived
in New Zealand in mid-1942. The
four ships of the 25th Minesweeping
Flotilla, comprising Kiwi, Tui, and
Moa, with the converted tender
HMNZS Matai as senior ship, were
deployed to Tulagi, in the Solomons,
in December 1942 where they
operated under the command of the
US Navy. This was the first time New

Zealand vessels would operate with

the Americans. It proved a fruitful
relationship, although the New
Zealanders were less than impressed
with the American food, but at least
there was plenty of it!

GUNS FOR BOTTLES

As the New Zealanders operated wet

ships, they were able to procure 20mm
Oerlikon guns in exchange for bottles
of whisky and gin and in this way Moa
obtained her gun. Not to be outdone,
the crew on board Kiwi set about
acquiring and mounting an Oerlikon
of their own, as Leading Seaman E.C.
McVinnie recalled about an event
occurring in late January 1943:
We eventually noticed a ship on the
beach, an American shipand we went
alongside and stripped it of what we could.
One of the things we got of it was this
Oerlikon and the only place we thought
of putting it was right on the peak of the
bow. One of our crew was a very good
chippy and he went ashore to the Seabees.
The Americans supplied him with all the
tools he wanted and he chipped out (a)
great big chunk of some native wood,
mahogany or something They even
made us the bolts for us to bolt this right
on the peak of the bow.
In November 1942 all available
I-class submarines were ordered by
the Japanese commanders to Rabaul,
to commence the resupply operations
supporting their troops

LITTLE SHIPS

Robb Ltd. of Leith, Scotland between 1940 and 1941, writes Michael Wynd, researcher at the National Museum of the Royal
heir heroic action against a Japanese submarine more than twice their size would drastically alter the course of the war.
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THESE GALLANT LITTLE SHIPS

Kiwi & Moa and the sinking of the I-1

ABOVE:
One of the
three Birdclass vessels
in theatre.
(NATIONAL

MUSUEM OF
THE ROYAL NEW
ZEALAND NAVY)

on Guadalcanal. Japanese surface

vessels were under constant attack
from the US Navy and aircraft
operating from Henderson Field
when attempting to run supplies to
the increasingly isolated garrison. The
I-class was chosen because of their
very large size and these operations
were known to the Japanese as
Mogura or Mole. Every available
space was jammed full with food
and ammunition, many submarines
took the step of removing weapons
and torpedoes to create more space.
Sixteen submarines were committed
to the supply run, with each carrying
approximately two days of much
needed goods.
I-1 joined this operation in January
1943 after spending time at Yokosuka
and it was this run which would
bring I-1 together with two small
minesweepers off Guadalcanal and
write an exciting chapter in New
Zealands naval history.

RIGHT:
The ships
operated off
Kamimbo
Bay at the
northwest
end of the
island of
Guadalcanal,
patrolling
about a mile
apart in a
likely point
of entry for
Japanese
resupply
submarines.
(NATIONAL

MUSUEM OF
THE ROYAL NEW
ZEALAND NAVY)

102 www.britainatwar.com

SINKING OF THE I-1

The night of 29-30 January 1943

proved eventful for two ships of the
25th Minesweeping flotilla of the
RNZN. Kiwi and Moa were patrolling
one mile apart off Kamimbo Bay at
the north-west end of Guadalcanal
when the ASDIC operator obtained a
contact at 3,000 yards, with the vessel
immediately identified as a submarine.
At 1830 the Japanese submarine I-1
surfaced in the bay, however, on the
realisation that the phosphorescent
water had revealed her silhouette
to Kiwi, she promptly dived. The
vessel was commanded by Lieutenant
Commander Eiichi Sakamoto and had
sailed from Rabaul five days earlier.
On board were rice, bean paste,
curry, ham, sausages and a threeman crew for a number of Daihatsu
landing barges lashed to her hull.
At 96 metres long and 2,035 tonnes
surface displacement I-1 was larger
than both Kiwi and Moa combined.

With a crew of 82 she was originally

fitted with a seaplane hangar, but
had been modified and now sported
a 5.5in (140mm) gun that not only
had a greater range than those fitted
to the corvettes, but also fired a shell
more than twice as heavy. I-1 was
additionally fitted with a six-pounder
stern gun and two machine guns.
To cap it off she was also capable of
making 18 knots when surfaced, an
advantage of six over her opposition.
Leading Seaman McVinnie was
Kiwis ASDIC operator and he soon
located the submerged I-1 at a range
of 1600 metres. As Kiwi closed to
drop a pattern of six depth charges the
outline of the submarine could clearly
be seen in the phosphorescent water,
enabling the depth charges to be
placed accurately. Moa kept her course
and acted as ASDIC directing vessel.
This combined strategy had proven
to be effective as contacts tended
to be lost when the target passed
underneath and were further obscured
by the depth charge explosions. A
captured sailor from I-1 confirmed
under interrogation that one of Kiwis
depth charges detonated near the
vessels stern with the shockwave
damaging her port electric motor and
flooding the aft storeroom. All of the
lights went out and the submarine
rapidly fell to the bottom, a depth of
over 180 metres and some 100 metres
past her safe maximum depth. The
uncontrolled impact with the bottom
damaged both forward torpedo rooms.
Kiwi was unable to regain contact on
her second pass, but was successful on
her third and dropped another pattern
of six charges.

THESE GALLANT LITTLE SHIPS

Kiwi & Moa and the sinking of the I-1

BELOW:
Xxxxxx

MAN YOUR WEAPON

This second set of depth charges,

coupled with I-1s restricted ability to
manoeuvre and her loss of forward
torpedo tubes, served to force
Sakamoto to bring his submarine
to the surface and attempt to reach
Guadalcanal under cover of darkness.

ABOVE:
I-1 in 1930.

(NAVY ASSOC. OF
JAPAN)

BELOW:
Kiwi in
drydock after
the battle.
Note the
bow damage
caused by
ramming.
(NATIONAL

MUSUEM OF
THE ROYAL NEW
ZEALAND NAVY)

His chance of escape was reasonable,

I-1 could still make 11 knots despite
being restricted to her starboard
engine only, and she outgunned
her adversaries. The 5.5in crew was
ordered to man their weapon.
Unfortunately I-1 surfaced within
sight of Kiwi and Moa who turned to
close, opening fire with 4in star-shells
for illumination and high explosive
rounds for effect. Kiwis third HE round
found its mark. I-1 returned fire with
her 5.5in gun with the result that
two shells passed over Kiwi. Leading
Signalman J Salter remembered they
passed over his position with the
noise like an express going through
a tunnel. Another three shells passed
uncomfortably near Moa, in the
confusion the ship called up Kiwi

asking Are you firing at us? to the

response of: No, thats the submarine.
Given that I-1 was now only 365
metres from Kiwi, beam on, Lt Cdr
Bridson decided to ram it. As Kiwi
gained speed Moa delivered support
by firing star-shells. Sakamoto
realised what was afoot and managed
to initiate a turn to starboard. Still,
Kiwi struck a blow port side abaft the
conning tower. Such was the force
of the impact that Kiwi had to use
full astern power to pull free from
the now holed submarine. Once clear
Kiwi gathered speed and rammed I-1
a second time, striking a glancing
blow well aft that damaged the
port hydroplane. Despite mounting
damage, the Emperors sailors were
by no means ready to give up. Many
submariners on deck returned fire
with rifles, in addition to firing more
rounds from I-1s main gun, which all
missed.
Kiwi returned fire with as many
weapons as could be bought to
bear whilst withdrawing from the
submarine. The liberated Oerlikon
was put to particularly good use
clearing the bridge, killing LieutenantCommander Sakamoto in the process.
The 5.5in crew suffered the same fate,
and the gun fell silent.

ACT OF COURAGE

During the entire battle the Kiwis

signalling lamp, pressed into use as
a searchlight, was trained on I-1.
The lamp was controlled by Leading
Signalman Campbell Buchanan,
RNZNVR, at considerable risk to
himself. Additional light was provided
by the barges lashed to the submarines
deck, which caught fire. However,
Kiwis signalling lamp drew a lot of
fire, and as the corvette closed to ram
I-1 a third time one of the submariners
succeeded in mortally wounding
Buchanan, when a bullet passed
through the gun shield. Although
dying, Buchanan remained at his post
uncomplaining until relieved.

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THESE GALLANT LITTLE SHIPS

Kiwi & Moa and the sinking of the I-1

TOP:
The salvaged
gun of I-1 in
the National
Musuem of
the Royal New
Zealand Navy.
ABOVE:
USN PT Boat
PT-59 inspects
the wreckage
of I-1 in
Febuary 1943.
(NATIONAL
ARCHIVES
AND RECORDS
ADMINISTRATION

He would die of his wounds in hospital

at Tulagi the following day. For this
act of courage the US Navy awarded
him the Navy Cross and a posthumous
Mention in Despatches.
Kiwis third and final ramming
was the heaviest yet, striking the
submarine on the port side abaft the
conning tower. Such was the force
that Kiwi rode right up onto I-1 and
several submariners were flung into
the sea. The impact ruptured some of
the submarines oil tanks and as Kiwi
once again used full astern power to
pull free she was seen to be well down

STILL PICTURES
UNIT)

RIGHT:
The crumpled
wreck of I-1.
(NATIONAL

MUSUEM OF
THE ROYAL NEW
ZEALAND NAVY)

104 www.britainatwar.com

by the stern. I-1s First Lieutenant

and Navigator both unsuccessfully
attempted to board the Kiwi, with
swords in hand, and were killed.
Kiwi was not without damage herself,
with the three rammings not only
having severely crumpled her bow
but also rendered her ASDIC gear
unserviceable. Her 4in gun was also
inoperable having become too hot
from repeated firing. Just an hour had
elapsed from the first sighting of I-1
and Kiwi now stood aside to allow Moa
to take the lead in the chase. The crew
on I-1 had not been idle and managed

to not only coax 12 knots out of the

one good engine but also put out the
fire on the casing. With the 5.5in gun
out of action the submarine resorted to
the six-pounder mounted aft, to which
Moa replied with her 4in.
A manoeuvring duel then took
place with the submarine attempting
to avoid Moas fire. I-1s Executive
Officer Lieutenant Koreeda Sadayoshi
aimed to run the damaged submarine
aground before her stern slipped
further under the surface. Meanwhile,
Moa sought to avoid the six-pounder
stern gun whilst signalling lamps and

THESE GALLANT LITTLE SHIPS

Kiwi & Moa and the sinking of the I-1

a steady stream of star shells kept the

submarine illuminated. Several of the
corvettes shells were observed to find
their target.
The action drew to a close roughly
two hours after it started when,
at 8.40pm, I-1 ran aground on a
submerged reef. Moa loitered in the
vicinity until dawn when it became
apparent that the forward 15 metres
of the submarine was protruding
from the water at an angle of 45
degrees. As daylight broke shorebased artillery fire forced Moa to
move off but not before a submariner
was shot off I-1s casing and a
wounded officer pulled from the sea.

HIGH PRAISE

The corvettes had collectively

expended 58 4-inch rounds resulting
in seventeen definite hits and seven
probables. The unofficial Oerlikons
fired 1,259 rounds and a further
3,500 machine gun and rifle rounds
were spent. For the loss of one New
Zealand rating and six wounded,
26 Japanese sailors were killed and
one officer captured. Kiwi, her bow
being stove in, her ASDIC gear out of
action and minor damage sustained
by gunfire; was ordered to return
to Auckland for drydock repairs.
To avoid awkward questions, the
unofficial Oerlikon was removed
before sailing into Devonport!
Upon arrival in Auckland, the ships
company of Kiwi paraded to the
Auckland Town Hall to a warm
welcome.
Admiral Nimitz sent a signal to the
New Zealanders: I send my heartiest
congratulations on your successful
engagement with a Japanese submarine
on the night of January 29-30, and my
highest admiration for the skill,
courage, and tenacity which carried
the action through the complete
destruction of the enemy. You have
set us, your Allies, an example
which I trust we can emulate.
Admiral Halsey said that the
alert and courageous action
of the crew of these gallant
little ships merited the highest
praise. Back in New Zealand
newspapers said the action
would give a thrill of pride
to all New Zealanders and it
would be a source of satisfaction
for the Dominion that our
navy was playing a part in the
struggle in the South Pacific.
Kiwis Commanding Officer
Lieutenant-Commander
Bridson was awarded the Navy
Cross by the US Navy and a

Distinguished Service Order by the

Royal New Zealand Navy. Moas
Commanding Officer LieutenantCommander Phipps (later Vice
Admiral Sir Peter Phipps) was also
awarded a Navy Cross and received
a Bar to his Distinguished Service
Cross. A Silver Star was awarded
to Lieutenants J ONeill, W Laurie,
Mechanician R Harper, Able Seamen
A Dalton and J Washer. This was the
only action during the war in which
New Zealand sailors were awarded
American decorations.

THE THIRD SHIP

The third ship of the class, Tui, also claimed a submarine
sunk. On 19 August 1943 Tui twice depth charged a
suspicious contact while escorting American freighters, but
contact was lost and the ship returned to her tasking. Later,
lookouts spotted smoke on the horizon and the Tui gave
chase, closing to range she hit the submarine, I-17 (larger
and faster than I-1), twice with her gun. American aircraft
finished off the submarine. Tui rescued six Japanese sailors,
who confirmed that the earlier depth charge attacks had
forced I-17 to surface to her doom.

A WAR WINNING
ACTION?

Unlike most accounts of this action

the story does not end here. Once the
Moa withdrew, the 55 surviving crew
of the I-1 struggled ashore with their
current code books but were forced
to leave behind various call lists,
manuals, old code books, charts and
the ships log. Given that they were
behind enemy American lines the
crew tore the code books into small
pieces and buried them on the beach
in three locations three kilometres
apart, for fear of revealing their
position if they lit fires to burn them.
Five crewmembers from the I-1
attempted to sink the wreck of the
submarine on the night of 2 February
by exploding two depth charges,
however, the explosion was too small
to cause any real damage. The crew
eventually returned to Rabaul and
reported the submarines loss, which
caused much consternation in the
Imperial Japanese Navys General
Staff 10th Department (responsible
for communication security). This
was due to the submarine carrying
not only the current codes but copies

HMNZS Tui in 1944 after the installation of more AA guns

aft and modern radar.

of reserve editions due to become

active before I-1 returned from its
mission. This meant that until such
time as all the I-1 documents could be
recovered or destroyed some 200,000
secret documents widely distributed
across the Pacific were compromised.
Accordingly, the submarine squadron
issued orders to recover the lost
documents from the beach; however,
some of the burial sites could not be
relocated.
On 10 February eight carrier-based
Aichi D3A2 Val dive bombers
(escorted by 28 Zeke carrier-based
and 14 Naval Air Group fighters)
bombed the I-1. Just one bomb hit

BELOW:
HMNZS Moa
in port.
(NATIONAL

MUSUEM OF
THE ROYAL NEW
ZEALAND NAVY)

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THESE GALLANT LITTLE SHIPS

Kiwi & Moa and the sinking of the I-1

TORPEDO BAY
The Torpedo Bay Navy Museum is the official Museum of
the Royal New Zealand Navy. Located on the foreshore
of Waitemata Harbour and nestled under North Head,
Devonport, Auckland, the Navy Museum is the guardian
of the Royal New Zealand Navys memory. Preserving the
Navys physical, social and cultural heritage, telling its story
and educating New Zealanders both young and old about
the role the Navy has played in the development of New
Zealand is a crucial responsibility and one the Navy Museum
takes great pride in. The Navy Museum has free admission
and is open from 10am to 5pm daily.

RIGHT:
Another shot
of the remains
of I-1.

in the vicinity of the conning tower

with the result that 1/5th of the
submarine remained sticking out of
the water. The following day the I-2,
with Lieutenant Koreeda on board,
departed the Shortland Islands with
instructions to sink the wreck but
failed to locate the I-1 in the dark two
nights later. A second attempt was
made on 15 February, however, once
again the wreck could not be found and
the compromise of codes was formally
announced by Tokyo on that day. The

RIGHT:
The ship's
company
of HMNZS
marches
through
Auckland
following
their battle
with I-1. They
are led by
Lieutenant
Commander
Bridson.

106 www.britainatwar.com

failure to destroy or recover the

documents meant full replacement
was now required, which took
months to effect. This caused many
now vulnerable items to remain in
service for up to six months.
The fears were well founded
and American divers retrieved a
large number of secret documents.
These were the first Japanese codes
captured during the war and were
extremely valuable (despite some of
the ciphers being changed) as they
enabled verification of previous
recoveries and the identification of
earlier decryption mistakes. One of
the compromised codes was JN-25,
forcing the use of a reserve version
which was not only simpler (and
therefore less robust) but much

of the code was already known to

the American cryptographers. An
automated decoding machine that
utilised punched cards could decode
roughly 50% of these messages before
human intervention was required.
One of the successes of this
intelligence coup was the decryption
of a message concerning Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander of
the Combined Fleet of the Imperial
Japanese Navy and mastermind of the
attack on Pearl Harbor. In an effort
to boost Japanese morale after the
disastrous evacuation of Guadalcanal,
Yamamoto decided to make an
inspection tour of the Solomon Islands
and New Guinea. He was killed in
April 1943 when American fighters
intercepted his aircraft.
The Japanese ended the submarine
resupply operation in February and
began the evacuation of Guadalcanal.
Four submarines were lost during the
Mogura operation but the loss of I-1
with her cipher and communication
was the most critical for American
naval intelligence. The forward 5.5in
gun taken from the wreck of I-1 was
recovered during a salvage operation
in 1969 and offered to the Royal
New Zealand Navy. HMNZS Otago
was in the Solomons at the time and
transported it to New Zealand. On
return to New Zealand the gun was
found to be loaded, with the breech
partly open! It is now on display in the
National Museum of the Royal New
Zealand Navy in Devonport, Auckland.
The story of Kiwi and Moa and of
their crew (in particular of Campbell
Buchanan, Phipps, and Bridson) are
used to this day in the training of
RNZN midshipmen and ratings.