Wreck of HIJMS Kari (雁) | Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, frigate (ship)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, frigate (ship)

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HIJMS Kari was the sixth member of the Ōtori Class of Torpedo Boats built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, laid down at Yokohama in January 1937 and commissioned into duty with the 11th Torpedo Boat Division, Third China Expeditionary Fleet in September 1937.

Operating on patrols and combat missions along the Chinese coastline and inland river systems during the Second Sino Japanese War for her first years of service, the Kari and her crews were attached to the Japanese Naval Force assigned to secure the British Colony of Hong Kong on December 8th, 1941 as Japan entered the Second World War. Conducting combat operations through the 25th of December against British forces, the Kari and her crew brought in 1942 anchored in the newly-captured Hong Kong harbor, which would serve as her operations base through February.

Reassigned to the 12th Special Base Force, 1st Southern Expeditionary Fleet, Southwest Area Fleet at Singapore, the Kari and her crew began convoy escort, patrol and anti-submarine duties out of their new homeport in mid-March 1942. Based out of Singapore for the balance of her role in WWII, the Kari and her crew did their part to secure and protect Japan's long maritime lifelines to the raw materials from the former Dutch East Indies to mainland Japan. As 1942 gave way to 1943, 1943 to 1944 and 1944 to 1945, Kari's role as convoy escort began to grow increasingly dangerous as Allied Submarines began to appear in Japanese waters in ever-larger numbers, exploiting Japans woefully inadequate covoy escort force. Frequently engaged in subsea and surface combat with enemy Submarines eager to attack her oil tanker-heavy convoy formations, Kari and her crew nevertheless continued their mission, even as Allied advances into once-secure Japanese waters brought with them increased risk of air and surface attack in addition to the still-growing Submarine threat.

The Allied Invasion of Balikpapan, Borneo in July 1945 brought a new threat to the Kari and her crew, who were stationed in Java at the time of the Invasion and were threatened with being cut off from Northern Japanese bases should the island fall. Departing Surabaya and hurriedly making her way Eastward towards Ambon, Kari was roughly 130 miles South of Borneo on the night of July 16th when she was spotted by the patrolling American Submarine USS Becuna (SS-319).

Moving to attack the Kari while surfaced to make the best use of her speed, Becuna sped towards the Kari's Port side and launched a spread of four torpedoes into her path, all of which either passed beneath or sailed wide of the fast-moving torpedo boat. Unaware they were under attack or in any danger, crew aboard the Kari continued to move their ship on an Eastward heading at 17 knots as the Becuna fell out of her attack position, leaving the sea wide open for the submerged USS Baya (SS-318) to launch her own attack. Firing three Stern torpedoes at a distance of 1,100 yards, Baya's crew succeeded in striking the Kari at 0306hrs with a single torpedo aft of her main superstructure that left her dead in the water and heavily aflame. With the Torpedo Boat defenseless and suffering from numerous ready ammunition detonations topside, the Baya swung to the Kari's Starboard side and fired two more torpedoes at the stricken ship at 0426hrs. Struck at 0428hrs by the first torpedo, Kari's torpedo battery detonated and split the ship in two, causing both sections of the hull and all the crew onboard to sink so rapidly that Baya's second torpedo passed through the wreckage without impacting the ship. When Baya surfaced to look for survivors at 0432hrs, only wreckage greeted her, indicating that HIJMS Kari had been sunk with all 129 crew at this location.

www.combinedfleet.com/kari_t.htm