Image Gallery: May 2009
26 May 2009
‘Sleeping Beauty’ presented to the Wardroom at HMAS Stirling
A piece of Australian World War II history has been gifted to the Wardroom at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.
The corroded aluminium panel is in fact the instrument coaming from a motorised submersible canoe – known as a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ – which was lost, along with its sole occupant, in Cockburn Sound near Rockingham in 1944.
It was presented to Executive Officer of HMAS Stirling, Commander Angela Bond, by former members of the commando unit which operated the canoes, Mr Gordon Hamilton and Mr Jack Sue. Mr Hamilton trained on the Sleeping Beauties while based at Garden Island in WWII.
Each Sleeping Beauty was piloted by a single man, who breathed via SCUBA equipment while the canoe was submerged. Their purpose was to surreptitiously approach and plant magnetic mines on enemy shipping.
The Sleeping Beauties were operated by the Services Reconnaissance Department, better known as ‘Z-Force’.
The Z-Force pilot and Sleeping Beauty were lost during a training exercise, in preparation for Operation RIMAU – the ill-fated raid on Japanese-occupied Singapore. Neither the operator, nor the Sleeping Beauty was located.
Some 20 years ago a local crab fisherman snagged his crab pot on a piece of aluminium. The recovered item was later identified as the instrument cover from a Sleeping Beauty. No human remains were recovered.
The Sleeping Beauty was powered by a 1.5-horsepower heavy-duty vehicle electric starter motor. Made of mild steel and almost four metres long, they were propelled by four standard 6-volt car batteries. They had a maximum range of 38 kilometres, with a top speed of 4.5 knots on the surface. They were considered virtually impossible to capsize.
Each Sleeping Beauty carried nine limpet mines and could sink two 10,000-tonne ships if the mines were correctly placed below the water line. Their usual method of operations was ‘porpoising’ in quick rises to the surface to check bearings, then shallow diving.20090520ran8116215_011 |
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| 20090520ran8116215_012 Left to right: Executive Officer of HMAS Stirling, Commander Angela Bond, receives the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ wreckage from Mr Gordon Hamilton and Mr Jack Sue. (Date taken: 20 May 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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| 20090520ran8116215_020 Commanding Officer of HMAS Stirling, Captain Brett Dowsing (left), thanks Mr Jack Sue (right) and Mr Gordon Hamilton following the presentation. (Date taken: 20 May 2009) Low-Res | Hi-Res |
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