VladTepes
11th January 2010, 12:24 PM
From
Centaur plaque to be laid this week - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/10/2788961.htm)
Centaur plaque to be laid this week
By Nikole Jacobi
Posted Sun Jan 10, 2010 10:24am AEDT
Updated 4 hours 22 minutes ago
The Centaur's red cross can be seen in the first footage taken of the ship since it sank in WWII. (AAP: Bruce Long)
A plaque will be placed at the site of the torpedoed wartime hospital ship, the Centaur, this week.
It was sunk by a Japanese submarine off south-east Queensland in 1943, killing 268 people.
The wreck was found on the ocean floor last month and a bronze plaque has been created to place beside it.
Project director David Mearns says it could be lowered today if he and his crew find a way to ensure it will not disappear into the seabed.
He says they have already experimented with a piece of metal.
"It buried itself quite deeply into the mud and if we did that with the plaque ... it would obscure half of the writing and the most important part, which is the memorial that the Centaur Association wanted to make to their relatives who were lost," he said.
Centaur memorial service
The Caloundra RSL Centaur Committee says planning is underway for two memorial services to honour those who died onboard the ship.
Erica Costigan says the Centaur Taskforce is yet to set the dates for the services.
"There will be a shipboard ceremony over the site for families," she said.
"As well as that, there will be a land-based memorial service in Brisbane for families - perhaps some aren't able to or wish to go on the ship - for families, national and state dignitaries, politicians, organisations and the general public."
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/01/1033.jpg
The Centaur's red cross can be seen in the first footage taken of the ship since it sank in WWII. (AAP: Bruce Long)
Go to the site and look at the video titled:
Video: Centaur's resting place revealed (7pm TV News QLD
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/01/1034.jpg
The Centaur sank off the Queensland coast in 1943. (Australian War Memorial)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/01/1035.jpg
An undated file photo of the Centaur hospital ship in dry dock (AAP Image/Qld Government)
More on the Centaur can be found here:
Search for AHS Centaur ? Initiatives ? The Premier of Queensland (http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/initiatives/centaur-search/index.aspx)
if you can get past the bit with Anna Bligh's face.
History of the AHS Centaur
Built at Scotland's Greenock Shipyard in 1924, the 3222 ton Centaur served as a cargo ship on the run between Singapore and Fremantle before World War II.
Her shallow draft and simple design made her ideal for conversion to a hospital ship following the commencement of hostilities in Papua New Guinea. She was commissioned as Australian Hospital Ship AHS Centaur (AHS47) on 12 March 1943.
1943 Sinking of the AHS Centaur
In May 1943 the AHS Centaur steamed from Sydney with 332 personnel aboard, including medical staff, field ambulance personnel and her crew of merchant seamen.
Sydney was a city in fear. Long-range Japanese submarines had attacked the harbour using midget submarines and launched aircraft to conduct surveillance on the anchorage. One submarine, I-177 had surfaced off shore and shelled Sydney with her deck gun before submerging and heading north toward Brisbane.
The Japanese sub pack had hunted down a number of merchant ships along the east coast, and I-177 was waiting east of Moreton Island as Centaur steamed north during the night of 13 May 1943.
In accordance with the Hague Conventions, Centaur was clearly identifiable as a hospital ship being painted white and marked with large red crosses. She was fully lit and her voyage had been well publicised through neutral diplomatic channels, yet the precautions served only to make her an easier target when, at 4.10am on 14 May 1943, the Japanese submarine torpedoed the hospital ship.
The ship exploded, probably as a result of a hit on the fuel bunkers. The death toll was the highest of any merchant vessel sunk by a submarine in the Pacific theatre of war. Of the 332 persons on board, only 64 survived.
Centaur plaque to be laid this week - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/10/2788961.htm)
Centaur plaque to be laid this week
By Nikole Jacobi
Posted Sun Jan 10, 2010 10:24am AEDT
Updated 4 hours 22 minutes ago
The Centaur's red cross can be seen in the first footage taken of the ship since it sank in WWII. (AAP: Bruce Long)
A plaque will be placed at the site of the torpedoed wartime hospital ship, the Centaur, this week.
It was sunk by a Japanese submarine off south-east Queensland in 1943, killing 268 people.
The wreck was found on the ocean floor last month and a bronze plaque has been created to place beside it.
Project director David Mearns says it could be lowered today if he and his crew find a way to ensure it will not disappear into the seabed.
He says they have already experimented with a piece of metal.
"It buried itself quite deeply into the mud and if we did that with the plaque ... it would obscure half of the writing and the most important part, which is the memorial that the Centaur Association wanted to make to their relatives who were lost," he said.
Centaur memorial service
The Caloundra RSL Centaur Committee says planning is underway for two memorial services to honour those who died onboard the ship.
Erica Costigan says the Centaur Taskforce is yet to set the dates for the services.
"There will be a shipboard ceremony over the site for families," she said.
"As well as that, there will be a land-based memorial service in Brisbane for families - perhaps some aren't able to or wish to go on the ship - for families, national and state dignitaries, politicians, organisations and the general public."
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/01/1033.jpg
The Centaur's red cross can be seen in the first footage taken of the ship since it sank in WWII. (AAP: Bruce Long)
Go to the site and look at the video titled:
Video: Centaur's resting place revealed (7pm TV News QLD
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/01/1034.jpg
The Centaur sank off the Queensland coast in 1943. (Australian War Memorial)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/01/1035.jpg
An undated file photo of the Centaur hospital ship in dry dock (AAP Image/Qld Government)
More on the Centaur can be found here:
Search for AHS Centaur ? Initiatives ? The Premier of Queensland (http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/initiatives/centaur-search/index.aspx)
if you can get past the bit with Anna Bligh's face.
History of the AHS Centaur
Built at Scotland's Greenock Shipyard in 1924, the 3222 ton Centaur served as a cargo ship on the run between Singapore and Fremantle before World War II.
Her shallow draft and simple design made her ideal for conversion to a hospital ship following the commencement of hostilities in Papua New Guinea. She was commissioned as Australian Hospital Ship AHS Centaur (AHS47) on 12 March 1943.
1943 Sinking of the AHS Centaur
In May 1943 the AHS Centaur steamed from Sydney with 332 personnel aboard, including medical staff, field ambulance personnel and her crew of merchant seamen.
Sydney was a city in fear. Long-range Japanese submarines had attacked the harbour using midget submarines and launched aircraft to conduct surveillance on the anchorage. One submarine, I-177 had surfaced off shore and shelled Sydney with her deck gun before submerging and heading north toward Brisbane.
The Japanese sub pack had hunted down a number of merchant ships along the east coast, and I-177 was waiting east of Moreton Island as Centaur steamed north during the night of 13 May 1943.
In accordance with the Hague Conventions, Centaur was clearly identifiable as a hospital ship being painted white and marked with large red crosses. She was fully lit and her voyage had been well publicised through neutral diplomatic channels, yet the precautions served only to make her an easier target when, at 4.10am on 14 May 1943, the Japanese submarine torpedoed the hospital ship.
The ship exploded, probably as a result of a hit on the fuel bunkers. The death toll was the highest of any merchant vessel sunk by a submarine in the Pacific theatre of war. Of the 332 persons on board, only 64 survived.