Operation Jaywick

Part of the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II

The MV Krait, used to infiltrate Singapore.

Date	26 September 1943
Location	Singapore Harbour
Result	Allied victory

Belligerents

Empire of Japan

Z Special Unit

Commanders and leaders

N/A

Ivan Lyon

Hubert Edward Carse

Strength

N/A

14 commandos and sailors
1 fishing boat

Casualties and losses

7 ships sunk

None

Operation Jaywick was a special operation undertaken in World War II. In September 1943, 14 commandos and sailors from the Allied Z Special Unit raided Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour, sinking seven ships.

Special Operations Australia (SOA), a joint Allied military intelligence organisation, was established in March 1942. SOA operated under the cover name Inter-Allied Services Department (IASD). It contained several British SOE officers who had escaped from Japanese occupied Singapore, and they formed the nucleus of the IASD, which was based in Melbourne. In June 1942, a commando arm was organised as Z Special Unit (which was later commonly known as Z Force). It drew its personnel primarily from the Australian Army and Royal Australian Navy.

In 1943, a 28-year-old British officer, Captain Ivan Lyon (of the Allied Intelligence Bureau and Gordon Highlanders), and a 61-year-old Australian civilian, Bill Reynolds, devised a plan to attack Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour. Commandos would travel to the harbour in a vessel disguised as an Asian fishing boat. They would then use folboats (collapsible canoes) to attach limpet mines to Japanese ships.

Reynolds was in possession of a 21.3-metre (70 ft) Japanese coastal fishing boat, the Kofuku Maru, which he had used to evacuate refugees from Singapore. Lyon ordered that the boat be shipped from India to Australia. Upon its arrival, he renamed the vessel MV Krait, after the small but deadly Asian snake.

...
Wikipedia