Cyril Rayner's account places Hobart returning to Espiritu Santo behind Australia on 20 July 1943 at 23 knots, with three destroyers screening the cruisers. A torpedo struck her port quarter, cutting power and lighting, lifting Y turret from its mounting, and blowing away the rudder and two propellers. Fourteen men died and another sixteen were wounded. Emergency work restored enough power to make about seven knots, with one surviving propeller held at fixed revolutions and the other varied to steer. The torpedo missed the after magazine by six feet. A later Japanese report identified a spread from I-11, fired at Australia from about ten miles away, as the source of the hit.
Chapter · 57:24-1:00:52
Hobart survives a long-range torpedo hit
A long-range torpedo from Japanese submarine I-11 struck Hobart in 1943, but damage control and improvised steering kept the cruiser afloat.