Z Special Unit after Operation Jaywick
Date1943
Object number00055868
NamePhotograph
MediumBlack and white photographic print on paper.
DimensionsOverall: 215 × 165 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection purchased with the support of the Australian Government through the National Cultural Heritage Account and the Australian National Maritime Museum Foundation through the generosity of the families of Ted Carse's brothers.
DescriptionGroup portrait of the Z Special Unit crew including Lieutenant Hubert Edward Carse, captain of MV KRAIT, sitting on stairs.
HistoryOn the night of 26 September 1943, six members of Australia’s Z Special Unit carried out a daring clandestine raid against Imperial Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour. To avoid detection, the men had been transported deep into enemy territory aboard a Japanese-built fishing vessel, KRAIT, assumed the appearance of local fishermen, and launched their attack using folding kayaks and limpet mines. The mission, Operation Jaywick, was a complete success, resulting in the damage or destruction of seven Japanese ships and no Allied losses.
Members of Operation Jaywick were assigned to Z Special Unit (also known as ‘Z Force’), a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit formed by British Special Operations Executive officers who escaped Singapore. Although predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit also included British, Dutch, New Zealand, Timorese and Indonesian nationals among its ranks. Training for the raid took place at Refuge Bay, a remote and inaccessible area located along the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales. Kofuku Maru’s background as a fishing vessel made it an ideal candidate for the covert role of Operation Jaywick’s ‘mother ship’. Following its selection for Operation Jaywick, the vessel was renamed KRAIT after a venomous snake indigenous to Southern and Southeast Asia.
Following the raid’s successful conclusion, 'Ted' Carse continued to work with Z Force. Most of the commandos who participated in Operation Jaywick were tragically killed in a follow-up raid on Singapore Harbour called Operation Rimau. Carse was one of the few Jaywick operatives to survive the war, was mentioned in despatches in 1944, and discharged from military service in 1946. He was later instrumental in facilitating the return of KRAIT (which had also survived the war and ended up in Borneo) to Australia during the 1960s.
