Fujita salvage operation

These attacks lasted for 30 minutes and resulted in the sinking of three warships and six merchant vessels, damaging another ten ships.

On their way back to the carriers, some Japanese aircraft passed over the Florence D. and Don Isidro, which enabled planning for an afternoon strike which sank both freighters.

[5] The ship became the living quarters for Fujita's workers who were initially not permitted on Australian soil so soon after World War 2.

[6] They salvaged seven wrecks over two years including MV Neptuna, USAT Meigs and the USS Peary.

The salvage operations on the harbour coincided with the building of a new church on the Smith Street site of the former US military headquarters, destroyed during the war.

Fujita, in a spirit of generosity, commissioned his team to create 77 bronze crosses for the church from scrap salvaged from the Australian vessel Zealandia.