The wooden-hulled MV Krait, a former Japanese fishing boat originally named Kofuku Maru. Seized by the British in 1941 and used to rescue over 1,100 survivors of ships sunk along the east coast of Sumatra, the boat was handed over to the Australian military in 1942 and renamed Krait after a deadly Indian snake. It was outfitted for use in Operation Jaywick, a nighttime surprise raid on shipping in Singapore harbour.
After departing from Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia with an eight-man mixed crew of British and Australian Navy and Army personnel and six commandos (Z Force), Krait entered Japanese-controlled waters posing as a Japanese fishing boat. On the night of 26 September 1943, the commandos used folding canoes to paddle into Singapore harbour, where they placed limpet mines on several vessels. The resulting explosions sank two enemy ships and damaged another five.
Krait continued to serve Australian forces until the end of the war, being present in Ambon for the surrender of Japanese forces there in September 1945.
After the war, Krait was found working in Borneo in the logging trade, and was brought to Sydney in 1964. In 1985, the vessel was donated to the Australian War Memorial and then transferred to the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney in 1988.
Continuing the naming convention started with Krait, all Australian Commando Unit vessels since then have been named after venomous snakes, such as Red Viper and Coral Snake.
Photo taken 27 October 2014
MV Krait - Specifications
Displacement: 68 gross tons
Length: 21.33 metres (70.0 feet)
Beam: 3.35 metres (11.0 feet)
Draught: 1.5 metres (4.9 feet)
Propulsion: Gardner 6LW diesel engine
Range: 13,000 kilometres (8,000 miles)