07/08/2025
On this day, 80 years ago, July 31, 1945, 25-year-old Acting Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis and 24-year-old Lieutenant Ian Edward Fraser prepared for one of the most daring submarine attacks of the Second World War.
They set out as part of the crew of His Majesty’s Midget Submarine XE-3 in the Singapore Straits, aiming to cripple a Japanese heavy cruiser of the Atago class, the Takao.
The mission required them to navigate 80 miles through mined waters, past enemy hydrophones, over looped zones and through controlled minefields, and under the enemy’s own anti-submarine netting.
Frazer steered XE-3 to its target, forcing the submarine underneath the cruiser, where only the midship had enough depth for their craft.
For forty minutes, XE-3 scraped and pushed along the seabed as Fraser worked to position the boat beneath the enemy ship.
Magennis, serving as the diver, prepared to plant the explosive charges.
The hatch was jammed by the tight space, forcing Magennis to squeeze out through a narrow gap into foul, oxygen-leaking water.
Working beneath the hull in poor visibility, Magennis cleared barnacles from the cruiser’s underside, scraping with his hands while the oxygen leak traced a path of bubbles to the surface—risking detection at any second.
The limpets would not stick to the barnacled slope, so Magennis lashed them together, running a line under the cruiser’s keel, fighting fatigue and the constant threat of discovery.
He finished only when all charges were set, his air nearly gone, and struggled back to XE-3, exhausted but alive.
When Fraser tried to jettison the limpet charge carriers, one refused to disengage.
Magennis, despite his exhaustion and oxygen leak, volunteered to go out again.
He left the hull, dived under immense pressure, and worked for seven more minutes to cut the carrier free, exposed to detection and death.
At last, Magennis succeeded and slipped back into the submarine.
Fraser managed to extract XE-3 from beneath the cruiser and began the hazardous return trip.
The deadly charges detonated, crippling the Takao and sealing a decisive blow against the Imperial Japanese Navy in Singapore.
James Joseph Magennis survived the war and passed away on February 12, 1986, at age 66, in Yorkshire, England, after years in civilian life marked by both struggle and recognition for his gallantry.
Ian Edward Fraser also survived the operation and later built a successful post-war career. He died in December 2008, aged 87, in Merseyside, England.
For their skill, courage, and disregard for personal safety during the attack on the Takao, both Magennis and Fraser were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest honor for gallantry in the face of the enemy.
