Kelanoa Harbour is a harbour on the north coast of Huon Peninsula

Huon Peninsula

Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec who discovered it along with his personal assistant and porter, Henry Ole. The peninsula is dominated by the steep...

, Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

 serving the town of Kelanoa

Kelanoa

Kelanoa is a town on the north coast of Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea.It is served by Kelanoa Airport and Kelanoa Harbour.-History:The Imperial Japanese occupied the town during World War II. On the 5 January 1944, the Australian army units pushing north along the Huon Peninsula in the Huon...

. It is a large bay with an impenetrable reef and a small island.

History

The Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 Japanese Kaidai class submarine I-181 was beached upon Gneisenau Point in Kelanoa Harbour, after it was attacked in Vitiaz Strait

Vitiaz Strait

Vitiaz Strait is a strait between New Britain and the Huon Peninsula, northern New Guinea .The Vitiaz Strait was so named by Nicholai Nicholaievich Mikluho-Maklai to commemorate the Russian corvette Vitiaz in which he sailed from October 1870 by way of South America and the Pacific Islands reaching...

 by a United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 destroyer and a PT boat

PT boat

PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...

 on 16 January 1944 and lost with all (89) hands.

Some sources claim the I-181 was sunk in St. George's Channel on the same day by US Navy aircraft.