HMAS Sydney Located
Searchers have finally located the wreck of the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney that sunk after a battle with a German commerce raider during World War Two. The Sydney sank with all hands after the fierce battle. The German Kormoran was heavily damaged and later scuttled. The discovery of the wreck has still not answered why the Sydney sank so rapidly.
Searchers last month found the wreck of the HMAS Sydney, which sank with the loss of all 645 crew in November 1941 after a 30-minute battle with the German merchant raider HSK Kormoran, but details of why the ship sank so quickly remain a mystery.
The Australian government has set up an inquiry to try to find out why no sailors survived, but images of the wreck reinforce suggestions the Sydney was heavily damaged by German shelling during the first salvos of their battle.
"The incredible photos of the underwater wreckage bring home how fierce the battle must have been," Australia's Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said in a statement.
The Australian reports that the Sydney's lifeboats appear to be missing, deepening the mystery of what happened.
They show all Sydney's lifeboats missing, suggesting sailors may have escaped the sinking warship to an unknown fate.
Coloured a deep shade of blue by the Indian Ocean, photos taken 2.5kms down by a remotely-operated submersible vehicle (ROV), and released today by the Finding Sydney Foundation, clearly show the damage inflicted on the Sydney.
The foundation says both funnels and masts are gone, shell holes have punched neatly through gun turrets, the bow is completely missing and there is “severe punishment” to the bridge and superstructure, which were known to have been targeted by the Kormoran's guns.
The peeling back of the ship's side in one area could have been the result of a torpedo strike from the Kormoran, says observer and naval historian John Perryman.
More from the Finding Sydney Foundation website. 645 Australian sailors were lost as a result of the sinking of the Sydney. More than 300 Germans from the Kormoran survived the battle.
By Sam, Saturday, 5 April , 2008 @ 2:19 pm
I read another article about this recently. It may have been on Tim Blair’s blog. An interesting chapter of WW2 that I knew nothing about.
By Quilly Mammoth, Saturday, 5 April , 2008 @ 3:32 pm
There’s good basis for a sci-fi story there. Perhaps the lifeboats were whisked away by a time vortex and deposited in the middle of the battle of Amorgos. 322 BC and Athens successfully breaks away from Macedonia. Hmmmmm.