Wreck of the HMAS Sydney found.

[seanz]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/back-from-the-deep/2007/08/10/1186530622306.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1


People have been wondering exactly what happened to the Sydney all those years ago. There is a very good chance she's been found.
The Sydney sank with no survivors and out of sight of the crew of the ship that sank her (German raider Kormoran) so her whereabouts have been a mystery for nearly 66 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Sydney_%281934%29

[The Bigfella]

Saw the film of the wreck on the "7" news tonight. They need some better vision - but it could well be it. They are working on DNA analysis for the sole body found (on a Carley float that washed up on Christmas Is during the war) They have another 15 relatives to check (they believe he was an officer, based on the buttons on his overalls)

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=248153&cl=3665149&ch=248154&src=y7news

[WX]

I will be keeping an eye on this story, what a find.

[PeterSibley]

I remain amazed that Sydney was sunk by Kormoran ,an armed raider versus a light cruiser ? Any theories ?

OK ...here's a bit from Wikipedia ....apparently Kormoran was more than an armed merchantman, as I had alway assumed .

At about 4pm on November 19, somewhere west of Shark Bay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_Bay), Western Australia, Sydney sighted a merchant ship about 20 kilometres away and challenged it. The other ship identified itself as the Dutch ship Straat Malakka. It was, in fact, the German auxiliary cruiser (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_cruiser) Kormoran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_auxiliary_cruiser_Kormoran). According to survivors from Kormoran, Sydney closed to within 1,000 metres, and was surprised and overwhelmed when the crew of Kormoran opened fire with concealed artillery and torpedoes.

[Tom Hunter]

Three reasons that Sydney sank

1) Short range
2) Torpedoes
3) Suprise

At those ranges guns of the size involved (4"-6") size seldom miss. They do a lot of damage very quickly and the ship which is struck first has its combat capability degraded quite rapidly.

Throw in the torpedos and down she goes.

[John E Hardiman]

All fights between ships without armor and medium caliber guns at short range are quick and ugly.

[The Bigfella]

Yep - she was a thin-skinned cruiser.

Speaking of skins - has anyone else seen the section of belt-line armour from the Tirpitz that is in the Hendon museum? Its about 13"-14" thick. just amazing

[Clan Gordon]

Very interesting find.

The real question is not so much how the Sydney was sunk, but how there were no survivors.

The condition of the wreck should help explain this. If it is torn to pieces, then a violent explosion following the combat damage may be the culprit.

If not, and she sank relatively intact, then the questions as to what the Kormoran really did can only intensify.

Having said that, the fate of the crew of the USS Indianapolis does point to the difficulty of surviving a warship sinking in a remote location (not enough BOATS for the crew).

[rufustr]

From The Australian 13.08.07.



Paige Taylor and David Kennedy | August 13, 2007

A WRECK found off the West Australian coast last week is unlikely to be the lost warship Sydney, salvage experts said yesterday, despite a claim by a group of amateur enthusiasts that they had located the ship sunk 66 years ago.
The unidentified wreck was found almost 100 nautical miles inshore from where German records show the Royal Australian Navy cruiser was mortally damaged before sinking with the loss of all 645 crew.
David Mearns, who has recovered more than 50 ships -- including the British battleship HMS Hood, sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in World War II -- said it seemed highly improbable the wreck off Dirk Hartog Island was the Sydney.
"I would love for this to be the Sydney but in my professional opinion it's not believable," he said. Mr Mearns said German logbooks showed the November 19, 1941, battle between the German raider SS Kormoran and the Sydney took place 120 nautical miles west of the Gascoyne Coast, or 160 nautical miles southwest of the town of Carnarvon.
The wreck detected last week by amateur researcher Phil Shepherd and his mates -- including master diver Ian Stiles, who filmed parts of the wreck with a grappling hook and an underwater camera -- was just 20 nautical miles from Dirk Hartog and close to the coast.
The men would not elaborate on their find yesterday because of a confidentiality agreement with a media organisation, Mr Stiles's wife, Sharon, said.
A spokesman for Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said the navy would examine the wreck to determine if it was the Sydney.
Mr Mearns, who joined a non-profit search for the Sydney in 2003, said German witnesses to the battle last saw the cruiser limping 150 degrees and moving at between three and five nautical miles an hour.
"This ship was gravely and mortally damaged and that's why she sank," he said. "It doesn't make sense it would get that far."
He knew Mr Shepherd well and had been kept informed of his search, but believed his enthusiasm had led him to jump to conclusions. The video footage was inadequate and did not show the size of the wreck -- the Sydney was 170m long.
"They have no idea how big this wreck is: they haven't seen the bow, they haven't seen the stern, they haven't seen any of the guns or anything which might indicate it is even a navy ship. It could be absolutely anything," Mr Mearns said.
At such an early stage there was a responsibility to be sensible and careful in all claims, he said.
Former Sydney crewman Ean McDonald, of Gooseberry Hill, Perth, joined doubters yesterday, saying the video, which purported to show steam tubes on deck, was baffling because "Sydney had no steam tubes on deck".
The retired lieutenant-commander, 88, served on the Sydney in the Mediterranean, leaving her just months before she was sunk by the Kormoran. The Kormoran also sank but 341 of its crew were rescued and held as prisoners of war in Australia.
West Australian Maritime Museum archeology curator Michael McCarthy said the wreck found last week had been known of for more than a decade.
"A key issue is a bolt that the group reporting this find maintains is one that was used to secure wooden planking to the steel deck," he said. "This bolt is 9 1/2 inches (24cm) long and no such timber-fastening bolt as this is known to have been used on Sydney at all, let alone the many that would have been required to secure decking."
Retired deputy RAN hydrographer Reg Hardstaff said that the find was "not supportable".
"If the Sydney limped away from the action at 6.30pm and was on fire until after 9pm when she went up in a ball of fire, as reported by the Germans, people at Carnarvon and Shark Bay settlements would have seen the fire luminance and heard the explosions," he said.
Additional reporting: Ryan Emery