Sydney had been tasked with investigating unidentified vessels off the Western Australian coast in protection of Australia’s trading routes when she encountered Kormoran —an armed raider disguised as a merchant cargo vessel. [36][50] The Germans were unaware that the letters were the interior of the real Straat Malakka's secret callsign, "IIKP": to verify her identity, the ship had to signal back the outer letters. [78] Initially believing that these were survivors of a German raider attack, and that the raider might still be in the area, Aquitania resumed her voyage to Sydney, maintaining silence until the afternoon of 26 November. [120] Coincidentally, tied up to the opposite pier was the real Straat Malakka. [82] The first news relating to the engagement between Sydney and Kormoran was received by the Australian Naval Board during the afternoon of 24 November; the British tanker Trocas reported that she had rescued a raft at 15:00 carrying 25 German naval personnel (one having perished) at 24°6′S 111°40′E / 24.100°S 111.667°E / -24.100; 111.667. [167] The account is described by naval historian Tom Frame as "bland and unemotional", and "necessarily superficial", but Gill's analysis of the battle is attacked by Frame as "seriously flawed, inconsistent and contradictory". [67] The raider fired her guns for the last time around 17:50, with the range at 6,600 yards (6,000 m), and a torpedo was launched at 18:00, but missed Sydney. [90] Telegrams to next-of-kin, stating that their relatives were "missing as a result of enemy action" were lodged, although naval censors advised the media that no announcements relating to the cruiser be made. [69][70] However, after the wrecks were located, it was determined that Sydney was under limited control after the battle, maintaining a course of 130–140 degrees true at speeds of 1.5 knots (2.8 km/h; 1.7 mph). [283] The memorial included four major elements: a stele of the same size and shape of the ship's prow, a granite wall listing the ship's company, a bronze statue of a woman looking out to sea and waiting in vain for the cruiser to come home, and a dome (dubbed the "dome of souls") onto which 645 stainless steel seagulls were welded. [289], The "HMAS Sydney Replacement Fund" was established to help finance the acquisition of a replacement ship. [114] The sailors were placed in No. (ed.) [156] On discovery, both wrecks were placed under the protection of the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976. The battle between the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran[a] was a single-ship action that occurred on 19 November 1941, off the coast of Western Australia. [77] When the ship failed to arrive by 23 November, wireless communications stations (initially those in Fremantle, then all high-power stations in Australia) began signalling ordering Sydney to report in. HMAS SYDNEY SUNK OFF THE COAST OF WEST AUSTRALIA ON 19 NOVEMBER 1941 . [131] WHOI staff did not believe that the search area could be sufficiently narrowed down—shipwreck hunter Robert Ballard commented that searching for the ships could not be described as a needle in a haystack, "because the haystack has not yet been found"—and the WHOI withdrew its support. [83][85] On 25 November, HNLMS Tromp was sent from Sunda Strait to follow Sydney's assumed course if she had headed for Surabaya or Singapore after sustaining damage. [48][58] Sydney's main armament was completely disabled (the forward turrets were damaged or destroyed, while the aft turrets were jammed facing port, away from Kormoran), and her secondary weapons were out of range. [80], Six Lockheed Hudson aircraft from No. [109] Many did not follow this instruction, but their accounts included second-hand information of varying reliability. The Sydney was sunk and the Kormoran had to be scuttled due to heavy damage. [148] Kormoran was located during the afternoon of 12 March: the ship had been torn apart by the mine deck detonation, with two large pieces sitting 2,560 metres (8,400 ft) below sea level and 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) apart, with an oval-shaped debris field between them, centred at 26°05′46″S 111°04′33″E / 26.09611°S 111.07583°E / -26.09611; 111.07583. [133] In 2002, a coalition of oil and gas companies involved in the North West Shelf Venture performed a gratis search of eight suspected targets in the proposed southern area. HSK Kormoran found on 12 March 2008 . On 8 July 1933 the ship that would become Sydney (II) was laid down as HMS Phaeton in the shipyard of Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson, at Wallsend-on-Tyne in England. [33][34] At 15:55, what was initially thought to be a tall ship sail was sighted off the port bow, although it was quickly determined to be the mast of a warship (HMAS Sydney). [63] Sydney sank during the night; it was originally thought that the cruiser exploded when fires reached the shell magazines or torpedo launchers, or took on water through the shellholes on her port side and capsized. [136] Mearns focused on primary source documents, which led him to believe that German accounts of the battle's location were truthful, and was able to convince the RAN that a search around that area was feasible. [4] Sydney carried eight 6-inch (152 mm) guns in four twin turrets ("A" and "B" forward, "X" and "Y" aft) as primary armament. Many years passed after her sinking, with little information… November 19th, 1941 saw the b attle between HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran.The two ships sank each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 German seamen.. Identified is 23464 Able Seaman (AB) Martin Curtis James, of Newcastle, NSW, front table second from right, left side of table, second from table end. [1] Australian authorities learned of Sydney's fate from the surviving Kormoran personnel, who were held in prisoner of war camps until the end of the war. [224] The recovered carley float—with its damage attributed to machine-gun fire—is often presented as proof. Tim Clarke AAP November 18, 2013 7:13pm [187][188] The JCFADT inquiry received over 400 submissions and compiled over 500 pages of oral testimony. [181][187], Over the next few years, several books about the battle were published. 1.1 The loss of HMAS Sydney1 in November 1941 was a tragedy on a number of levels. [239], An alternative version of this theory is that authorities were aware of Sydney being attacked at the time of or shortly after the battle, but deliberately delayed organising searches for survivors. REL26111. Dr Lewis, who wrote Sensuikan I-124, and Darwin's Submarine I-124, contributed to the Cole inquiry, arguing strongly that this was impossible. The other ‘lantern’ once had an internal red coating, representing port, but nearly all of it is now worn off. The voyage was without incident and at noon on 17 November Sydney began its trip back to Fremantle, where it was expected to arrive on the afternoon of 20 November 1941. One lantern-shaped container is made of green glass, representing starboard. [140] Several small donations were made by companies and the public, but it was not until the Australian government approved another A$2.9 million in October 2007 that the search could proceed. [281], The main memorial for the loss of Sydney is located on Mount Scott at Geraldton. 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