In the subsequent decades, many people postulated theories, remarkable finds were discovered then found to be hoaxes, and the depth of the sea at suspected wreck sites kept researchers from investigating further. A renewed effort to find the Sydney and Kormoran , supported by modern technology, came to fruition on 16 March , whena small group of Australian volunteers, the Finding Sydney Foundation, discovered the Sydney shortly after locating the Kormoran wreck, around nautical miles off the coast of Western Australia.
The enquiry helps bring closure to the families who never knew for sure how their loved ones had died. Portrait of the crew in full uniform after a successful mission in the Mediterranean Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial P Forward screen of superstructure.
Timeline Article Updated 4 years ago. User menu Content Reports. Search form Search. II - Part 4. During the sinking sequence the bow severed from the main part of the ship and came to rest, inverted, on the seabed in the debris field. Note the two anchors secured snugly in their hawse-pipes.
Visible in these pictures can be seen the breeches of the twin Mark XXI 6-inch guns. Note the sighting ports visible between the 6-inch gun barrels. Note that in these images the lower sighting ports are open, suggesting that the turret may have been operating in local control. The right hand sighting port as viewed is where a gun-layer rating would sit. The left hand sighting port as viewed is where the gun-trainer would sit.
Burnett assumed command from Captain Collins. During her absence from Australia she had steamed nearly 80, miles; she had been in action a score of times against other surface craft, shore batteries and submarines.
In addition she had withstood 60 heavy bombing attacks from the air while at sea. For her part she had fired over shells in her various engagements, which she had carried out with distinction, but without loss of an hour's fighting efficiency. An active and vital part of the Sydney's equipment was her amphibian aircraft. Seagull amphibian had been attached to the cruiser.
Among this Seagull's adventures was an occasion, during the bombardment of Bardia, in which the Sydney played a big part in June, , when the aircraft was attacked at feet by three Italian biplanes. The first plane shot away the Australian machine's aileron control, and the second riddled the rudder end after part of the hull, and shot away most of the tail plane struts. The amphibian's rear gunner went into action and drove the three fighters off, but it took a distance of feet for the amphibian's crew to gain control of their aircraft They headed for Sollum for a forced landing, but estimated on arrival that the country would be too rough, so the damaged machine flew another miles to Mersa Matruh aerodrome where, on a bomb-damaged surface, the amphibian's port wheel collapsed.
At the bombardment of a fighter aerodrome at Scarpanto Dodecanese Islands , the amphibian warned the Sydney of the presence of five Italian E-boats, two of which were sunk, and a third damaged.
In November, , H. Sydney took a conspicuous part in a night attack in the Adriatic on Italian convoyed ships and destroyer escort. The convoy was destroyed, and the escort dispersed.
Sydney also took part in the transport of the first Allied troops to Greece. During the Sydney's bombardment of another aerodrome, the Seagull reported E-boats by radio; "spotted" for the cruiser in a haze that was so dense that the Sydney could not have known with certainty how accurately she was firing but for the Seagull's reports on the fall of the shots.
Throughout the year the Sydney's Seagull carried out spotting and anti-submarine patrols. The ship was disguised as the Dutch merchant vessel Straat Malakka — but was actually Kormoran , under the command of Commander Theodor Detmers. The vessel had originally been a merchant ship and had been modified for war, but her armor and guns were inferior to those of Sydney.
Detmers knew that the only way his ship would stand a chance against the superior Australian cruiser was through trickery. Through a series of exchanges, Kormoran lured Sydney closer and closer, until the Australian ship was close enough that the advantages offered by her superior armor and weaponry would be negated. When Detmers saw that Sydney was within lethal firing range, he abruptly dropped the Dutch flag and instead raised the German Navy Kriegsmarine ensign instead, and opened fire.
Some of the conspiracy theories allege that the German ship was flying a surrender flag to lure Sydney close enough, and that Kormoran attacked without flying her battle ensign — either of which would have constituted a war crime. Neither of these theories has ever been proven, though. The Australians responded in kind, but according to the German survivors, their first salvo missed. The ships battered each other for the next thirty minutes, and after the last shots were fired at around PM, Kormoran was dead in the water and Sydney was moving south-east, apparently not under any control.
Both ships were heavily damaged and on fire.
0コメント