HMAS Sydney (1934)
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Categories: Leander class cruisers | Cruisers of Australia | Royal Australian Navy ships | Shipwrecks of Western Australia | World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean | Tyne-built ships
For other ships of the same name, see HMAS Sydney.
HMAS Sydney was a modified Leander-class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. The ship had great success in the first years of World War II, but controversy and mystery surrounds the loss of Sydney and her crew in November 1941. Her sinking with all hands represents the greatest ever loss of life in an Australian warship; Sydney was also the largest vessel of any country to be lost with no survivors during the war. Searches for Sydney have been unsuccessful.
HistoryConstruction and commissioningSydney was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne, England on 8 July 1933 as HMS Phaeton, purchased by the Australian Government in 1934 and renamed in memory of the earlier Sydney. She was launched on 22 September 1934 by Mrs S. M. Bruce, wife of the Australian High Commissioner to Britain and commissioned at Portsmouth on 24 September 1935. DeploymentImage:Bartolomeo Colleoni destroyed.JPG
Destruction of Bartolomeo Colleoni at Cape Spada
While serving in the Mediterranean under Captain John Augustine Collins, Sydney was credited with the sinking of the Italian destroyer Espero and shared honours in the sinking of the destroyer Zeffiro during the Battle of Calabria. Sydney's crowning glory was achieved on 19 July 1940, in the Battle of Cape Spada in the Greek Islands. With a British destroyer squadron in company, she engaged the high-speed Italian light cruisers Bartolomeo Colleoni and Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. In the running battle which followed, Bartolomeo Colleoni was wrecked and later sunk by torpedoes from the destroyers, while the very high speed of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere enabled her to escape a similar fate. This victory had important strategic effects: "...until the fall of Greece some nine months later, Allied control of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean was virtually unchallenged."[1] On 27 July, while covering a convoy to the Dardanelles, in company with HMS Neptune, Sydney was involved in the sinking of a small tanker, Ermioni, which was carrying fuel to the Italian garrison in the Dodecanese. During August and September, Sydney took part in various operations, including bombardments of Italian positions at Bardia, in Libya , and an airfield at Scarpanto in the Dodecanese. Sydney then returned to Alexandria for repairs, maintenance and leave. In October, Sydney and HMS Orion, carried out a bombardment of Port Maltesana (Astipalea) in the Dodecanese. In November Sydney ferried troops and stores to Crete; on the night of 11 November Sydney, Orion, HMS Ajax and two destroyers attacked an Italian convoy of four merchant ships and two escorts in the Strait of Otranto. All the merchant ships were sunk, although the two escorts escaped. Sydney was refitted at Malta and departed the Mediterranean for Australia on 12 January 1941, performing escort duties en route. The Sydney reached Fremantle on 5 February and underwent a further refit in Sydney Harbour, during which Collins handed over command to Captain Joseph Burnett. On 27 February the ship left for its new base of Fremantle, from where she would carry out patrol and escort duties in the Indian Ocean, occasionally venturing into Asian and Pacific waters. Final battle and disappearanceOn 5 November 1941 at Albany, Western Australia, Sydney began escorting the troopship Zealandia, which was bound for Sunda Strait, in the Dutch East Indies. Sydney and Zealandia arrived at Fremantle on 9 November. They were delayed by a labour dispute on board Zealandia, but left Fremantle on 11 November. They reached Sumatra on 17 November. Sydney began the return voyage to Fremantle, and was scheduled to arrive in the afternoon or evening of 20 November. Axis submarines and surface raiders had already been active in the Indian Ocean and Pacific, and it was expected that any Australian naval vessel on such a voyage might have to investigate reported sightings or suspicious vessels. Image:HMAS Sydney 1934 crew.jpg
The 645-strong crew on board HMAS Sydney in 1941
At about 4pm on 19 November, somewhere west of Shark Bay, Western Australia, Sydney sighted a merchant ship about 20 kilometres away and challenged her. The other ship identified herself as the Dutch ship Straat Malakka. She was, in fact, the 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. Kormoran was also badly damaged in the ensuing battle and had to be abandoned. Survivors from Kormoran reported that Sydney was last seen heavily on fire and down by the bow. The ship and her 645 crew members were never seen again. Wreckage from SydneyImage:HMAS Sydney Memorial.jpg
Memorial to HMAS Sydney, in Geraldton, Western Australia.
The Australian War Memorial houses the only substantial trace of Sydney which was ever found: a Carley float, clearly damaged by gunfire, discovered at sea nine days after the sinking. On or about 6 February 1942 another Carley float, containing the body of a white male adult, was found off Christmas Island about 2,500 km from the scene of the battle. Neither the body or the origins of the float were able to be identified, although it is possible that both came from Sydney. Documents regarding the body and the location of this man's grave appear to have been lost during the Japanese occupation of the island, and several searches in a cemetery failed to locate the remains. In October 2006, an archaeological investigation rediscovered the body of the unidentified man. It was also reported that examination of the remains had revealed a 9 mm bullet or a fragment of shrapnel in his skull. However, the body has not been positively identified and no link with Sydney has yet been shown. Researchers are currently undertaking DNA investigation on the remains and suspected, surviving relatives.[2] In March 1943, a lifebuoy from Sydney was found near Comboyuro Point, Moreton Island, Queensland, although it is possible that this was lost before the battle with Kormoran. References
External links
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