Warbird Information Exchange

DESIGN flaws in the cruiser HMAS Sydney II made it particularly vulnerable to shellfire when it encountered the German raider HSK Kormoran off Western Australia in 1941, a Sydney inquiry heard yesterday.

Lifeboats that could have saved some of the 645 sailors on board when the Sydney was shelled, machine-gunned and torpedoed were clustered in one area of the deck, near the crane that was to have been used to lower them into the sea, but the boats were hit by shells.

All the senior officers were on the bridge when the Sydney closed in on the Kormoran and, at a distance of between 900 and 2000 metres, every feature of the ship was visible to the enemy. Dr Roger Neill, one of a team of defence scientists who studied the wreckage of the Sydney after it was found last March, said the lifeboats were close to a Walrus aircraft and supplies of highly inflammable aviation fuel.

Dr Neill, appearing before the commissioner, Terence Cole, QC, said the gunners on the Kormoran took the Sydney by surprise and were able to fire seven salvos a minute of their 15-centimetre guns. Forty-four rounds were fired during the battle, and 41 struck home.

The enemy gunners were able to fire with pinpoint accuracy, knocking out the fore and aft gun turrets and the gun control tower. Carley floats - rafts that could keep men afloat for several days - were blown off the ship by a shell and damaged by shell fragments and fire. A davit, a device that governs lifeboats, was damaged, leaving a whaler boat hanging over the side. A shell blew away the remaining davit, sending the whaler crashing into the ocean.

A defence scientist, Dr Stuart Cannon, said doors in some internal bulkheads were made of thin metal and plywood, offering scant protection, feeding the fire and allowing smoke through to other sections.

The scientist Terry Turner said 70 per cent of the crew would have been incapacitated by shells and bullets or because they were trapped in closed spaces and overcome by smoke and fumes.

The inquiry adjourned.

what kind of aircraft might be in/on the HMAS Sydney? I'm not familiar with British or Aussies in the Battle of Midway.

Thanks for that West-Front. The actual report's worth reading (thanks very much for the heads' up, Kevin, I've just been updating my knowledge with reading this). The newspaper's not; over-simplifying too far, IMHO.

The 'design flaws' were integral to the nature of this class of cruiser. To have been heavier built would've detracted from speed and manoeuvrability. HMAS Sydney was a battle proven ship with a new crew.

The enquiry can (and has) told us what happened; but not why. They have proven the German eyewitness accounts check-out in all aspects (there are no other eye-witness accounts, Sydney sinking with all hands lost).

The questions, which can never be answered because the decision makes are dead, with no accounts, are, 1: "Why did Sydney close with a suspicious ship, and arrive in a position where it could shell and torpedo Sydney?" and 2: "How could a disguised raider change flags, drop covers, train (loaded) guns and fire several accurate salvos before a prepared cruiser fired it's already action stations ready, trained and loaded guns?" (And when Sydney's guns did finally fire, why were they not accurate?)

Page 167 shows remains which may be the Walrus aircraft. I'm hoping to get higher res versions to see if they are - it's not a restorable object! The HSK Kormoran's two Arado Ar 196 aircraft were blown to smithereens when the ship's mines went off. Other comments to Kevin's question later.