God bless every single soul on HMAS SYDNEY II. Massive respect towards every soul on HMAS SYDNEY II. You guys are the heroes of this beautiful nation, AUSTRALIA...Forever. "LEST WE FORGET" The 19th of November 1941 🙏

In 2011 I had one of the chaps heavily involved in the enquiring into Sydney's loss, and his partner who was the German Translator, stayed with me for a while. I distinctly remembering him telling me near the end of the enquiry fresh evidence appeared that he thought the flurry of activity on HMAS Sydney just before the action began was related too. A signal Sydney received warning Burnett the raider was about and gave him a mush better description of what the raider looked like was sent just before this flurry occurred.

RE finding them - if anyone doubted the Germans, the fact they found both within a week as soon as someone decided to start exactly where Detmers said it took place should settle that

Around 27-29mins - 'why get so close?' - Thought he'd found the raiders supply ship. All other raiders had opened fire at long range and tried to flee, Kormoran suckered Burnett in by playing dumb instead. The only reason to be beam on that close is because you're launching a boarding party, and the first salvo going high was likely because when they saw Kormoran opening ports etc they went with the pre-aimed 'stop a scuttling attempt by taking out the bridge and boats' instead of depressing the guns a few degrees. They just didn't get a chance to fire a second salvo

Why did Burnett not launch his Walrus to properly identify Kormoran? No one mentioned that Burnett, months earlier, chaired and inquiry into the excessive expenditure of ammunition by HMAS Canberra in trying to capture/sink an enemy vessel. He was extremely damming of Canberra's officers. Was this playing on his mind as be approached Kormoran?

@mickdunn8423

5 жыл бұрын

DOHHH!

@deepcosmiclove

3 жыл бұрын

The panel seemed overly concerned with protecting Capt. Burnett's reputation.

@mattmopar440

2 жыл бұрын

That seems insane you can always get more Ammunition

@peterkirgan2921

Жыл бұрын

he was an idiot burnett if collins was in charge this wouldn't have happened

@Brumbieman

7 ай бұрын

Ocean conditions. It was getting late, the sea wasn't calm and trying to recover the plane at night in big ocean swells would have been hard. Burnett likely thought he'd found a raider supply ship, otherwise there is absolutely no reason to get that close unless you were trying to capture it before the 'supply ship' scuttled. All of the other raiders when found had opened fire at long range and tried to flee, Kormoran didn't and the closer they got without Kormoran opening fire probably made them more confident it was a supply ship. One of the German crew mentioned in the old interviews Sydney was fully closed up, fine on the starboard quarter until it got close, then swung abeam and suddenly there was activity and people moving on deck = boarding party assembling to lower boats. He said the main guns were still trained, and indeed fired the first salvo, but there were people on deck when they dropped the disguise

Thank you

What a shame Captain John Collins (later Commodore) was replaced by Captain Burnett who had no battle experience. I read that one of the sailors who was on leave because his wife was expecting said many of the crew thought Burnett would get them all killed with his naive practices.

Petty Officer Steward D. Ross RAN (AIF WW1 France - Navy from 1925) and Flying Officer RB Barrey RAAF (Seaplane Pilot) - Relations. Two Of The Many. Crew included UK, Australian, New Zealand and Maltese Members. Another relation of Don Ross was killed flying Lancasters with 617 Sqd 1945 on second tour. Rays Brother Survived 175 Ops and was awarded AFC DFC DFM serving with RAF. Remained with RAF until 1970s. Now Deceased. Ray's best friend who enlisted with Him in RAAF in 1940 was on board HMAS Perth as Seaplane Pilot when sunk in 1942, Survived as a Japanese POW. Deceased now. Just to put a human face on it. Aircraft located near wreck of HMAS Sydney in 'Debris Field'. (Very Proud to consider John Perryman, Greg Swinden and Wes Olsen as Friends).

@SnoopReddogg

2 жыл бұрын

Donald Ross was originally from Chatsworth, near Mortlake in Western Victoria. He's not even listed on any Italian war memorials.

It is really sad to know that many of the Sydney crew would have been saved if the last shots wouldn't have hit the Kormoran.

Wes is right & this alludes to a case where a fantastic officer (Capt Burnett) has too much time sailing a desk with the priorities that this brings and gets no support when it is his time to sail into harm's way. The Australian Navy would've benefitted from sending the previous shift Captain on board with his first-hand knowledge of combat onboard this ship, for at least the first third of the cruise. This would give Capt Burnett the operational knowledge that he would need to overcome the book-led learning he had previously. The guy & consequently the ship was doomed when such a standard handover technique was missed by the organisation. Most cautious people with his experience and training would make the same mistake in this situation, without the operational smarts that experience brings.

I distinctly remember being with John Perryman at the Sea Power Centre in Canberra after coming home form an extensive amount of time in the National Archives in London in 2010. While at the Archives Professor of Naval History Andrew Lambert spoke with me about the work I was doing, and being an Australian he brought up the topic of HMAS Sydney. Lambert did not believe they had found the wreck of Sydney and believed in the silly conspiracies based on the wreck not being Sydney. When with John Perryman I passed this viewpoint onto him , he was greatly disappointed with Lambert.

question, if sydney was approaching from the stern then how could the captain tell how many cargo hoist's there where?

@the_real_bin_chicken

3 жыл бұрын

on ships of that type and era, a "cargo hoist" was more like a crane than a hoist. so they would protrude above the superstructure and look similar to a mast. also sydney would have been positioned off to the side and to the rear. from Sydney's bridge they most likely would have been able to see the hoists. If not they would have had lookouts stationed forward that would have been able to see.

@jamesavery3559

3 жыл бұрын

@@the_real_bin_chicken maybe so but the Kormoran would have turned a bit to port or starboard to keep Sydney to the stern i think

@the_real_bin_chicken

3 жыл бұрын

@@jamesavery3559 that is true but very unlikely. Manovering in such a fashion would have been a dead give away to Sydney’s crew. Also it would have not given Kormoran the chance to bring her guns and torpedo tubes to bare.

@jamesavery3559

3 жыл бұрын

@@the_real_bin_chicken i just think they woud have done everything to delay as long as possible.

@the_real_bin_chicken

3 жыл бұрын

@@jamesavery3559 I do agree with you there. It is also possible that Kormoran’s captian could have seen that Sydney was not at action stations and saw a chance to avoid capture/sinking by opening fire.

Tragic loss of young lads, at the arrogance of commanding officers who were too stupid for words.

@peterkirgan2921

Жыл бұрын

agreed !

Cant help but wonder how many of Sydneys crew were incapacitated and unable to use life boats before the ship sank. Were the boats all too damaged for use? Were the lifeboats accounted for in the wreckage? I can't fathom that only one sailor made it onto a lifeboat.

@Nibby12

Жыл бұрын

They tried to sail her back to Geraldton, as she was still capable of a couple of knots, thus no liferafts were deployed. However, she was hit by a torpedo early on in the engagement, in the bows, which later snapped off after the engagement. It's estimated she sank within about 30 seconds thus no survivors.

@mariaisabelcarrillo6315

Жыл бұрын

Sidney sank in Shark Bay, so any sailor on the water had a horrible fate.

No Mystery HMAS captian was asleep even if he was standing up.

Sydney 2 perrished ! Rip to all invoved but im afraid to say if they had a smarter captain like John Collins they would have all survived !!! John wasnt a fool ? nor would he let an unknown ship to point blank range !! just shows you what happens when you put a pom in charge ??? Lol look @ 54 squadron raf in new guinea? the RAAF pilots 75 76 77 &82 squadron had to bail them out of trouble !!! @ milne bay !! my old boss was Bert Augustus Grace RAAF 82 squadron

What about the hubbub I heard about re the bodies in the dunes and lots of sailors creeping around the dunes to bury bodies ??????????????????????????????????????

@the_real_bin_chicken

3 жыл бұрын

just that mate... hubbub before the discovery of the wrecks there was all sorts of rumors flying around for years. Unfortunately, (and this is common in some circles) some people cant let go of them now that most of them have been disproved.

My thoughts run to inexperience coupled with lack of common sense. In my opinion a light cruiser should never have been a victim in this one on one with a raider. All the technological advantages lay with the warship. All the behavior signals by the raider were indicative of covert action. It should have been plain that a potential raider was present and vulnerable. If identity was an issue then full measures should have been employed until identity was near certain. Even to this amateur, the abandonment of tactical advantage like this was catastrophic. No matter what,, when your small fleet needs every asset that existed, you don't chance risking losing your key piece. It smacks of hubris, or stupidity. I cannot fathom why, at this point in a world war, the cruiser was handled this way. A tragic event that should never have occurred.

Germans supermen desteoy sydnei

EXPERT PANEL _ MY ASS!

@mickdunn8423

5 жыл бұрын

...these numbnuts should be writing Fairy Tales!