Piccys of Sydney
THE first photographs have been released of the HMAS Sydney sitting at a depth of 2400m, 112 nautical miles off Dirk Hartog Island.
[Editor's note: HMAS Sydney was an Amphion-class (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 surrounded the loss of the battle-hardened 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 all hands during the war.]
The seven pictures show wreckage strewn on top of �Y� turret, and �B� turret with evidence of a direct hit by the German raider HSK Kormoran between its gun barrels.
Another picture reveals a port side cradle for the aft 27-foot whale boat, which is missing, and another shows an upturned searchlight platform torn away from forward funnel.
Other pictures show areas of Sydney�s teak decking remain remarkably intact and some of the many portholes visible on Sydney�s port side.
The wreckage of HMAS Sydney was finally discovered last month 66 years after vanishing off the coast of Western Australia.
While the discovery of the final resting place of 645 Australian servicemen solves our greatest maritime mystery, questions about why it has taken so long to find her and what exactly happened on November 19, 1941, continue to bubble to the surface.
The quick-fire discovery of Sydney and her German nemesis also highlights the carefully managed public relations exercise involving the Finding Sydney Foundation and various federal government departments.
According to expedition leader and famed shipwreck hunter David Mearns, his organisation told Finding Sydney chairman Ted Graham in Canberra around lunchtime on Sunday - an hour after Kevin Rudd told the nation the Kormoran had been found that the Sydney had also been discovered.
The discovery also finally put to rest claims the Kormoran's commander, Theodor Detmers, lied about where he thought the Sydney had gone down.
Detmers, along with 317 German survivors from the scuttled German raider, last saw the Sydney listing, ablaze and rudderless, heading south-southeast.
He told his interrogators the co-ordinates for the battle zone: 111 degrees east, 26 south.
Despite decades of scepticism and deep suspicions about the German's claims, Mr Mearns believed him and used that information and other German accounts as the platform to launch his expedition.
The SV Geosounder found the Kormoran almost exactly where Detmers said it was.
The photographs may help maritime historians to piece together what happened more than 66 years ago in Sydney's encounter with the Kormoran.
Under the Historic Shipwreck Act, a protected zone of 200ha will be enforced around the wrecks, with hefty fines to discourage souvenir hunters.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 01,00.html
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
last saw the Sydney listing, ablaze and rudderless,
First I have heard of rudderless & as it was dark at the time ????
)
and problem would resolve by itself.
Danny DON'T "waterline"...!
