HMAS Sydney "Found"

[Tiger-pie]

Immensely satisfying stuff. I can't think of any comparable previously unresolved mystery to compare this to.

I can only agree Rick.

'The Lady' need no longer look toward the Indian Ocean in search of her lost sons...

[Lapa]

Immensely satisfying stuff. I can't think of any comparable previously unresolved mystery to compare this to.

Rick,

Sea tragedies have hit most seafaring nations, and mysteries abound. I think that families from sailors serving on the Bismark for instance were once in this very same position.

Marc

[Tiger-pie]

I think that families from sailors serving on the Bismark for instance were once in this very same position.

Marc

Families not left in the dark for over 60 years, the location of sinking of the Bismark was known and there were some survivors taken from the water post-battle.

Actually, no parallel at all...

Edited March 24, 2008 by Tiger-pie

[Tiger-pie]

Update: Weather permitting SV Geosounder will send down an ROV PM 2nd April (i.e. this afternoon Australian ESDT, AM in Western Australia). The Geosounder has been given approval by the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts to approach the wrecks of the Sydney and the Kormoran for the purpose of taking photographic images and video.

Regards,

Johnsy

[Colin Davie]

Well we've got yachts all over our beaches this morning after the near hurricane we endured yesterday down here Melbourne way, don't know if it was rough over on the west coast but I assume so.

C

[Tiger-pie]

HMAS Sydney seen for the first time

Arjun Ramachandran

April 4, 2008 - 8:45AM

The first photographs of the recovered wreck, HMAS Sydney, have been released.

Last month, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the World War II warship had been located using sonar images at a depth of 2470 metres.

The Sydney's entire crew had gone down with the ship in the Indian Ocean in November 1941, after what was believed to be a fatal battle with the German raider, Kormoran.

The Finding Sydney Foundation released the first photographs of the wreck, "positively identifying the wreck of Sydney", it said.

Finding Sydney Foundation search director David Mearns said there had been "no mistaking" the wreck.

"Because we landed nearer to the stern we begin moving slowly in that direction to see if we could locate Sydney's bell on the quarterdeck (sadly it was nowhere to be found) or possibly her name on the stern in case we were mistaken and her brass lettering hadn't been removed as part of her wartime preparations," he said.

" But there was no mistaking that the wreck before us was that of HMAS Sydney and that her damage matched perfectly to what we expected from the side-scan sonar imagery and from the German accounts of the battle."

Based on the damage, Mr Mearns concluded that the Sydney hit the seabed stern first, and then slid 50 metres to her final resting place.

"Both funnels and masts were gone and all the lifeboats were missing from their cradle stands, but all four turrets were retained in place," he said.

"As per the German accounts the bridge and superstructure of Sydney withstood the worst damage as the heavy guns of Kormoran clearly had a devastating effect."

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/04/04/1207249402155.html

[Tiger-pie]

Images # 2.

For further reading, see link.

http://www.findingsydney.com/

Regards,

Johnsy

[Guest Rick Research]

"all the lifeboats were missing from their cradle stands"

No panic. No one left behind...

where did all those survivors GO? Can it REALLY have been nothing more than that some suicidally stupid Senior Person turned them all completely into the wrong direction and they went off sheeplike together to doom in the middle of the Indian Ocean instead of heading 125 miles to SHORE?

[Tiger-pie]

"all the lifeboats were missing from their cradle stands"

No panic. No one left behind...

where did all those survivors GO? Can it REALLY have been nothing more than that some suicidally stupid Senior Person turned them all completely into the wrong direction and they went off sheeplike together to doom in the middle of the Indian Ocean instead of heading 125 miles to SHORE?

I don't know Rick, they were closed up for action and the bridge was hit, so that would be all the brass out the windows, literally.

With no officers left to direct the men during the battle or any survivors post-battle, it is possible. They were a well trained and battle experianced crew, but individual initiative isn't something that sailors of the time were taught.

Regards,

Johnsy

[Ed_Haynes]

Powerful stuff, Johnsy thanks.

Much to remember here. More personal sympathy to the Ozzies than the Nazis, though some may differ.

Edited April 4, 2008 by Ed_Haynes

[Tiger-pie]

Powerful stuff, Johnsy thanks.

Much to remember here. More personal sympathy to the Ozzies than the Nazis, though some may differ.

It is my pleasure Ed, tinged with a little sadness, to keep those who have been following this story up to date. See link in above post for pictures of when she was alive.

The photos of the wreakage are also on that link, and give descriptions of each picture (something I forgot in my haste to post the images).

With regards to Nazis our navy, which is often overlooked when dicussing Australian WW2 history, certainly got plenty of payback in the Med against Germany and their allies.

Regards,

Johnsy

[Tiger-pie]

Some further shots. These photoguides show areas where the photos were taken. All images from www.findingsydney.com

Edited April 8, 2008 by Tiger-pie

[Tiger-pie]

Sydney's bow inverted, note that the picks are still in place. After sailing standard practice is to secure the focsle for sea. Part of this process is hauling back on the chain until the picks are home, and securing them under tension so they don't work loose during 'roughers' (big seas).

Pick=anchor for you landlubbers.

Edited April 8, 2008 by Tiger-pie

[Colin Davie]

Though the HMAS Sydney lost all of it's crew when she sunk she still has her survivors... the ships former petty officer Richard Radcliffe lives just 5 mins. down the road from me at Safety Beach.

http://www.morningtonpeninsulaleader.com.a...5_mlv_news.html

C

I will edit this to add the content and picture contained in the link above as it will probably be gone after Monday coming and it's an interesting addition to the thread.

Safety Beach man relives the Sydney's tragedy

Heidi Bergmeier

07Apr08

The tragedy still haunts Richard Radcliffe. SOME of us had never heard of the HMAS Sydney until its sunken wreckage was discovered off the West Australian coast last month .

But for the ship's former petty officer, Richard Radcliffe, who served on the World War II battleship for more than two years, it had not left his mind for the past 66 years.

"I was sitting in front of the television set, then tears just came out of my eyes and I couldn't talk," the Safety Beach grandfather said about hearing the news of the vessel's discovery."It was just that when they found the Sydney, everything flashed back." Mr Radcliffe, 88, said he was among a third of the crew to be rotated to other posts just months before the HMAS Sydney was sunk by the German ship Kormoran.

"I often thought it could have been me," Mr Radcliffe said of living and working with many of the men who perished with the ship in November, 1941.

"When you're (at sea) for a couple of years you become a family," he said. "And when you lose them, you lose part of your family."

The former Frankston Hospital chief radiographer said he could still walk every inch of the ship in his mind.

But that also meant that he had a very clear picture of what could have happened aboard while it was sinking.

He said despite the inquiry into the tragedy that killed all 645 men on board, he feared the full story would never be known.

"People will now want to know more details," Mr Radcliffe said. "It will always be something that can't be explained fully".

Edited April 10, 2008 by Colin Davie

[Tiger-pie]

Thanks for that story Colin, I can empathise with this blokes survivour guilt, the bond within the military is a strong one.

I think this photo is a fitting one.

[Tiger-pie]

The commemorative cartridge is passed to Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Russ Shalders, by the family representatives (L-R) Commodore (Retired) Rory Burnett, son of Commanding Officer of HMAS Sydney II Captain Joseph Burnett, Mrs Margret Morse, daughter of Petty Officer John Davey and Mr Ted McGowan, brother of Able Thomas Henry McGowan.