I was 12 years old when it was reported that they Sydney had been found, i remember sitting transfixed to the TV as every single story was about her and her discovery. i hope now she has been found her poor crew may now rest, their duty to their country done, knowing they have been found and offiically relieved of their posts and laid to rest with full honours

When I went to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, there is a small exhibit dedicated to the HMAS Sydney which contains the only surviving life raft from the Sydney. With the Sydney being lost with all hands, it is quite solemn and harrowing to look upon the life raft, especially considering it is straddled with bullet holes.

Imagine losing to an inferior ship because you think you are superior and don't go in with all guns at the ready. Just pain nuts and very humiliating.

A real tragedy. Why such a powerful cruiser would come to such close quarters with an unknown ship, while knowing the Kormoran was in the region, was foolhardy. Sydney should have challenged the Kormoran from a distance where her firepower could havesunk the raider while giving Sydney a chance.

Deception, surprise, and incompetence. Primarily incompetence. Getting so close that they couldn't even depress their main guns far enough to hit and Kormoran's relatively weak guns could go right through their armor. Ignoring all rules of caution in wartime.

As no Australian I have to say: yes they were using deception and surprise, BUT biggest faults were done by Sydney's Captain. It's always easy to blame somebody else. War is war sry for those lost sailors.

The authorities were told all about it. they just didn't accept it. Most of the facts given my the German crew, although not accepted by the authorities, were in fact true. and all information was withheld from the friends abs relatives of the crew, in fact, withheld completely.

One of the problems with light and heavy cruisers in WWII was the inclusion of a spotting aircraft that was launched by catapult. Having aircraft on board required aviation fuel, which was an extreme fire hazard in battle. I would imagine that the Kormoran's torpedo hit just behind the forward turrets, and likely caused fires and detonations in the forward magazines.

Probably lost to an illegally fired submerged tube electric torpedo before the German flag was hoisted. This evidenced by the closed gun sights in A turret. A and B turrets were knocked out by the torpedo hit while still being directed by the fire control director. This is impossible according to German testimony. The Kormoran cooks were probably correct, The torpedo was likely fired before the colours were shown and before the director was disabled.

The sharp contrast between the black-and-white photos of HMAS Sydney before her loss and the color photos taken of her wreck paint an eerie image...

You say this is a long vid, but I'd watch you describe pics of shipwrecks for hours if that was how long it takes.

If you want an in depth explanation about the Sydney's sinking, Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs did an amazing job covering it. Great video!

The show drain the oceans has a grate segment on this wreck with grate 3d renderings of the wreck.

The 15 cm SK L/40[Note 1] was a German naval gun that was used as secondary armament on pre-dreadnought battleships, protected cruisers and armored cruisers of the Imperial German Navy in World War I. It was also used as a coast-defence gun during World Wars I and II.

so many of us watching probably have the feeling of..'wonder what the last moments were like'...had to be a horror show, the turret with a bullseye did that for me..thanks again Sky..surely have been putting out a lot of content of late..

As a retired sailor it sickens me that the captain was so reckless and didn't even pay attention to his orders!

I was initially confusing this wreck with that of the HMAS Perth, the namesake of my hometown. Sadly there is actually something of this wreck to photograph, whereas the Perth has been extensively removed and desecrated by Chinese Salvors very Illegally as it is supposedly a protected war grave, very sad. I was hoping that maybe one of the turrets could be recovered and preserved and mounted somewhere around Perth as a monument to the heroic crewmen who went above and beyond the call of service in a futile last stand, maybe this could be done for the Sydney as the opportunity still exists. There is actually an annual Regatta held every year on the 3rd Sunday in Februaryt at the Nedlands yacht Club near Perth called the - wait for it - HMAS PERTH Regatta which commemorates the sinking of this ship and dignitaries from the Australian Navy , local Govt and extant survivors when this was possible also were invited, they bring a sizeable scale model of the ship to the club also. It's a crime that things like this go to pass unpunished and largely unpublicised..

My father went to England to crew the Sydney, fought the Italians in the med then returned to Australia was feted in Sydney with the ships company then sailed to Fremantle , he went ashore to sit/train for his petty officers rank leaving some of his kit aboard , Sydney sailed and the rest his history.

May she and the crew forever rest in peace

It's probable that the reason she got so close was they thought they'd found the raider supply ship. All the previous raiders has opened fire at long range and tried to escape, but Kormoran didn't, and just acted like a crew of stoned Dutchmen. The trigger point was probably Sydney starting to lower a boarding crew giving Kormoran no option. Sydney was ready to go, she fired first but a bit too high which also backs up the 'trying to capture' theory. There's literally no other reason to be that close at sea so if Burnett had decided it was a supply ship, he'd have had the main guns aimed high (take out boats/bridge etc to prevent scuttling) instead of the waterline. Because they were loaded and aimed high, the first salvo went just over the bridge and only took out a lifeboat. They didn't get a chance to fire a 2nd salvo though and that decided the whole engagement then and there.