Warship sunk by captain's 'inexplicable' errors

CANBERRA - The ghosts of HMAS Sydney and its 645 crew can finally be laid to rest, more than 60 years after they vanished without trace or explanation in Australia's worst naval disaster.

Setting aside a mass of conspiracy theories and claims of official cover-ups, the commission of inquiry into the November 1941 sinking of the cruiser has concluded that the ship sank because its captain inexplicably steered to within point-blank range of a heavily armed German raider.

The HSK Kormoran opened fire, crushing the Sydney under a hail of shells and torpedoes, killing most of its crew within minutes and trapping the rest in a mangled, sinking, wreck filled with toxic fumes and smoke.

"For a long time our nation has struggled to understand how our greatest maritime disaster occurred," Defence Force chief Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston said at the release of the inquiry's report yesterday.

"The unanswered questions have haunted the families of those brave sailors and airmen that never came home."

The inquiry, led by former New South Wales Supreme Court judge Terence Cole, began after the wrecks of the Sydney and Kormoran were found last year about 100km off the coast of Western Australia by British shipwreck hunter David Mearns.

Until their discovery no trace, apart from a liferaft, had been found of the Sydney since she and the Kormoran sank each other.

A body was also recovered from Christmas Island in 1941, but was not confirmed as an unknown member of the Sydney's crew until "additional compelling evidence" was presented to the commission. DNA testing is being used in a bid to identify the remains.

The discovery of the wrecks enabled experts to examine damage to the warships and, with officials records and evidence taken from survivors of the Kormoran, to determine what happened to the Sydney.

The cruiser, equipped with four twin-mounted six-inch (152mm) guns, torpedoes and a catapult-launched seaplane, was returning to Fremantle when she intercepted the Kormoran, armed with disguised 5.9-inch (150mm) guns and torpedoes.

The Sydney received twice-daily updates of the positions of friendly merchant vessels - none was within 500km - and Cole said its commander, Captain Joseph Burnett, should have been aware of potential danger.

"The knowledge that the sighted vessel was not on the plot of friendly merchant vessels, coupled with his knowledge of the possible presence of a raider, makes his decision to treat the sighted ship as appearing innocent almost inexplicable," Cole's report says.

The Kormoran identified itself as the Dutch merchantman Straat Malakka.

Instead of standing off to maintain his superior speed and gunnery, Burnett took the Sydney to within 1000m, without calling the crew to action stations.

The Kormoran opened a devastating barrage that pounded the Australian cruiser with more than 80 high-explosive rounds and torpedoes that opened the port bow.

A reconstruction given in evidence said the attack killed as many as 70 per cent of the Sydney's crew. Many of the crew were wounded or died when blocked escape routes trapped them inside the hull with flames, smoke and toxic fumes. Any who might have escaped had no chance of survival in open sea without liferafts.

The Sydney fatally damaged the Kormoran, which was laterscuttled.

Cole's report said a thorough investigation had shown conspiracy theories to be untrue and that Burnett had made errors of judgment.

www.defence.gov.au