WW2 Wrecks Found.

[Flashermac]

The German survivors said HMAS Sydney was "down by the bow". Those who found the wreck say it looks like part of the bow is missing. Maybe a torpedo did that.

 

With chaos following the loss of the bridge and most senior officers, possibly the bow flooded quickly and the ship did a dive before the Sydney survivors even realised she was about to go under.

 

 

[drogon]

Still, some of the warships fastest capsizings

(world war I French pre-dreadnought Bouvet if I am right went down in 55 seconds......)

 

left survivors and of coursep lenty of wreckages.

(remember we are talking about a modern light cruiser which is not just a nut floating on the water so to say)

 

We will almost certainly know why Sidney sunk, it possible that the torpedo impact later made the ship break in two (the bow) but it might also be possible that like for so many ships hitting the bottom that the bow separated from the main hull only when it reached the bottom....

The investigation will tell us the story about how it sunk.

 

Main question which will remain unanswered is how it was sunk and why........

Tend to agree with Flashermac that the captain probably made a mistake (guns not trained on the raider and crew not fully on alert but there are conflicting accounts from the German sailors about this issue)

Must be said that the Sidney was warned (and part of its mission) that there were possibilities of meeting German ships/submarines.

During WW1 and 2 there were numerous German raiders/warships/submarines (ww2) raiding the allies convoys/shipment in the Indian ocean area.

 

I liked the "conspiracy theory" that involves a Japanese attack (not yet at war) leaving no survivors......-> Japanese submarine sinking sidney (easy as Japanese submarine doctrine taught them to attack warships first) and subsequently murdering the crew .......

but sadly it is like believing the martians are guilty for attacking Kennedy PT 109

 

Flashermac: what about opening some threads from time to time to talk about unknown wars or people?

 

 

 

[Flashermac]

<< Flashermac: what about opening some threads from time to time to talk about unknown wars or people? >>

 

Okay. And to make it harder, I won't say which unknown war or person I'm talking about.

 

 

 

[Flashermac]

A very nice site:

 

http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/index.html

 

:thumbup:

 

 

 

[Lusty]

There are hundreds of wrecks in the English channel from WW2 plus many others from earlier campaigns.

Also shot down aircraft from both sides turn up quite often around the SE of England where I live as I'm in close proximity to four WW2 fighter bases,eg Detling,West Malling,Manston and Biggin hill.

I recall a conversation I had with an old boy where I used to work.

When they were kids in 1940 they found a pilots boot on top of his Dads shed with the guys foot still in it

What about you Phil.You must have heard a few stories about Duxford?

[Flashermac]

Sort of an odd tribute:

 

Morse key remembrance for HMAS Sydney

 

 

An old morse code key will be dropped into the Indian Ocean next month as part of a service remembering the sinking of HMAS Sydney in 1941 with the loss of hundreds of lives.

 

The morse code key was used by the father of South Australian man Bob Honor in his trade as a telegraphist.

 

The crew of modern-day HMAS Sirius collected the key while in Adelaide over Easter.

 

The ship is now docking in Perth, before sailing on to Singapore.

 

It will cross the site where the Sydney rests on the sea bed.

 

Mr Honor is pleased that the morse code key will be dropped into the ocean as part of the service on April 28 remembering his late father and the others who died when the Australian ship was sunk by German fire.

 

"It was something that was directly associated to him, it wasn't a scarf, it wasn't a flat-topped naval hat, it wasn't anything of that nature - this was his, he learnt his morse code on it," Mr Honor said.

 

Not incompetent

 

Captain Joseph Burnett was in command when the Sydney was lost during its wartime battle with the German raider Kormoran.

 

His son Patrick - also a navy commander - does not accept the continuing accusations that his father's incompetence led to the sinking and loss of more than 600 lives.

 

"I think that it was the cause of a great deal of unhappiness to my mother and also my brother and my sister and I," he said.

 

"The fact that he was considered to have acted recklessly by bringing the ship too close in to the Kormoran is, you know, on the record.

 

"We give full credence to the German version but, of course, we never hear the other side of the story and my father was certainly not incompetent.

 

"He was a highly competent and well-regarded officer and I have no doubt myself he would have had what he considered a good reason for those actions."

 

Mr Honor agrees.

 

"Why would they be lowering a boarding party unless Kormoran had signalled it was in danger of sinking, it had a medical problem on board or it was on fire or it was in danger of sinking - or it may have surrendered?" he said.

 

"These are the stories we are not going to find out."

 

No excuse

 

Another SA man Ken Wundenberg is pleased that the wreck of HMAS Sydney has finally been located.

 

He was an anti-aircraft gunner aboard the Sydney and was there for the ship's most famous exploit - sinking a much faster and larger Italian warship.

 

Mr Wundenberg was transferred off HMAS Sydney in early 1941 and remembers he was scrubbing decks on another ship when he heard the Sydney had gone down.

 

He says there is no excuse for it getting so close to the Kormoran.

 

"There's no mystery at all, only that the captain of the Sydney made an awful blunder and I don't think any other captain would have made it."

 

While some issues will never been explained, relatives and former ship mates are pleased that at least one thing has been answered.

 

"At least we know where it is now, it's not 'somewhere' in the bottom of an ocean - it's in a defined area and I think they had to find it and I am extremely happy they have," Mr Honor said.

 

 

Link

 

p.s. First time I've heard anything about lowering a boarding party ...

 

 

 

[drogon]

Boarding party?

First time I hear of it too.

 

 

[sayjann]

Lusty.

even though Portsmouth was a big Naval base during WW2 we also had an airport which was home to a squadron of Spitfires.

a Spitfire went down next to a pub near me and it wasn't discovered until the late 90's.

the Pilot was buried with full honours and a monument erected at the crash site.

 

also we have Dead Man's Wood.

a wooded area where a German bomber crashed while bombing Pompey.

inside the wood are 3 gravestones denoting where bodies were found.

i remember seeing them when i was a kid.

[Flashermac]

First photos released of HMAS Sydney wreck

 

http://au.news.yahoo.com/080403/21/16cyz.html

 

 

[Flashermac]

Link