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Mystery of Australian War Disaster Solved

CNN
posted: 6 HOURS 7 MINUTES AGO
comments: 91
filed under: World News
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(Aug. 12) -- The Australian cruiser met the disguised German vessel in the waters off western Australia two years after the two became enemies in World War II.
The Australian ship approached, trying to determine whether the vessel was friendly. It wasn't.
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A Haunting Episode in History
The wreckage of the HMAS Sydney, found off Western Australia in March 2008, has helped settle a question that has haunted Australia for decades: How did the cruiser go down in 1941, and why did all 645 on board die? A new report said the Sydney's captain got too close to the German raider that went down with it in a fierce battle.
The Finding Sydney Foundation / AP
The Finding Sydney Foundation / AP
What resulted was Australia's worst naval disaster: the sinking of the Australian ship and the loss of its entire crew of 645. The wreckage wasn't found until last year, leading to decades of conspiracy theories about what actually happened.
On Wednesday a long-awaited report on the sinking of the HMAS Sydney ended the mystery that began when it met its fate on Nov. 19, 1941.
Made to look like a cargo ship, the German vessel was in fact a military raider that fired on the Australians when they got close. The Sydney fired back and, in the end, both ships went down.
More than 300 of the sailors on board the German vessel, the HSK Kormoran, survived. But because they were the only witnesses to the disaster, some doubted their accounts, leading to various theories about the real fate of the Sydney.
After the wrecks of both ships were located in March 2008, an Australian commission began an inquiry to formally close the book on the loss of the Sydney.
The results confirm the accounts provided by the German sailors.
They said the Sydney closed in on the Kormoran until it was parallel with the German ship, little more than 1,000 yards away.
"Sydney obviously thought the ship was friendly and was taken by surprise when, after she asked what she believed to be (a friendly ship) to give her secret call sign, the response was a number of salvos that destroyed Sydney's bridge and amidships superstructure and a torpedo strike that crippled the ship and her forward guns," the report said.
The Sydney had given up its tactical advantage of speed and armaments by getting so close to an unknown vessel, the report said.
While that may have been an error of judgment by the Australian captain, Joseph Burnett, the report accepted that other factors -- which may never be known -- influenced his decision.
"It can never be known what matters were, in fact, operating in Capt. Burnett's mind when he decided to take the Sydney to the position described. Nor can it be known what advice, if any, he sought from or was given by other officers on the bridge," the report says.
"What is known, however, is that, in trying to identify the sighted ship, Capt. Burnett was performing his duty as a commanding officer."
The German ship inflicted "enormous damage" on the Sydney during a battle that is believed to have lasted about 35 minutes and left 70 percent of the Sydney's crew dead or incapacitated, said Cmdr. Jack Rush, the lawyer who presented the evidence gathered by investigators to a commission of inquiry led by a retired judge.
It is likely that Burnett, the navigator, and all of the Sydney's senior officers were taken out on the first salvo, Rush said.
A torpedo tore into the Sydney's bow, flooding the forward end of the ship, while the Kormoran fired an estimated 87 rounds from its 15-cm (5.9-inch) guns into the Australian cruiser. The Sydney limped away and sank sometime between 2 hours to 4 1/2 hours later, Rush said.
During the battle, however, the Kormoran itself was hit by an Australian shell that damaged its engines and set the vessel ablaze. With hundreds of mines aboard, its captain ordered the crew to abandon ship, fearing the fire would set those off. Charges were set and the ship was scuttled.
About 80 of the Kormoran's crew of nearly 400 were lost.
A search began only five days after the battle, when the Sydney failed to return to port in Fremantle. And an 11-day delay by Australia's government in announcing the ship's loss fueled what a 1999 parliamentary report called "a proliferation of theories" about the fate of the crew -- that the ship was actually sunk by a Japanese submarine, that survivors were machine-gunned in the water or that the government hid bodies after they washed up on the beach.
The commission thoroughly investigated all the theories and speculations surrounding the disaster and found no substance in any of them, said Terence Cole, president of the commission.
Researchers found the Sydney's wreckage in the Indian Ocean, about 207 km (128 miles) off Australia's west coast.
The commission was appointed in May 2008 and began its inquiry in January.
"For a long time our nation has struggled to understand how our greatest maritime disaster occurred. The unanswered questions have haunted the families of those brave sailors and airman that never came home," Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the chief of the Australian Defence Force, said in a written statement.
© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2009-08-13 12:11:30
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Manujohnsm

08:18 PMAug 14 2009

WASN'T MR. CHENEY THE ARCHITECT OF THE INVASION OF IRAQ.THERE WAS NO WAR, THERE WAS A SYMPLE !! INVASION.YOU GUYS REMEMBER.

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Ruths gardens

08:15 PMAug 14 2009

The Sydney was a light cruiser.Their main role is mainly air defense of a fleet but can engage lighter ships.Both of these ships were similiar.The Sydney had a little more firepower with a few extra 152mm cannons.Both ships had the same weakness of no armor protection for weaponry.They both shared torpedoes to.It all boiled down to who got the first shots off.With the Sydneys tower being destroyed,exposed the Sydneys second weakness.No redundant power source for weaponry.These weaknesses have been corrected on all ships made since then.With only 30% of the crew still alive to man weapons and fight fires and maneuver the ship meant chaos.The Kormorans 5.9 inch cannons have a pretty fast rate of fire.As the Sydneys 6 inch.Sydneys 152 mm cannons are the same size rounds used by our M1 Abrams battle tanks.At 1 thousand yards,there was a lot of explosives flying.With no power the Sydney struggled to get their rounds off.It was a classic do or die,fight to the death.To our australian comrade...

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FavorProgress

08:07 PMAug 14 2009

Nazism is often considered by scholars to be a form of fascism. The Nazis formed most of their alliances on the RIGHT WING. The Nazis were one of several historical groups that used the term National Socialism to describe themselves, and in the 1920s they became the largest such group. Among the key elements of Nazism were anti-parliamentarism, Pan-Germanism, racism, collectivism, eugenics, anti-Semitism, anti-communism, totalitarianism and opposition to economic liberalism and political liberalism. Reading world history books may be very informative.

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Fatcatjrg

08:07 PMAug 14 2009

Ted Kennedy was lone survivor from the (Sunken Sedan) SS Oldsmobile, a four-door GM Class battle wagon. His First Mate, Mary Jo Kopechne wasn't quite so lucky. I wonder if Ted ever awakens abruptly to the sound of her screams/gurgling in the middle of the night. Naaaaaa. That would indicate the presence of a conscience.

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(2)

RHA39

08:05 PMAug 14 2009

Remember WWII was the only war in the history of the USA where we had to defend ourselves. All the other wars are what you would call..MONEY WARS.We create an enemy of pick one side in a nations civil war and fight for one side.Are troops who go and fight in a another nations civil war hero's?Why do we say they are defending the USA.When the USA invaded Hawaii and Samoa were they defending the USA?The same for the Spanish American War, WW I, Desert Strom and the latest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the 1980's the Taliban were the good guys, now they are the bad guys.Will it change back in 15 plus years?I remember in the 1950's nobody would buy anything made in Germany or Japan. Then in late 1970's nobody would buy anything made in Vietnam. And China? Ohoo they use to be the bad guys. Wars. Ho hum.. thanks God all of our troops are volunteers these days. I know some people who still hate the DamnYankee's They burned our homes and crops. Stole the pigs and cows.Raped ...

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ConsultingPBH

08:05 PMAug 14 2009

The last German election for president was 1932. Hindiberg won and then died and Hitler abolished the office of President and appointed himself Fuhrer and Chancellor. All Presidents since 1949 have been appointed by a Federal Convention. So, the last elected president of Germany was Hindenberg in 1932. But what has this have to do with this story.

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IDtheftNARC

08:02 PMAug 14 2009

ok so..... it takes about 40 years for denial to lift in Australia.... The German sailors told the Aussies the truth a long time ago and they just couldn't accept that their navy was full of dumbasses.... doesn't surprise me... Australians were a penial colony and now they don't allow tourists with DUI felonies.... They don't know who they are... This story would be the equivilant of us not believing a iceberg could sink the titanic and us refusing to believe it when the survivors all told us what happened...

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georgechevy2

08:00 PMAug 14 2009

Funny how it usually turns out that the simplest explanation is the true one, not that that gives the familys any comfort. War is a hellish endeavour and brings sorrow to everyone but the profitiers and the undertakers.......the rest of us always lose no matter who wins. God rest you in peace in Gods house for it wasnt your choice but the powers that be. And all this time later with all of our technology how we havent learned a thing.

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Billat28

07:57 PMAug 13 2009

What branch of the military did Dick Cheney serve in ? Oh yeah he got five deferments so he did'nt serve. How many American troops died because of Bush & Cheney lies.

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MHUBBA5956

07:57 PMAug 13 2009

very brave and courageous bunch ..ALL .. may the God of our salvation have rested their preciuos souls...

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A long-awaited report on the sinking of the Sydney II ended the mystery that began when it met its fate on Nov. 19, 1941.