The HMAS Sydney, named after the Australian city of Sydney, was one of three modified Leander-class light cruisers operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during the second world war.
The ship was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend-on-Tyne, England, on July 8th, 1933 for the Royal Navy as HMS Phaeton, named after the Greek mythological figure. However, in 1934, the Australian government was seeking a replacement for the light cruiser HMAS Brisbane, and negotiated to purchase Phaeton while she was still under construction. The cruiser was renamed after the capital city of New South Wales, and was launched on September 22nd, 1934 by Ethel Bruce, the wife of Stanley Bruce, former prime minister of Australia and the serving Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Sydney was commissioned into the RAN on September 24th, 1935, drawing her ship's company from Brisbane, which had been decommissioned earlier that day. Following the announcement that Australia was purchasing a British-built cruiser, there was criticism, primarily from the Opposition of the day, stating that such a warship should be built using Australian resources and labour. Several reasons were given in reply for acquiring British-built cruisers instead of Australian-made: the ship was already close to completion, the pending threat of war meant that there was not enough time to train Australians in the necessary shipbuilding skills, and that of the two cruisers built in Australian shipyards, one (HMAS Adelaide) had taken seven years to complete.
Sydney was one of three Modified Leander-class light cruisers acquired by the RAN during the late 1930s. Although the first ship of the class to join the RAN, Sydney was the second ship to be laid down, although the first to be completed, in what was sometimes referred to as the Perth class: Perth and Hobart operated with the Royal Navy for a short period before they were purchased by Australia in 1938. Like most British cruisers, the Leanders were designed for long-range patrols, scouting, and trade protection duties. Sydney's displacement ranged between 6,701 tons (light) and 8,940 tons (full load), with a standard displacement of 7,198 tons: improved fabrication and welding techniques made her 52 tons lighter than her sister ships. She had a length of 530 feet (160 m) between perpendiculars and 562 feet 4 inches (171.40 m) overall, a beam of 56 feet 8.5 inches (17.285 m), and a draught at standard displacement between 15 feet 3 inches (4.65 m) forward and 17 feet 3 inches (5.26 m) aft. The ship was propelled by four Admiralty 3-drum boilers, feeding Parsons single-reduction geared turbines, which supplied 72,000 shaft horsepower (54,000 kW) to the four propeller shafts. Unlike the first five Leanders, which had their machinery arranged on the "in-line" principle (consisting of six boilers in three compartments forward, and four turbines in two further compartments aft), Sydney was designed with two redundant machinery groups, a design practice adopted from the United States Navy.
Sydney and her sister ships were constructed from 1-inch (25 mm) hull plating, with a 3-inch (76 mm) armour belt over the machinery spaces (the lengthening of this belt from 84 to 141 feet (26 to 43 m) to adequately cover both spaces negated the weight reduction from their reorganisation), and 2-inch (51 mm) plates over the shell rooms and magazines. Sydney was the first Australian warship fitted with asdic; a Type 125 unit in a retractable pattern 3069 dome. The retractable sonar dome, located near the bow, was a weak point in the hull. One of the cruiser's early commanding officers, Royal Navy Captain J.W.A. Waller, believed that the ship's single director control tower was a weak point in the design. The director control tower was the highest compartment on the ship, from where personnel would determine the range and optimum firing angle for a gun salvo, then transmit this information to the gun turrets: the actual firing could be controlled from the tower or the turret. Although Waller suggested that a second tower be installed aft to provide redundancy, it was deferred indefinitely as subsequent commanding officers did not share his concerns, and combat experiences of other Leander-class cruisers showed that the system was more robust than expected. Sydney's main armament consisted of eight 6-inch (152 mm) breech-loading Mk XXIII guns mounted in four Mk XXI twin turrets: "A" and "B" forward, "X" and "Y" aft. All eight guns could be fired in salvo, elevated to an angle of 60° and depressed to −5°, and fire eight rounds a minute at targets up to 24,800 yards (22,700 m) away. Four 4-inch (100 mm) quick-firing Mk V guns, mounted on single, high-angle, Mk IV mountings, were fitted to a platform around the aft funnel. These were primarily used to target aircraft at heights up to 28,750 feet (8,760 m), but could also be used against surface targets, with a maximum range of 16,300 yards (14,900 m). Their replacement with eight Mk XIX high-angle/low-angle guns in four twin mounts, which was to occur in the late 1930s, was prevented by the outbreak of World War II. The guns could have been swapped out during a maintenance docking, but the demand for cruisers and Sydney's fortune in never sustaining major damage meant that the additional time in dock could not be justified. For close-range anti-aircraft defence, the 4-inch guns were supplemented by twelve 0.5-inch (13 mm) Vickers Mk III machine guns, which were arranged in three Mk II quadruple mountings, one on each side of the forward superstructure, and the third on top of the aft superstructure. Eight 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes were fitted in two QR Mk VII quadruple mounts to the deck below the platform for the 4-inch guns. Only eight Mark 9 torpedoes were carried.[31] Sydney was fitted with a single depth charge rail at the stern, which held five Mk VII depth charges. Four 3-pounder (47-mm, 1.9-in) quick-firing Hotchkiss guns were carried as saluting guns.
Sydney was fitted with a 53-foot (16 m), cordite-powered revolving catapult between the two funnels, which was used to launch a Supermarine Walrus (sometimes described as a Seagull V) amphibious aircraft. The Walrus was operated by Royal Australian Air Force personnel from No. 5 Squadron RAAF (which was redesignated No. 9 Squadron RAAF in 1939).
Sydney completed working up trials before sailing from Portsmouth on October 29th, 1935, Captain J.U.P. Fitzgerald RN in command. Almost immediately after departing, Sydney was instructed to join the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet at Gibraltar and assist the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in enforcing economic sanctions against Italy in response to the Abyssinian crisis. During January 1936, the cruiser underwent maintenance in Alexandria and visited medical facilities in Cyprus: cases of rubella and mumps had been circulating through the ship's company since late 1935. In March, Sydney was reassigned the 1st Cruiser Squadron, where she and the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia continued to enforce sanctions and participate in fleet exercises with Royal Navy units. Following the resolution of the Abyssinian crisis, Sydney departed for Australia on July 14th; reaching Fremantle in late July before visiting Melbourne on August 8th and arriving in her namesake city three days later. After reaching Australian waters, Sydney spent most of her time on fleet exercises and training cruises. In 1938, the cruiser was one of several RAN units prepared to respond to the Munich crisis, but all ships stood down after the potential war was averted. From April 17th to 19th, 1939, Sydney was one of eight warships involved in a joint forces trade protection exercise off the south-east Australian coast. In early August 1939, Sydney was in Darwin, prior to visiting the Netherlands East Indies. However, in response to the events which prompted the start of World War II, Sydney was ordered to sail to Fremantle on a war footing, where she arrived on August 22nd.
Following the declaration of war, Sydney was instructed to carry out patrol and escort duties in Australian waters. Captain John Collins took over command of Sydney on November 16th. On November 28th, Sydney joined the Australian heavy cruisers Australia and Canberra in an unsuccessful four-day search for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, which was known to be operating in the Indian Ocean. Sydney was relieved by HMAS Adelaide on December 13th, and sailed to Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney for a maintenance docking. The work was completed in late January 1940, and as a shakedown cruise Sydney joined Canberra and the British ships Leander and Ramillies in escorting the Suez-bound Anzac convoy US 1; Sydney broke off after the convoy left the east coast of Australia and returned to Sydney. Returning to Fremantle on February 6th, Sydney relieved Australia as the cruiser responsible for patrol and escort duties on the west coast. On 19 April, Sydney joined the escort of Anzac convoy US 2 off Albany, and remained with the convoy until it reached the Cocos Islands on April 28th, and was replaced by French cruiser Suffren. The Australian cruiser set course for Fremantle, but in May was assigned to the East Indies Station and rerouted to Colombo, where she arrived on May 8th. Arriving in Colombo on May 8th, Sydney was immediately tasked with meeting Anzac convoy US 3 off the Cocos Islands and escorting it across the Indian Ocean. The cruiser departed on May 12th, but while en route, she was instructed to make for the Mediterranean.
The Australian cruiser, accompanied by HM Ships Gloucester and Eagle, departed the next day, with the ships crossing the Suez Canal during the night of 25–26th of May, and arriving in Alexandria that afternoon at 15:30. Sydney was originally marked for operations in the Red Sea, but after observing the performance of an Australian five-destroyer flotilla assigned to the British Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Andrew Cunningham decided to "keep the Australian cruiser for himself" and attached Sydney to the Royal Navy's 7th Cruiser Squadron. Sydney was in Alexandria harbour on June 10th, 1940, and that evening learned of Italy's intention to declare war at midnight. By 01:00 on June 11th, all ships in harbour had departed to search for Italian warships in position to attack Alexandria, and secure the sea lines of communication in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean. The Australian cruiser was involved in the westbound sweep, and sailed as far as the Gulf of Taranto during the four-day operation. Apart from an unsuccessful depth charge attack on a suspected submarine during the afternoon of June 13th, Sydney did not encounter any enemy vessels. On June 21st, Sydney fired in anger for the first time, joining the British cruisers Orion and Neptune, the French battleship Lorraine, and a force of destroyers in shelling the Italian-controlled Libyan port of Bardia. Sydney focused her fire on a military camp throughout the twenty-two-minute bombardment. During this operation, the Australian ship's Walrus amphibian performed bombardment spotting for the squadron, but was fired on by three biplanes: although reported at the time as Italian Fiat CR.42 Falcos, the attackers were later determined to be British Gloster Gladiators. The next day, a retaliatory airstrike against the ships, by then having returned to Alexandria, failed to do damage.
That same day, Germany and Vichy France signed the Second Armistice at Compiègne: although French warships (which had until that point operated with the Allies) were ordered to return to France and disarm, the British government was unwilling to allow them to fall into Axis hands. Sydney and the British warships in Alexandria turned their guns on the French, but unlike the situation in Mers-el-Kébir, which deteriorated into a naval battle, British Admiral Cunningham and French Admiral René-Emile Godfroy peacefully negotiated to disarm the ships at Alexandria. Sydney and other elements of the 7th Squadron sailed from Alexandria on June 27th, escorting a Malta convoy. Late on June 28th, the ships engaged a force of three Italian destroyers carrying out a ressuply mission to Tobruk. Although two Italian vessels were able to continue their way, the third, Espero was disabled. At 20:00, Sydney (which had little opportunity to fire during the engagement) was detailed to recover any survivors and sink the destroyer while the rest of the force continued on to Malta. However, while 6,000 yards (5,500 m) from Espero, the Italian ship fired two shells, both of which fell in line with but short of the cruiser. Sydney opened fire, and after four salvos struck the destroyer with no shots fired in return, resumed the approach. Espero sank at 20:35, and Sydney remained in the area for almost two hours to collect survivors despite the risk of submarine attack, before she was ordered to withdraw to Alexandria. The Australian cruiser spent five days in Alexandria for resupply and maintenance, before departing for Crete with the British destroyer HMS Havock. They arrived at sunset on July 18th, and the next morning, the two ships were ordered to patrol the Gulf of Athens for Axis warships and shipping, while providing support for a four-ship destroyer force (HM Ships Hyperion, Ilex, Hero, and Hasty) conducting an anti-submarine sweep north of Crete.
The only damage to Sydney during what came to be known as the Battle of Cape Spada was caused by a shell which knocked a hole in the forward funnel, and wounded a sailor through splinter damage. For his actions, Collins was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, while other officers and sailors from Sydney received two Distinguished Service Orders, two Distinguished Service Crosses, five Distinguished Service Medals, and twelve Mentions in Despatches between them. Sydney herself was awarded the battle honour "Spada 1940". After refuelling and rearming, Sydney and HMS Neptune departed Alexandria on July 27th, to join the covering force for a southbound convoy from the Aegean. The ships were attacked five times that afternoon by aircraft, but Sydney escaped with only minor damage and shrapnel wounds. Back in Alexandria, Sydney underwent a refit, during which a 3-foot (0.91 m) high, 0.5-inch (13 mm) thick wall of armour plating was constructed around the 4-inch gun platform, while the ship's company repainted the ship from standard grey to a naval camouflage pattern. On the return voyage, Sydney and several other vessels were tasked with attacking Italian facilities. The entire Mediterranean fleet sailed from Alexandria on October 8th to provide cover for several Malta Convoys, and attempt to draw the Italian fleet into battle. The convoys reached their destination safely, and the operation was uneventful for Sydney; the only contact with Italian forces was an engagement during the early morning of October 12th, between the British cruiser Ajax and seven Italian torpedo boats and destroyers, of which Ajax sank three and damaged a fourth. No major incidents occurred until the 28th, when the Italians invaded Greece: the four ships were recalled to Alexandria, where they arrived that evening. On November 5th, Sydney and HMS Ajax departed from Port Said with military equipment to be used to establish an Allied advanced base at Souda Bay, Crete. After delivering the equipment, which included almost 1,000 soldiers, the equipment for a Bofors battery, cases of food, and several trucks, the cruisers rejoined the main fleet. From November 15th to 20th, Sydney and three other cruisers transported 4,000 Allied soldiers and their equipment from Alexandria to the Piraeus as reinforcements for the Greek military. Sydney started December in the Aegean, where she escorted convoys and shelled the port of Valona, then proceeded to Malta for a refit and repairs to her rudder, which lasted until the end of the year.
On the afternoon of November 19th, 1941, Sydney was off the coast of Western Australia, near Carnarvon, and heading south towards Fremantle. Around 15:55, the cruiser spotted a merchant ship on a northbound course, which quickly turned away from the coast at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). As she closed the gap, Sydney began to signal the unidentified merchantman, first by signal light, then after no reply was forthcoming and the distance between the two ships had decreased, by a combination of light and signal flag. The cruiser sent a request that the merchant ship make her signal letters clear, which the signals officer did by lengthening the halyard and swinging the flags clear. The callsign was that of the Dutch ship Straat Malakka, but she was not on Sydney's list of ships meant to be in the area. Further flag signals were exchanged between the ships, with Sydney asking the Dutch ship's destination and cargo. At 17:00, a distress signal was transmitted by Straat Malakka, indicating that she was being pursued by a merchant raider. Following this, Sydney pulled alongside the merchant ship from astern; pacing the merchantman on a parallel course, approximately 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) away. Sydney's main guns and port torpedo launcher were trained on the ship, while she sent the interior portion of Straat Malakka's secret callsign. Fifteen minutes later, at around 17:30, the merchantman had not replied, and Sydney sent a signal ordering her to show the secret callsign. Straat Malakka had not replied because she was the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran in disguise, and when asked to reveal a callsign the Germans did not know, Kormoran responded by decamouflaging and opening fire. Prompted by the raider's unveiling, Sydney also fired (accounts are divided as to which ship fired first), but while her first salvo either missed or passed through Kormoran's upper superstructure with minimal damage, four of the raider's six 15-centimetre (5.9 in) guns (the other two guns were on the port side and could not fire to starboard) were able to destroy the cruiser's bridge and gun director tower, damage the forward turrets, and set the aircraft on fire. Sydney did not fire again until after the raider's sixth salvo: "Y" turret fired without effect, but "X" turret was able to put multiple shells into Kormoran, damaging machinery spaces and one of the raider's guns, while igniting an oil tank. During this, Kormoran maintained heavy fire, and around the time of the eighth or ninth German salvo, a torpedo launched at the start of the engagement hit Sydney just forward of "A" turret and near the ASDIC compartment (the weakest point on the ship's hull), ripping a hole in the side and causing the bow of the cruiser to angle down. By 17:35, Sydney was heading south and losing speed, wreathed in smoke from multiple fires. Her main armament was disabled (the two aft turrets had jammed on a port facing and could not be swung around), and her secondary guns were out of effective range. The cruiser continued to be hit by shells from Kormoran's aft guns as the distance between the ships increased.
The Australian cruiser continued on a south-south-east heading at low speed; observers aboard Kormoran doubted that Sydney was under control. Although disappearing over the horizon shortly later, the glow from the damaged, burning warship was consistently seen by the Germans until about 22:00, and sporadically until midnight. At some point during the night, Sydney lost buoyancy and sank: the bow was torn off as she submerged and descended almost vertically, while the rest of the hull glided 500 metres (1,600 ft) forward as she sank, hitting the bottom upright and stern first. Sydney's shells had crippled Kormoran; the German sailors abandoned ship after it was determined that below-deck fires could not be controlled before they reached the gun magazines or the mines in the cargo hold.Sydney's failure to reach Fremantle on November 20th was not initially cause for concern, as several factors might have delayed the cruiser, none of which were sufficient reason to break the order to maintain wireless silence. However, with no sign of the cruiser by November 23rd. shore-based wireless stations began transmitting orders for Sydney to break silence and report in. A raft of German survivors was recovered by a British tanker on November 24th, at which point a large-scale air and sea search began. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin officially announced the loss of the cruiser during the afternoon of November 30th. Sydney's destruction was a major blow to Australian morale and military capability: her ship's company made up 35 percent of the RAN's wartime casualties.
The battle between Sydney and Kormoran is seen as controversial: the disbelief that a modified merchant ship could so successfully defeat a cruiser combined with the lack of Australian survivors led some to believe that the German account was false. Rumours that the battle was not what it seemed had been around since Sydney failed to reach Fremantle on schedule in 1941, but several historians (including Tom Frame and Wesley Olson) credit Michael Montgomery and his 1980 book Who Sank The Sydney? with igniting the controversy. These claims have been proven false by historians and researchers; the 1998 inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade concluded that the German accounts were a "feasible" interpretation of the battle, but there was no reliable evidence to support any of the alternative claims. Sydney was located in March 2008 just after 11:00, only hours after Kormoran's discovery was made public.Sydney was granted the battle honour "Kormoran 1941" in recognition of the damage done to Kormoran. This was one of only three honours awarded during the 20th century for the sinking of a single ship, and the second to a ship named Sydney (the other had been awarded to the previous Sydney for her defeat of the German light cruiser SMS Emden at the Battle of Cocos).
