Battle between HMAS Sydney and German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran The battle between HMAS " Sydney " and German auxiliary cruiser " Kormoran " was a single ship action between the Australian light cruiser , with Captain Joseph Burnett commanding , and the German auxiliary cruiser , under " Fregattenkapitän " ( Commander ) Theodor Detmers . The half - hour long engagement occurred on 19 November 1941 , during World War II , after the two ships encountered each other approximately off Dirk Hartog Island , Western Australia ; it resulted in the ships ' mutual destruction and sinking . From 24 November , after " Sydney " failed to return to port , air and sea searches were conducted . Boats and rafts carrying survivors from " Kormoran " were recovered at sea , while others made landfall north of Carnarvon : 318 of the 399 personnel on " Kormoran " survived . While debris from " Sydney " was found , there were no survivors from its 645 - strong crew ; it was the largest loss of life in the history of the Royal Australian Navy ( RAN ) , and the largest Allied warship lost with all hands during World War II . Australian authorities learned of " Sydney " s fate from the surviving crew members of " Kormoran " , who were held in prisoner of war camps until the end of the war . The exact location of the two wrecks remained unverified until 2008 . The loss of " Sydney " with all hands , in home waters , was a major blow to wartime morale in Australia . Controversy has often surrounded the battle , especially in the years before the two wrecks were located in 2008 . How and why a purpose - built warship like " Sydney " was defeated by a modified merchant vessel like " Kormoran " was the subject of speculation , with numerous books on the subject , as well as two official reports by government inquiries ( published in 1999 and 2009 respectively ) . According to German accounts – which were assessed as truthful and generally accurate by Australian interrogators during the war , as well as most subsequent commentators – " Sydney " approached so close to " Kormoran " that the Australian cruiser lost two key technical advantages : its heavier armour and the superior range of its guns . Nevertheless , numerous post - war publications have alleged that : " Sydney " s loss had been the subject of a cover - up ; the Germans had not followed the laws of war ; Australian survivors were killed following the battle and / or ; the Empire of Japan had been secretly involved in the action ( before it was officially at war ) . No evidence has been found to support any of these theories . Background . HMAS " Sydney " . was one of three " Modified " Leander " " or " " Perth " " class light cruisers of the RAN . Built for the Royal Navy , the cruiser was purchased by the Australian government to replace , and was commissioned into the RAN in September 1935 . The cruiser was long , and displaced . " Sydney " carried eight 6 in ( 150 mm ) guns in four twin turrets ( " A " and " B " forward , " X " and " Y " aft ) as primary armament . These were supplemented by four 4 in ( 100 mm ) anti - aircraft gun s , nine . 303 in ( 7 . 7 mm ) machine gun s , and eight torpedo tube s in two quadruple mountings . The cruiser also carried a single Supermarine Walrus amphibious aircraft . Initially assigned to escort and patrol duties in Australian waters , " Sydney " was sent to the Mediterranean in mid - 1940 . " Sydney " operated against Italian naval forces for eight months , during which she participated in multiple battles , sank two Italian warships and several merchantmen , and supported convoy operations and shore bombardments . The cruiser was recalled to Australia in early January 1941 : the need to rest the ship and her crew , plans to spread combat experience across the RAN fleet , and a desire to reinforce the nation following German raider activity in nearby waters were all factors . " Sydney " was assigned to Fremantle , Western Australia , and resumed escort and patrol duties . Command was handed over from Captain John Collins to Captain Joseph Burnett in May 1941 . On 11 November , " Sydney " departed Fremantle for Singapore with the transport . The vessels sailed to Sunda Strait , where the troopship was handed over on 17 November to . " Sydney " then turned for home , and was scheduled to arrive in Fremantle late on 20 November . At the time of the battle , she had a ship ' s company of 645 : 41 officers , 594 sailors , six Royal Australian Air Force personnel , and four civilian canteen staff . " Kormoran " . During the 1930s , discrepancies between the conventional warship strength of the " Kriegsmarine " ( German Navy ) and other nations caused by the Treaty of Versailles led the German military to recognise that auxiliary cruiser s engaged in commerce raiding would be of use during future wars , and that suitable vessels should be identified . The merchant ship " Steiermark " was one such vessel ; she was taken up by the " Kriegsmarine " at the start of World War II . Renamed , she was the largest and newest of nine raiders , referred to as " Hilfskreuzer " ( auxiliary cruisers ) or " Handelsstörkreuzer " ( trade disruption cruisers ) . " Kormoran " was commissioned in October 1940 : after modification , she was long , and displaced . The raider was fitted with six single guns ( two each in the forecastle and quarterdeck , with the fifth and sixth on the centreline ) as main armament , supplemented by two anti - tank guns , five anti - aircraft autocannon s , and six torpedo tubes ( a twin above - water mount on each side , and two single underwater tubes ) . The guns were concealed behind false hull plates and cargo hatch walls , which would swing clear when the order to decamouflage was given , while the secondary weapons sat on hydraulic lifts hidden within the superstructure . The ship could be disguised as one of several Allied or neutral vessels . " Kormoran " departed German waters during December 1940 , under the command of " Fregattenkapitän " ( Commander ) Theodor Detmers . After operating in the Atlantic , during which time she sank seven merchant ships and captured an eighth , the raider sailed to the Indian Ocean in late April 1941 . Only three merchantmen were intercepted during the next six months , and " Kormoran " was diverted several times to refuel German support ships . As the raider was carrying several hundred sea mines and was expected to deploy some of these before returning home in early 1942 , Detmers planned to mine shipping routes near Cape Leeuwin and Fremantle , but postponed this after detecting wireless signals from a warship ( Australian heavy cruiser ) in the area . Instead , he decided to sail north and investigate Shark Bay . At the time of the battle , the raider was disguised as the Dutch merchantman " Straat Malakka " , and carried 399 personnel : 36 officers , 359 sailors , and 4 Chinese sailors hired from the crew of a captured merchantman to run the ship ' s laundry . Battle . Identification . On 19 November , shortly before 16 : 00 , " Kormoran " was south - west of Carnarvon , Western Australia . The raider was sailing northwards ( heading 025° ) at . At 15 : 55 , what was initially thought to be a tall ship sail was sighted off the port bow , although it was quickly determined to be the mast of a warship ( HMAS " Sydney " ) . Detmers ordered " Kormoran " to alter course into the sun ( heading 260° ) at maximum achievable speed ( which quickly dropped from because of problems in one of her diesel engines ) , while setting the ship to action stations . " Sydney " spotted the German ship around the same time , and altered from her southward heading to intercept at . As she closed the gap , the Australian cruiser requested that " Kormoran " identify herself . Communications were initially attempted with a signal lamp to repeatedly send " NNJ " ( " You should make your signal letters " ) , but those aboard the raider did not understand the uncommonly used signal and did not respond . " Sydney " continued to signal for 30 minutes , after which those aboard the cruiser used flags to send the more common " VH " signal ( " You should hoist your signal letters " ) , while the signal lamp was used to transmit the message in plain language . After another delay , " Kormoran " raised " PKQI " — the call - sign for the Dutch merchant ship " Straat Malakka " — on the triatic stay and hoisted a Dutch merchant ensign . As " Sydney " was approaching from just starboard of " Kormoran " s stern and away , the call - sign was obscured by the raider ' s funnel : German accounts vary as to if this was to further the illusion of a civilian ship , a ruse to lure " Sydney " closer , or an error on the signaller ' s part . " Sydney " signalled " Make your signal letters clear " , which the signals officer aboard " Kormoran " did by lengthening the halyard and swinging it around to starboard . By 16 : 35 , with " Sydney " away , the malfunctioning engine aboard " Kormoran " was repaired , but Detmers chose to keep it in reserve . " Sydney " asked " Kormoran " " Where bound ? " , to which the raider responded " Batavia " . " Sydney " may have then made signals asking for the raider ' s port of origin and cargo ; the Germans who claimed this said their replies were " Fremantle " and " Piece - goods " respectively . At around 17 : 00 , Detmers instructed his wireless operators to send a false distress signal indicating that " Straat Malakka " was being approached by a suspicious ship . The message , transmitted at 17 : 03 and repeated at 17 : 05 , contained the distress call for a merchantman under attack from a raider instead of a warship ( QQQQ , as opposed to RRRR ) , the latitude and longitude of the transmitting ship , the time per Greenwich Mean Time ( normal practice was to transmit local time ; using GMT was to let the " Kriegsmarine " know that the ship was actually a raider about to be lost ) , and the ship ' s name . This signal was partially received by the tugboat " Uco " ( " QQQQ [ unintelligible ] 1000 GMT " ) and a shore station at Geraldton , Western Australia ( " [ unintelligible ] 7C 11115E 1000 GMT " ) . The Geraldton station broadcast a message to all ships asking if there was anything to report ( which was interpreted by the Germans as acknowledgement of their signal ) , but after no response was forthcoming , ignored it until a report on the signal was forwarded to the Naval Board on 27 November . During the exchanges and distress signal , " Sydney " positioned herself just off the raider ' s starboard beam on a parallel course , approximately from " Kormoran " . The cruiser may or may not have been at action stations : the main guns and port torpedo launcher were trained on " Kormoran " and her Walrus scout plane had been readied for launch , prompting Detmers to inform his crew to prepare to engage " Sydney " , but her guns were unmanned , and personnel were standing on the upper deck . During her manoeuvre , " Sydney " appeared to signal " IK " ( the short - form for " You should prepare for a cyclone , hurricane , or typhoon " ) , which " Kormoran " did not respond to , as from their perspective , such a signal did not make sense . The Germans were unaware that the letters were the interior of " Straat Malakka " s secret callsign , " IIKP " : to verify her identity , the ship had to signal back the outer letters . The aircraft was shut down by 17 : 25 , and the catapult swung into the storage position ; the two ships were too close for a safe launch . At around 17 : 30 , after the raider had failed to reply for fifteen minutes , " Sydney " signalled by light " Show your secret sign " ; Detmers knew that " Kormoran " was in trouble . Action . In response to the cruiser ' s signal , Detmers ordered that " Kormoran " s disguise be dropped , for the Dutch flag to be replaced by the " Kriegsmarine " ensign , and for the guns and torpedoes to open fire . Accounts disagree on which ship fired first , but agree that both opened fire almost simultaneously . The first shots from " Sydney " , a full , eight - shell salvo from the main guns , were reported in most accounts to have passed over " Kormoran " , although some of the Germans said that shells punched through the funnel and the wireless office at bridge level without exploding , and hit the water on the far side of the raider . One analysis claims that this was either a warning shot just over the superstructure , or an attempt to destroy the raider ' s bridge as a prelude to capture . With " Kormoran " s opening salvo ( which consisted of two shells instead of four because the raider ' s two centreline guns were slower to decamouflage ) , the gunnery officer attempted to bracket the cruiser ' s bridge but failed to hit it , with the shells striking other parts of the ship or missing completely . Two torpedoes from " Kormoran " s starboard above - water tubes were launched simultaneously with the raider ' s attack , and the close proximity of the target allowed the use of the anti - aircraft and close defence guns to rake " Sydney " s flank , thus preventing the use of the cruiser ' s secondary weapons . Subsequent salvoes from the raider were more accurate . The second , three - shell salvo destroyed " Sydney " s bridge and damaged her upper superstructure , including the gun direction control tower , wireless offices , and foremast . The fourth gun was ready by this time , and all four began to fire : the third and fourth salvoes knocked the cruiser ' s " A " and " B " turrets out of action before they could fire a second time , and the fifth hit " Sydney " on the waterline in proximity to the forward engine room , although one shell hit high and destroyed the Walrus . " Kormoran " s guns were aimed at " Sydney " s waterline and upper deck during the next three salvoes . After the sixth German salvo , " Sydney " resumed fire with her aft turrets : " Y " turret fired less than four times with little effect , but multiple shots from " X " turret struck " Kormoran " , damaging the raider ' s machinery spaces , wounding the sailors manning one of the guns , and starting a fire in an oil tank . Around the time of the eighth or ninth German salvo , one of the two torpedoes fired at the start of the engagement struck " 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 . After the torpedo strike , " Sydney " turned hard to port : the Germans assumed that the Australian ship was trying to ram them , but the cruiser passed aft . During the turn , the 10th German salvo tore the roof from " B " turret and destroyed " A " turret ' s housing . The main phase of the engagement ended around 17 : 35 , with " Sydney " heading south and slowing , while " Kormoran " maintained her course and speed . " Sydney " s main armament was completely disabled ( the forward turrets were damaged or destroyed , while the aft turrets were jammed facing port , away from " Kormoran " ) , and her secondary weapons were out of range . The cruiser was wreathed in smoke from fires burning in the engine room and forward superstructure , and around the aircraft catapult . " Kormoran " discontinued salvo firing , but the individually firing aft guns scored hits as " Sydney " crossed the raider ' s stern . At around 17 : 45 , " Sydney " fired two torpedoes from her starboard tubes ( although some Germans reported more ) . Prior to the torpedo launch , Detmers had decided to destroy " Sydney " completely and ordered the raider to turn to port so four - gun salvoes could be fired : this manoeuvre caused the torpedoes to pass astern of " Kormoran " . After completing the turn , battle damage caused " Kormoran " s engines to fail completely , leaving the raider dead in the water while " Sydney " continued to sail southwards at low speed . " Kormoran " maintained a high rate of fire despite being immobilised — some sailors claimed that up to 450 shells were used during the second phase of the battle — and scored hits on the cruiser , although many shells missed as the range increased . The raider fired her guns for the last time around 17 : 50 , with the range at , and a torpedo was launched at 18 : 00 , but missed " Sydney " . Conclusion . By the end of the 30 - minute battle , the ships were about apart : both were heavily damaged and on fire . " Sydney " was proceeding on a south - south - east bearing , apparently not under control . The Australian warship quickly disappeared from German sight , although the glow of the burning ship consistently lit the horizon until 22 : 00 , with some German survivors stating that the light was visible consistently or occasionally until midnight . " Sydney " sank during the night ; it was originally thought that the cruiser exploded when fires reached the shell magazine s or torpedo launchers , or took on water through the shellholes on her port side and capsize d . However , after the wrecks were located , it was determined that " Sydney " was under limited control after the battle , and was heading to Geraldton at speeds of . The ship remained afloat for up to four hours before the bow tore off and dropped almost vertically under the weight of the anchors and chains . The rest of the ship sank shortly afterward , and glided upright for underwater until it hit the seabed stern - first . " Kormoran " was stationary , and at 18 : 25 , Detmers ordered the ship to be abandoned , as damage to the raider ' s engine room had knocked out the fire - fighting systems , and there was no way to control or contain the oil fire before it reached the magazines or the mine hold . All boats and liferafts were launched by 21 : 00 , and all but one filled : a skeleton crew manned the weapons while the officers prepared to scuttle the ship . " Kormoran " was abandoned at midnight ; the ship sank slowly until the mine hold exploded 30 minutes later . The German survivors were in five boats and two rafts : one cutter carrying 46 men , two damaged steel liferafts with 57 and 62 aboard ( the latter carrying Detmers and towing several small floats ) , one workboat carrying 72 people , one boat with 31 men aboard , and two rafts , each bearing 26 sailors . During the evacuation , a rubber liferaft carrying 60 people , mostly wounded , sank without warning ; killing all but three aboard . Total German casualties were six officers , 75 German sailors , and one Chinese laundryman . Search and rescue . When " Sydney " did not arrive on schedule , there was little immediate concern : the northbound journey with " Zealandia " could have taken longer than expected , " Durban " may have been late to the rendezvous , " Sydney " could have diverted to aid southbound merchant shipping , or minor engine problems may have occurred . Warships were expected to maintain wireless silence unless necessary ; none of these were sufficient reason to break silence and inform Fremantle of the delay . When the ship failed to arrive by 23 November , wireless communications stations ( initially those in Fremantle , then all high - power stations in Australia ) began to send out signals ordering " Sydney " to report in . At 06 : 00 on 23 November , the troopship recovered one of the two rafts carrying 26 German sailors at . Initially believing that these were survivors of a German raider attack , and that the raider might still be in the area , " Aquitania " resumed her voyage to Sydney , maintaining silence until the afternoon of 26 November . Detmers saw the troopship , but he did not make their boat ' s presence known , as he hoped to be recovered by a neutral ship . Six Lockheed Hudson aircraft from No . 14 Squadron RAAF , based at RAAF Base Pearce , began to search for the ship on the morning of 24 November . When it was learned that the " Zealandia " handover occurred on schedule , air searches commenced in the Java Sea . The first news relating to the engagement between " Sydney " and " Kormoran " was received by the Australian Naval Board during the afternoon of 24 November ; the British tanker " Trocas " reported that she had rescued a raft at 15 : 00 carrying 25 German naval personnel ( one having perished ) at . After further communication with " Trocas " , the Naval Board learned that the sailors had come from the raider " Kormoran " , which had participated in a mutually destructive engagement with an unspecified ship , which the Naval Board assumed was " Sydney " . Wireless signals to " Sydney " ceased , as it was assumed that if the cruiser had survived , battle damage or operational reasons prevented her reply . Six nearby merchant vessels ( " Pan Europe " , " Saidja " , , " Sunetta " , " Centaur " , and " Hermion " ) were instructed to pass through that location and keep a lookout for survivors or wreckage of either ship , while four RAN auxiliaries ( , , , and ) sailed from Fremantle to search the area . Aircraft from No . 14 and No . 25 Squadrons were relocated to Carnarvon to commence aerial searches from there the next morning , and were supplemented by two PBY Catalina flying boats ; one each from Townsville and Port Moresby . On 25 November , was sent from Sunda Strait to follow " Sydney " s assumed course if she had headed for Surabaya or Singapore after sustaining damage . Several German lifeboats were spotted on 25 November during the air search off Western Australia : the 46 - man cutter had come ashore at 17 - Mile Well , the 57 - man lifeboat was nearing Red Bluff when spotted , and a third lifeboat was further off the coast . That afternoon , the staff of Quobba Station rounded up the two groups that had made landfall with no resistance . On the morning of 26 November , aircraft spotted two boats at sea , but were unable to find them again that afternoon . At sunset , the 31 - man boat was located by the passenger ship " Koolinda " at , which recovered the sailors and made for Carnarvon . " Centaur " , which had been ordered to collect the Germans from Carnarvon and transport them to Fremantle , encountered Detmers ' lifeboat at 22 : 20 , at coordinates . The crew of " Centaur " lowered food to the 62 in the lifeboat , took on 9 wounded , and began to tow the lifeboat . During the voyage to Carnarvon , the damaged and overloaded German lifeboat was swamped : " Centaur " s master lowered two of his lifeboats for the Germans to use , before resuming the " motley towing combination " . Arriving in Carnarvon on the afternoon of 27 November , the Germans were relocated from the boats to " Centaur " s cargo holds , where they were joined by their colleagues which had reached shore and Australian Army guards . The last boat , carrying seventy Germans and two Chinese , was spotted from the air at during the late morning of 27 November , and was recovered shortly after by HMAS " Yandra " . On 28 November , HMAS " Wyrallah " found a German lifebelt and two four - man liferafts , one of which was carrying a deceased German sailor , who was buried at sea . The search was terminated at sunset on 29 November . All of the German lifeboats were accounted for : between them , 318 of " Kormoran " s 399 personnel survived . Conversely , none of 645 from " Sydney " were found , and the only definite remains from the Australian warship were an inflatable lifebelt located by HMAS " Wyrallah " on 27 November ( the discovery of a second RAN lifebelt by the merchant ship " Evagoras " that same day was initially reported , but later found to be false ) , and a damaged Carley float discovered by HMAS " Heros " on 28 November . A second Carley float , which washed up on Christmas Island in February 1942 , is believed to be linked with the cruiser . Aftermath . On 26 November , the Naval Board distributed lists of " Sydney " s ship ' s company to all district naval offices . Telegrams to next - of - kin , stating that their relatives were " missing as a result of enemy action " were lodged , although naval censors advised the media that no announcements relating to the cruiser be made . Despite this , rumours about the ship ' s loss were circulating , fuelled by the lack of information to substantiate the " missing " telegrams . Australian Prime Minister John Curtin officially announced the loss of the cruiser during the afternoon of 30 November . Censorship restrictions on the newspapers were lifted to publish the statement , but radio stations were instructed to wait 48 hours before broadcasting the news to avoid alerting any other German ships in the area . Several Melbourne stations disobeyed , and were temporarily suspended from broadcasting . Curtin made a second announcement three days later , providing what had been learned of the battle . The destruction of " Sydney " with all hands was a major blow to morale : it was the largest loss of life in the history of the RAN , and the ship ' s company made up over 35 % of RAN naval personnel killed during World War II . This was compounded by the loss of , which was sunk by a German U - boat on 27 November ; news of this was announced a day after " Sydney " s fate was made public . However , the battle was not widely reported in other Allied nations , as it was a small loss compared to contemporary naval incidents — the aircraft carrier and the battleship were sunk in separate incidents during the same two - week period — and was quickly obscured by Japan ' s attacks on Pearl Harbor and Singapore in early December . " Sydney " was the largest Allied ship to be lost with all hands during the war . In Germany , news of the battle was assembled from communications intercepts during the search for survivors , which was combined with Allied news articles to assemble an account of the battle and published in early 1943 for internal consumption by German officials . The events were made public in December 1943 , after the early accounts were confirmed by a member of " Kormoran " s crew sent home in a prisoner exchange . Interrogation of survivors . Interrogation of the German survivors to discover the fate of " Sydney " began on 25 November . This was initially hampered , as the sailors had been ordered to obfuscate the enemy by falsely answering all questions . Many did not follow this instruction , but their accounts included second - hand information of varying reliability . Several groups were quickly combined together , and had the opportunity to standardise any falsification : those who made landfall in two separate groups were combined , then placed aboard " Centaur " with the men from Detmers ' lifeboat . However , some efforts were made to keep officers separate from the sailors ; Detmers and his executive officer were initially held aboard HMAS " Yandra " , then transported overland to Fremantle , and while all of the sailors were interned at a camp near Harvey , the officers were imprisoned at Swanbourne Barracks . Not all groups had this opportunity : the survivors rescued by " Aquitania " were delivered to Sydney , and interrogations of these men showed the same commonalities and inconsistencies as the main body of interviews . In addition , some of the Germans were interviewed , formally or informally , prior to their group reuniting with others ; the independent accounts provided the same common elements . Based on this , it was concluded that the true story was being given , and that there were no widespread attempts to falsify accounts . After the main interrogations was completed , the Germans were moved from Fremantle to Murchison , Victoria during late December and early January : the officers aboard the troopship " Duntroon " , the sailors overland on two trains . The sailors were placed in No . 13 Prisoner of War Camp , which already hosted 1 , 200 soldiers of the " Afrika Korps " and their shipmates rescued by " Aquitania " , while officers were sent to the nearby Dhurringile homestead . Some further interrogations were carried out after this point . Listening devices were planted in the prisoners ' quarters , and intelligence agents infiltrated the camp , but neither method provided new information . One sailor died in captivity from lung cancer on 24 March 1942 , and was buried in the Tatura war cemetery . On 11 January 1945 , Detmers and nineteen other Axis officers escaped from Dhurringile through a tunnel excavated during the previous seven months ; all were recaptured within days . Detmers was found with a German - English dictionary which included two encrypted accounts of the battle ( a deck log or action report , and an engineering log ) , although these provided little new information . Shortly after returning to the camp , Detmers was hospitalised for three months following a stroke . The German officers and sailors were repatriated after the war , departing from Port Phillip Bay with other Axis prisoners aboard the steamer " Orontes " on 21 February 1947 . Ironically , tied up to the opposite pier was the real " Straat Malakka " . On arrival in Cuxhaven , the prisoners were searched before leaving the ship ; several written reports were confiscated , although nothing new was learned from these . Honours and awards . For sinking " Sydney " , Detmers ' Iron Cross First Class was upgraded to the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross . " Kormoran " s executive officer , gunnery officer , and the sailor who manned the starboard gun were awarded the Iron Cross First Class ( for the executive officer , this was a bar to a previous Iron Cross ) , while the other members of the crew were all awarded the Iron Cross Second Class . " 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 granted to a ship named " Sydney " . Post - war searches . Despite the approximate position of " Kormoran " being known ( most German accounts giving the battle coordinates as ) , the required search area for both ships was unfeasibly large . This was due to the lack of a detailed location , a problem which was compounded by supporters of alternate engagement theories , who believed that the Germans were lying and that the ships would be found further south and closer to shore . The survey ship conducted multiple unsuccessful searches for " Sydney " and " Kormoran " between 1974 and 1991 , when the ship was based in Fremantle . Another search was conducted by in July 1997 . However , all RAN surveys were restricted to the continental shelf , as the navy did not possess the technology to effectively search the seabed off the shelf . The searches were not exhaustive , and were primarily a response to civilian claims that the wreck site was at a certain location , with the survey ship sent to prove or disprove the claim . Other searches were conducted by aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force carrying magnetometer s ; again , these were only in response to claims of possible locations . In 1990 , the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution ( WHOI ) were approached to join a Western Australian Maritime Museum - led search for " Sydney " and " Kormoran " , which was agreed to on the condition that the search area be narrowed considerably . This was attempted at a 1991 forum : although the location of the battle was generally agreed upon , because the exact fate and time of sinking for " Sydney " was unknown , the possible location could not be more accurately determined . Though WHOI staff were initially positive the search area could not be narrowed down , shipwreck hunter Robert Ballard , who is best known for locating the wrecks of the Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck , commented that searching for the ships could not be described as a needle in a haystack , " because the haystack has not yet been found " , and the WHOI withdrew their support . Following the 1999 government report into the Australian cruiser ' s loss , which recommended that a seminar be organised to again attempt to identify the most likely search area for the warships , the HMAS Sydney Location Seminar was organised by the RAN ' s Sea Power Centre and held at the Western Australian Maritime Museum . However , participants in the seminar could not agree on whether the battle location given by the Germans ( referred to as the " northern position " ) or a point off the Abrolhos Islands ( the area for the battle advocated by supporters of the " southern position " ) was more likely to contain the two ships . In 2002 , a coalition of oil and gas companies involved in the North West Shelf Venture performed a gratis search of eight suspected targets in the proposed southern area . No evidence was found of shipwrecks at any of the eight sites , although supporters of this search area claimed that the equipment used was defective and rejected the findings . Subsequent examination of the most popular southern site by DOF Subsea Australia vessel SV " Geosounder " in March 2007 found no evidence of a shipwreck : the two searches firmly discrediting the alternative engagement area . Wreck discovery . American shipwreck hunter David Mearns first learned of the battle and mutual destruction of " Sydney " and " Kormoran " during a conference in 1996 , and started studying the battle in 2001 . Mearns focused on primary source documents , which led him to believe that German accounts of the battle ' s location were truthful , and was able to convince the RAN that a search around that area was feasible . Mearns ' organisation entered a partnership with HMAS Sydney Search Pty . Ltd . , a not - for - profit company set up to support a search for " Sydney " , in late 2004 . In mid - September 2004 , the German government granted Mearns permission to film " Kormoran " if she was found . On 14 August 2005 , the Australian government announced a A $ 1 . 3 million grant to the Finding Sydney Foundation ( a charitable foundation set up by the directors of HMAS Sydney Search to manage funding ) , which was followed by A $ 500 , 000 from the Western Australian government and A $ 250 , 000 from the government of New South Wales . Several small donations were made by companies and the public , but it was not until the Australian government approved another A $ 2 . 9 million in October 2007 that the search could proceed . Even so , the money raised only permitted the chartering of the survey vessel SV " Geosounder " for 45 days . Mearns ' plan was to determine a ' search box ' for " Kormoran " by plotting the possible starting points of the two rafts from the raider through a reverse drift analysis . This search box ( calculated to be in size ) would then be inspected over several days with a side - scan sonar towed by " Geosounder " . Mearns focused on finding " Kormoran " first : the German wreck ' s approximate location could be predicted , and while the same was not true for " Sydney " , there was a wealth of information indicating her position relative to " Kormoran " . After locating one or both vessels , " Geosounder " would return to port and embark a remotely operated vehicle ( ROV ) to film the wrecks . " Geosounder " was scheduled to depart early on 29 February 2008 , but problems and last - minute modifications delayed this until after 16 : 00 , and fuel leaks forced her return that evening . Repairs were made , and the ship reached the south - east corner of the search box just before midnight on 4 March , but the early days of the search were hampered by recurring faults with the sonar and the effects of Tropical Cyclone Ophelia . " Kormoran " was located during the afternoon of 12 March : the ship had been torn apart by the mine deck detonation , with two large pieces sitting below sea level and apart , with an oval - shaped debris field between them , centred at . The raider ' s discovery was announced by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on the morning of 17 March . Using the wreck location and the German observations of " Sydney " after the battle , a search box for the cruiser was calculated . " Sydney " was located just after 11 : 00 on 17 March , only hours after " Kormoran " s discovery was made public . Prime Minister Rudd announced the find a day later . " Sydney " s wreck was located at at below sea level : the bow of the cruiser had broken off as the ship sank , and was located at the opposite end of a debris field stretching north - west from the hull . The two wrecks were apart , with " Sydney " to the south - east . On discovery , both wrecks were placed under the protection of the " Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 " . Both wrecks were placed on the Australian National Heritage List on 14 March 2011 . " Geosounder " returned to Geraldton on 20 March , but delays in installing and testing of the ROV prevented departure until 29 March , with the ship sailing through the path of Cyclone Pancho . " Sydney " was the first to be inspected ; electrical problems with the ROV set the start of filming back to 3 April . Six ROV dives were made over a five - day period , during which the main hull and debris field were inspected , filmed , and documented . The damage found by the search team corresponded with the descriptions given by " Kormoran " survivors after the battle . After the conclusion of ROV operations near " Sydney " , " Geosounder " travelled to the wreck of " Kormoran " . The search was declared complete just before midnight on 7 April . Analysis . Historiography . The first collected historical account of the engagement was published in 1947 , in George Hermon Gill ' s " Royal Australian Navy , 1939 – 1942 " , the first of two RAN - oriented volumes in the government - sponsored " Australia in the War of 1939 – 1945 " series . Because of the scope of the book , the account of the battle itself was brief , and Gill accepts the German interpretation of events while blaming Burnett for endangering his ship . The account is described by naval historian Tom Frame as " bland and unemotional " , and " necessarily superficial " , but Gill ' s analysis of the battle is attacked by Frame as " seriously flawed , inconsistent and contradictory " . Several biographical and autobiographical works which touched on the battle ( including books by Detmers and former " Sydney " commander John Collins ) were also published around this time : none of these contributed new information . Michael Montgomery ' s 1981 book , " Who Sank The Sydney ? " , was the first published work to focus solely on " Sydney " and the events surrounding her loss , and the first to comprehensively challenge the accepted view of the battle . The son of " Sydney " s Royal Navy navigator , Montgomery could not accept the ship ' s loss as described by Gill , and claimed that the true events were being covered up . According to his book , " Kormoran " had fired on " Sydney " while flying the flag of a neutral nation , a Japanese submarine was involved in the battle , and any Australian survivors were killed to hide the involvement of the Japanese . Montgomery also suggests that Britain had foreknowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , which occurred three weeks later , and ordered the Australian government to cover up the truth of " Sydney " s loss so the United States would be drawn into the war . However , " Who Sank the Sydney ? " is reliant on assertions that had been proved false , unreliable sources ( including a ' sailor ' s report ' found to be a translation of an inaccurate Australian newspaper article ) , and selective use of German accounts that fit the hypothesis , and Montgomery is generally credited with igniting the controversy surrounding the battle . Although not written as such , the 1984 " HMAS Sydney : Fact , Fantasy and Fraud " by Barbara Winter served as a reply to Montgomery ' s work . Winter used material from German and American archives in addition to Australian sources , with the main thrust of her work comparing the relative experience and competence of Burnett and Detmers , which supported the accepted view of the battle . In her work , Winter also sought to identify and prove false all the rumours and theories that had appeared since the battle . Frame describes her work as " reasonable and persuasive . . . [ h ] owever , she tried too hard to defend the crew of the " Kormoran " . . . at the expense of " Sydney " " , while a government report in 1999 observed that Winter ' s defence of the German accounts saw her become the " bête noire of those who sought , and continue to seek , darker explanations of the " Sydney " tragedy . " In 1991 , the HMAS Sydney Forum was convened by the Western Australian Museum ; its goals were to seek a consensus view of the battle , and collect suggestions on how and where searches for " Sydney " and " Kormoran " should occur . Interested parties , including Montgomery , Winter , and Frame , were brought together for the three - day forum , but instead of reconciling different views of the battle , the forum only served to further split the participants . Prompted by the outcome , Frame wrote " HMAS Sydney : Loss and Controversy " . Published in 1993 , this was the first book dedicated to the subject authored by a naval officer or a historian , and in addition to analysing the battle and its aftermath , looked at the historiography to date and the development of the controversy . Frame ' s work was pro - RAN and supportive of Burnett , and while he dismissed many of the alternate claims made regarding the battle , he felt that those involving German duplicity were plausible . A second forum was hosted in 1997 by the End Secrecy on Sydney group , but the antagonism between holders of different interpretations of the battle meant the forum " degenerated into a partisan verbal melee " . An " Inquiry into the loss of HMAS Sydney " was carried out by the Joint Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs , Defence and Trade ( JCFADT ) during 1997 and 1998 , and was tabled in March 1999 . The JCFADT inquiry received over 400 submissions and compiled over 500 pages of oral testimony . However , the report was indecisive , and despite finding that there was no evidence to support the various controversial claims made about the battle , failed to end debates between holders of the various viewpoints : a debate which was said to have " become a dialogue of the deaf " . Over the next few years , several books about the battle were published . Frame ' s book was updated and republished in 1998 . Wesley Olson ' s " Bitter Victory : the death of HMAS Sydney " , published in 2000 , was a re - examination of the evidence , including comparisons with similar naval engagements and sinkings , which supported the accepted view of the battle . Glenys McDonald ' s 2005 work " Seeking the Sydney : a quest for truth " did not attempt an analysis of records and interrogation transcripts , but instead used accounts from people who claimed to have observed the battle or been involved in the search , rescue , or interrogation to compile an oral history of the engagement and its aftermath . Her research led her to believe that the battle had occurred much closer inshore than claimed by the Germans . The 2005 book " Somewhere below : the Sydney scandal exposed " by John Samuels , took an extreme view on the alternative engagement theory by claiming that " Sydney " was sunk by a Japanese submarine with little or no involvement by " Kormoran " , and that there was a wide - ranging cover up of the proof . Samuels cites no reliable sources and ignores or dismisses evidence supporting the accepted view as part of the cover up ; one review states that the book only brings suffering to the relatives of those killed , and is on par with the Roswell UFO incident as a conspiracy theory . Also in 2005 , Brett Manning used the alternate theories of the battle as the basis for the spy novel " Enduring Deception " , in which an American agent must cover up the cruiser ' s encounter with a Japanese submarine so the Pearl Harbor attack occurs without warning , drawing the United States into the war . There were also many deliberate hoaxes , some contributing to the controversies ; the most damaging were claims that the wrecks had been located , hindering serious attempts to mount a search while military assets were used to check the sites . One not only involved a claim to have located the wreck off Dirk Hartog Island , but it also referred to the location of a grave there . Following the discovery of the wrecks , a second inquiry into the loss of " Sydney " was held , this time by the Department of Defence . The inquiry was presided over by Terence Cole , an expert in maritime law and a former Deputy Judge Advocate General . Cole ' s findings were published in a three - volume report in July 2009 ; one of these was dedicated to assessing the various controversies and alternate theories surrounding the battle . The inquiry concluded that Burnett was responsible for placing his ship in danger , but stopped short of claiming negligence , and also found no evidence to support any of the alternate theories investigated . A month later , shipwreck hunter David Mearns published an account of the search for the two ships : " The Search for the Sydney : How Australia ' s greatest maritime mystery was solved " . Controversy . Rumours that the battle was not what it seemed commenced almost as soon as " Sydney " failed to reach Fremantle on schedule , some emanating from the highest levels in the Administration , but it was not until Montgomery ' s " Who Sank The Sydney ? " that a published work collated these rumours and challenged the accepted view of the battle . Frame and Olson both credit Montgomery with igniting the controversy ; the former describes Montgomery ' s work as " a polemical , finger - pointing , brawling account " which , if not deliberately prepared to create a controversy , had that effect , while the latter claimed that the book only " sparked debate [ and ] opened old and new wounds " . The controversial views have been maintained and propagated by several organisations , such as the Sydney Research Group and End Secrecy on Sydney , and authors like McDonald and Samuels . Much of the controversy surrounding the battle stemmed from disbelief that a modified merchant ship could totally defeat a modern cruiser , with most theories describing how the Germans deceitfully gained the advantage . However , the two ships ' armament was closer to equal than this matchup implied , and although " Sydney " normally had the advantage of armour plate and superior range , these were lost by closing with " Kormoran " . The proximity meant that the advantage would go to the ship that fired first ; while Burnett likely assumed that " Sydney " was dealing with a merchantman , Detmers was ready for " Kormoran " to surprise the cruiser , and the raider ' s gun crew knew where to aim for maximum effectiveness . The main theories refer to : Improper use of flags . These theories contend that Detmers acted illegally by firing before " Kormoran " raised her battle ensign , flew a white flag of surrender to trick Burnett into relaxing , or used false signal flag s to indicate a medical or engineering emergency and lure " Sydney " in . While it was a war crime for a ship to attack without flying her battle ensign or while flying a surrender flag , false distress signals were considered legitimate ruses . All German accounts indicate that " Kormoran " lowered the Dutch flag and raised the German war ensign before the order to fire was given , although general distrust of German claims , plus the statement in Detmers ' autobiography that it took six seconds to raise the flag , decamouflage , and start firing , led to questions . Olson contends that in Detmers ' original report , the ' six seconds ' figure encompassed only the flag - raising , with the meaning corrupted over time . Conversely , Frame considers the possibility as knowledge of doing so would have been limited to very few people . He cites other parts of the autobiography , where Detmers repeatedly asserts that he had committed no crime while stating his fear of court martial . Winter traces the origin of the " surrender or distress " theory to a single newspaper article written just after the battle ; the reporter had no access to the prisoners or naval intelligence . Olson doubts that a surrender flag was used to lure " Sydney " in , as this would have informed Burnett that " Straat Malakka " was not what she seemed . He considers that the Germans may have used false signals or pretended to scuttle , but only hypothetically . The 2009 Cole inquiry concluded that the German ensign was raised before the first shell was fired . Cole thought that the use of surrender or distress flags was an " invention of those seeking to find a justification " for the cruiser ' s close approach . Japanese involvement . The claim of Japanese involvement , specifically a submarine operating with " Kormoran " , is based on several elements . The German survivors were found with milk bottles bearing Japanese labels . Although cited as evidence that a Japanese submarine was supplying " Kormoran " , the bottles were obtained from the supply ship " Kulmerland " , which had taken on supplies in Japan . Sketches drawn by one of " Kormoran " s crew while imprisoned were believed to contain an account of the battle in the " Deutsche Einheitskurzschrift " shorthand system . A civilian working for Australian military intelligence attempted to decode these , and after relying on interpolation and speculation to make sense of the decoded characters and fill in the gaps , came up with a message that included the phrase " a Japanese gunfire attack from Japan itself " . However , several shorthand experts consulted by Winter could find nothing resembling " Einheitskurzschrift " ( or any other German shorthand style ) in the sketches . According to Montgomery , the involvement of a submarine is supported by numerous sightings of submarines or submarine - like objects in Australian waters , particularly a sighting off Townsville in late October of six " strange boats " that surfaced , sprouted wings , and flew off ; he interpreted this as a floatplane - carrying Japanese submarine , which may have reached Carnarvon in time to attack " Sydney " . The Cole report noted that false submarine sightings are a common wartime occurrence . In addition , the positions of all 46 active Japanese submarines have been accounted for : 28 were in Japanese waters preparing for the attack on Pearl Harbor , seven were readying for operations in the South China Sea and Philippines , nine were heading for the South China Sea , and two had just departed for patrols in the Pacific . On several occasions , Japanese broadcasts stated that " Sydney " had been captured and towed to Japan , or that personnel were interned in Japanese prisoner - of - war camps . Post - war investigations found that these broadcasts were for propaganda purposes only . Claims that items from " Sydney " ( such as cap tallies ) were found in Japan after the war have also been aired , but further investigation found these to be based on unfounded speculation . The lack of information about Japanese involvement is attributed to a wide - ranging cover up of Japanese aggression prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor , in an attempt to draw the United States into the war . Frame dismisses the suggested cover up as an attempt to draw attention to the alternate interpretation of the battle by linking it to the Pearl Harbor advance - knowledge debate . The JCFADT report concluded that there was no evidence to support the presence of the Japanese . Cole ' s report concluded likewise , and stated that the allegations made to ' prove ' the presence of a submarine were factually wrong , lacked collaborating evidence , or otherwise did not support the claims . No " Sydney " survivors . The alternate engagement theories attribute the lack of survivors , corpses , or debris from " Sydney " to the need to eliminate evidence of German illegality or Japanese aggression . The recovered carley float — with its damage attributed to machine - gun fire — is often presented as proof . The Australian War Memorial undertook a detailed analysis of the carley float during 1992 and 1993 to determine the nature of the damage . Metallurgical testing of fragments found in the float showed them to be from German shells , not German or Japanese machine gun bullets . The Chinese survivors are also cited as proof that no machine - gunning of Australian survivors took place , as if they had witnessed or learned of such an act , they too would have been killed to preserve the secret . The accepted view of the battle ( based on German damage descriptions ) is that the majority of " Sydney " s personnel were killed during the battle , with the rest dying when the cruiser sank . The Defence Science and Technology Organisation used Mearns ' shipwreck footage for a technical analysis of the damage to " Sydney " , which showed it to be consistent with German accounts . The analysis predicted that up to 70 % of those aboard were killed during the battle , either directly , from wounds , or by inhaling smoke and toxic gas . Mearns estimated that once the bow was lost , the rest of the cruiser ' s hull would have remained afloat for , at most , two minutes , and anyone still remaining aboard would have been killed as the ship sank . The Cole Report stated that " Sydney " s seakeeping ability would have rapidly deteriorated , hampering any evacuation efforts . Open watertight doors show that some attempt to abandon ship was made . However , the presence of all bar two of the ship ' s boats in the nearby debris field , plus indications that the davits for the two missing boats were shot away during the battle , led Mearns to believe that evacuation was attempted after the bow snapped off , but there was not enough time or seaworthy boats to do so . The battle damage would have forced any Australian survivors to use carley floats and personal lifebelts , which were only intended as short - term life preservers . Based on survival rates for contemporary warship losses , Olson determined that anyone who survived the sinking would have died from wounds , exposure , or drowning before the search commenced , and corpses would not have floated to the surface until after the search had been terminated . " Kormoran " s crew enjoyed a higher survival rate because , unlike " Sydney " , the raider ' s boats and rafts were well equipped and mostly undamaged . Although " Sydney " is thought of as the only warship lost with all hands , the JCFADT report lists eight other surface warships of similar size lost during the World Wars where none survived , and another six where 95 % or more aboard died . An alternate version of this theory is that there were deliberate delays in organising searches for the ship . There is no evidence that anybody ashore knew of the battle until " Trocas " found German survivors and informed the authorities . The Sydney Research Group allege that " Sydney " attempted to radio Darwin to report that the cruiser was on fire and being abandoned . Other individuals or groups have made claims that they heard or witnessed the receipt of messages ( either voice or morse ) from " Sydney " , or saw transcripts of these messages . All claims state that transcripts and other evidence were later destroyed . " Sydney " was not fitted with voice transmission equipment , so could not have sent any of the reported voice signals . Had the cruiser tried to send morse signals , they would have been jammed by " Kormoran " s wireless operators . Several messages were identified as having come from other sources , while associates of the claimants have shown the evidence to be suspect for the rest . The 2009 inquiry concluded that no messages were sent by " Sydney " before , during , or after the engagement . " Sydney " not at action stations . The claim that " Sydney " was not at action stations originates from an observation by Detmers ; as " Sydney " approached , the cruiser ' s guns were unmanned , and sailors in aprons ( which he describes as pantrymen ) , were standing on deck watching the German ship . This is interpreted by followers of alternate engagement theories as evidence that " Sydney " was not at action stations , and therefore unable to react when " Kormoran " unmasked . Olson lists two groups of sailors that could have been mistaken for pantrymen , but had a reason to be where Detmers saw them . Ammunition handlers from the 4 - inch guns , who wore protective aprons , could have been standing clear of their weapons because of the planned catapult launch of the Walrus amphibian or the direction " X " turret was facing when trained on " Kormoran " , both of which could have injured the unprotected gunners . A second group would have been a cutter party preparing to launch a boat to rescue the Walrus crew if it ditched , or to board " Kormoran " , with their life jackets mistaken for aprons . The JCFADT report suggests a third group : a damage control party in fire - fighting gear . Conversely , the Cole report stated that " Sydney " may not have been at action stations : ship ' s logs for several Australian warships showed that it was not common practice to do so when approaching unidentified merchant vessels in home waters . This , combined with Detmers ' observation and the belief that " Sydney " s approach followed procedures for an ' innocent ' instead of a ' suspicious ' vessel , prompted Cole to conclude that the Australian cruiser was not at action stations . The Christmas Island corpse . On the afternoon of 6 February 1942 , lookouts on Christmas Island spotted an object out at sea , which on closer inspection turned out to be a carley float carrying the body of a Caucasian man wearing a blue boilersuit that had been sun - bleached white . The flesh of his right arm had been eaten away by fish , and his eyes and nose consumed by birds . Shrapnel was embedded in the float ' s outer covering , while the proliferation of marine growth indicated that it had been adrift for some time . As the island was under threat of Japanese invasion , after a brief examination , the body was buried in an unmarked grave near Flying Fish Cove . Evacuation began on 17 February with Japanese forces occupying the island on 23 March . The island ' s inhabitants believed that the float and sailor were of naval origin , and had come from " Sydney " . A post - war RAN investigation determined that as the raft ' s description did not match those manufactured for the RAN , this claim was incorrect . Subsequent writers on the subject have disagreed : Winter states that a carley float from " Sydney " would have been propelled by currents into proximity of Christmas Island around the time of its discovery , while Olson claims that the description of the float ' s rope and markings matched those used on British ships ( from whose supplies " Sydney " could have drawn ) , the boilersuit indicated a naval rating , and that the quantity of marine growth corresponded with the time such a float would have been at sea . The JCFADT inquiry concluded " on the balance of probability , that the body and the carley float . . . were most likely from HMAS " Sydney " . " , and while Frame was initially sceptical of the raft ' s origins , the evidence presented to that inquiry changed his mind . The inquiry recommended that the grave be found , the body exhumed , and its DNA compared to relatives of " Sydney " personnel . A 2001 search by the RAN failed to find the grave , but they were more successful during a second search in 2006 . During an autopsy , a metal fragment was found embedded in the skull , which was believed to have killed the man through brain trauma : although seized upon by believers in the massacre of " Sydney " s sailors , the fragment was found to be German shell shrapnel . While DNA comparison testing did not produce definite results , as of September 2010 it remained on - going . Why Burnett approached so close . By manoeuvring in close to " Kormoran " , Burnett removed the advantage provided by his longer - ranged primary armament , and put " Sydney " in a position where the raider ' s main guns could penetrate the cruiser ' s armour . Because there were no Australian survivors , Burnett ' s decision is inexplicable ; writers on the subject can only speculate on his reasoning , and indicate what factors they believe influenced him . Up until the 1980s , most of the material published relating to the loss of " Sydney " accepted the German interpretation of events ( that Burnett was deceived by " Kormoran " s disguise , and placed his ship in a tactically unsound position ) and assigned Burnett various levels of blame for his role in the cruiser ' s demise . Gill claimed that because Burnett had taken command of " Sydney " after a shore posting , and was assigned to relatively calm operational areas , he was incautious when approaching " Kormoran " . He also believed that Burnett was not suspicious of " Straat Malakka " : had he been , he would have used the Walrus to identify the ship or broken wireless silence and enquired about the ship . Olson ( among others ) believes that Burnett was placed under conflicting orders : raiders were to be destroyed ( preferably at range to avoid retaliation ) , but raider supply ships or merchantmen were to be captured to replace Allied freighters sunk in the tonnage war . The suggested method of capture was to quickly manoeuvre in close and deploy a boarding party before the ship could scuttle . Olson thinks that " Kormoran " s actions ( turning away from the coast upon seeing an unknown vessel , delays in replying to signals , the distress call transmitted long after " Sydney " appeared ) made Burnett suspicious , and he was trying to position " Sydney " so he could identify the merchantman ' s physical features and to facilitate capture . Following the loss of " Sydney " , Admiralty instructions on capturing merchant ships changed to only encourage attempts if there was no risk of the ship being a raider or accompanied by a U - boat ; no such attempts were made for the rest of the war . In March 1941 , the heavy cruiser encountered a tanker supplying a possible raider , which split up and fled when ordered to stop . " Canberra " pursued the suspected raider , and fired from maximum range to avoid retaliatory fire , while her Walrus amphibian attempted to stop the tanker with bombs . The cruiser fired 215 shells , with most missing , while all of the Walrus ' bombs were used . However , both ships ( the raider supply ship " Coburg " and the captured Norwegian tanker " Ketty Brovig " ) had commenced scuttling once " Canberra " started firing . Post - action analysis found that if " Canberra " had moved closer , the same damage could have been achieved for less ammunition , and one or both ships might have been captured ; factors Frame and Gill think may have influenced Burnett . In the 2009 inquiry report , Cole determined that Burnett was following the approach and challenge procedures for an ' innocent ' vessel , instead of a ' suspicious ' one . The other case called for " Sydney " to stand off at and order the merchantman to stop or be fired upon . Despite the list of ships scheduled to be in the area , Cole believes that Burnett ' s previous experiences with inaccurate shipping lists caused him to think of " Straat Malakka " s unexplained presence as a clerical error . The actions that Olson describes as indicating suspicion are also considered by Cole , who believed that by the time these came into play , " Sydney " would already be at the disadvantage . Memorials . The main memorial for the loss of " Sydney " is located on Mount Scott at Geraldton , Western Australia . Planning for the memorial commenced in late 1997 , after a speech by researcher Glenys McDonald at the local Rotary club . A temporary memorial ( consisting of a large boulder , a flagpole , and a bronze plaque ) , was installed prior to 19 November 1998 , and was used in a remembrance ceremony that year . During the Last Post , a large flock of seagulls flew over the participants and headed out to sea in formation ; this inspired the design of the permanent memorial . The memorial included four major elements : a stele of the same size and shape of the ship ' s prow , a granite wall listing the ship ' s company , a bronze statue of a woman looking out to sea and waiting in vain for the cruiser to come home , and a dome ( dubbed the " dome of souls " ) onto which 645 stainless steel seagulls were welded . The memorial ( minus the stele , which was not completed in time ) was dedicated on 18 November 2001 , and used the next evening for a commemoration ceremony marking the battle ' s 60th anniversary . By 2011 , the stele had been completed , and a fifth element — a pool of remembrance containing a map of the region and the marked position of " Sydney " s wreck — had been added . Other memorials commemorating the loss of " Sydney " include an oak tree planted at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance , an avenue in Carnarvon lined with 645 trees , and a cairn on the coast north of Quobba , near where it is believed some of the " Kormonan " survivors were apprehended by the Australian Army . The service of " Sydney " , along with the other ships of the same name , is commemorated by a stained - glass window at the Garden Island Naval Chapel . The names of those killed aboard " Sydney " are inscribed at the Australian War Memorial , while those from " Kormoran " are inscribed in the Laboe Naval Memorial . The " HMAS Sydney Replacement Fund " was established to help finance the acquisition of a replacement ship . The AU£ 426 , 000 raised was used to help purchase Australia ' s first aircraft carrier in the late 1940s ; the " Majestic " - class carrier was named upon her commissioning in December 1948 . The " Kormoran " name was carried on by the , a " Seeadler " - class fast attack craft of the West German Navy commissioned in 1959 . East Germany also operated a " Kormoran " ; a small corvette borrowed from the Soviet Navy from 1970 to 1974 .