On 19 November 1941, the pride of the wartime Australian Navy, the light cruiser HMAS Sydney, fought a close-quarters naval battle with the German armed raider HSK Kormoran, off Carnarvon on the West Australian coast. Both ships suffered mortal damage and later sank. Although more than 300 German sailors were recovered from the water or captured when they landed on the WA coast, none of the 645 men aboard Sydney survived.
"HMAS Sydney: Loss & Controversy" offers the most thorough and comprehensive examination of that fateful event, which continues to arouse heated debate. Was Sydney's captain guilty of negligence by allowing his ship to manoeuvre within range of Kormoran's guns? Did the Germans feign surrender before firing a torpedo at Sydney as she prepared to dispatch a boarding party? Why have repeated search efforts failed to locate the wreck of this once celebrated Australian warship?
Ex-naval officer and historian, Dr Tom Frame, addresses one of the most puzzling and mystifying naval engagements in modern maritime history.
