No Survivors: The Horrific Sinking of HMAS Sydney 

What is the background music called?

I cry when the Sydney sank into the ocean

It is historically wrong at 29:12 of the footage that the shown gun of Kormoran was a 10,5 cm caliber. Kormoran did not carry guns of this caliber. Except torpedoes, light AA guns of 2 cm caliber and 2 adapted Anti tank guns of 3,7 cm caliber, Kormoran was armed with 6 SK ( rapid fire guns ) 15 cm L/ 45 c/13 in 6 single mountings. The guns were of pre WW 1 construction and came from the old pre dreadnought ship-of-the-line SMS Schlesien, a participant of the battle of jutland 1916. They had a much shorter range than sydneys 6 inch guns.There were 4 on the foredeck side by side, 2 on starboard and 2 on portside and another 2 on the afterdeck, behind each other. This installation meant that during Kormorans battle with Sydney her broadside had only 4 guns of 15 cm caliber against Sydneys 8 of 6 inch , leaving 2 guns in firelee which could not be used. Despite this Kormorans gunfire at pointblank range was way to much for the much more powerfull australian light cruiser. This was solely the fault of sydneys captain Burnett, who was responsible for the loss of his ship, the the death of his crew of 645 and the total defeat in this battle by coming carelessly way too close to Kormoran with his crew not at battlestations. It were these blunders of captain Burnett that gave Kormoran the chance to sink the cruiser. This is the only time in history of war at sea that an armed merchant cruiser sank a regular cruiser, in other cases like hms devonshire against Atlantis and hms cornwall against Pinguin, the regular cruiser sank the merchant cruiser from a distance with supreme gunfire easily, leaving the enemy ship no chance. If Burnett would have survived he would have been surely court martialed for his incompetence with the expected verdict of a dishonorably discharge from the RAN. On the contrary the radiant winner of this battle was captain detmers who desperatly used every allowed trick or stratagam to lure sydney into the range of his outdated guns knowing that this was his only chance and actually managed to sink sydney against all odds. It is a shame that Dermers was accused of murdering swimming sydney survivors with machine gun fire by some australian writers without any evidence except anti german resentment. It was not until the discovery and exploration of both wrecks that all acusations against Detmers and his crew were proven incorrect and that his battlereport given in war captivity , especially of sydneys battledamage, was correct to the point. 0:04

That last piece of music was such a perfect choice, and the montage... it accompanies it so well! Not too short, yet not too long: Possibly the best 'remembrance video' clip I've ever seen. It struck the absolute perfect note for me. I don't give such praise easily, or frivolously, and all I can say is... Well done, sir. You moved me 🥲

Yep. Organisations are full of b.s. Nowadays , there's a whole lot of new b.s that's gonna sink ships and kill people.

Arrogance, it’s been a wonderful thing throughout history.

Dxx

Dumas captain he is in hell if you want to no

Closing on suspicious ships was a tried tactic of most skilled and seasoned officers before, and Burnett can't obviously have the blame thrown at him.

That is terrible, I guess he was overconfident. So many paid for his poor decision.

Yep seriously FFS they had a lightly armed ship and it's absolute weakness was close quarters against an unidentified ship. What on earth was he thinking??? Insanity.

The captain certainly wasn't a droid simply following orders to shoot all and everything from kilometers away without absolute certainty. If you act as cruel as your enemy, why even fight the enemy?

Hindsight 20/20.

​@@oldrabidus2230 That does not fit in this context little buddy. Nice try to seem wise tho when you know nothing at all.

I’m so sorry.😢

My Great Uncle, Bobby Platt was also lost on this ship. Did you go to the memorial when they found it a few years ago? My parents were taken over by the RAN to lay a wreath above where it sank.

@@Nicodemus1971 7 days later and still no answer, id assume the person read this and just wont answer because the answer is not yes

My paternal grandfather was lost on the Sydney too

So very sorry! My grandpa died on the Lancastria...he was in the British military!

Wow he is already identified

DNA testing confirmed his identity.

Was he really a survivor if he died in the lifeboat shortly after the battle?

Read about this forty years ago when I was a youngster. The tragedy of lt has stayed with me ever since,and I have read many naval histories. Why the skipper and his command allowed such indifference I will never know. I never heard such stories from any veterans of The Royal Navy in my family and there were a few. It bare's testimony that those lads gave one H - - - off an account of themselves to the very end. Still rankles with me that such a fine ship and her crew came to such a rotten end,on a par with The Hood. Probably feel it more because so many reletives served at sea.

Word choice is rather poetic, but I agree.

Well they get presered until chinese scrap haulers illegally steal all the metal from it. Imagine that, stealing from a grave site for nothing more than some money for the metal.

isnt it the complete opposite? Wont the rust be faster in salty water

@@philiprufus4427 More rotten end was HMAS Canberra who was sunk by a incompetent USA captain and it's crew. After a British Admiral said HMAS Canberra and her crew were a insult and embarrasment to the royal navy as never fired a shot and was sunk by a japanese ship. Years later the truth came out. no appolgy from Britain of course.

What's the name of the book?

Lovely story but who would know this besides her? Don't believe everything you hear

@@iwaswrongabouteveryhthing The author wrote, that German POWs remaining in australia after the war told him about it.

@@R.Lennartz It's called "Das große Abenteuer. Deutsche Hilfskreuzer 1939-45" Translated "The great adventure. German auxiliary cruisers 1939-45" Since it's written by a German it's not entirely unbiased, but it does a good job of combining letters and personal statements of the crews and POWs, aswell as Allied and Axis books and reports on the matter. I sadly don't think there is an english version of the book. It also has maps of each ships routes and black and white pictures the crews made, which do look very nice.

@@spyran5839 sounds like a great book. I have a copy of an english translation of Detmers' book. that one is... amazing in terms of learning what it was like to have been there. some ralyl weird stuff like how Detmers was trying to avoid the HMS Cornwall when he ran into Sydney...

Yes because by modern standards we can judge him.... FFS as a WSO impossible to say what they saw and knew.

@@goodshipkaraboudjan yes but he was warned that there was a possible auxiliary cruiser in the area but still continued to approach a vessel that continuously refused to properly identify itself

@@goodshipkaraboudjan Research the story and truth. this captain was known to get too close to unidentified ships. he was warned of this ship in the area and was told not to get too close also..Was complete captain error Not as bad as American captain sinking HMAS Canberra though.

​@@nedkelly9688what a shame

@nedkelly9688 "Not as bad as American captain sinking HMAS Canberra though." If you are implying that the Canberra was accidentally sunk by friendly fire, then the following quotes disagree. 1. Ref: www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/ww2_navy/savo "In the darkness of the early hours of the morning of 9 August 1942 the RAN heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra was severely damaged off Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands) in a surprise attack by a powerful Japanese naval force in an action that became known as the Battle of Savo Island. Canberra was hit 24 times in less than two minutes and 84 of her crew were killed including Captain Frank Getting. Following an order to abandon ship the Canberra was sunk the next day by a torpedo from a US destroyer." 2. Ref: www.navy.gov.au/history/feature-histories/battle-savo-island-loss-hmas-canberra-i "Admiral Turner ordered that Canberra (I) be abandoned and sunk if she could not raise steam. Once all survivors had been evacuated, Selfridge fired 263 5-inch shells and four torpedoes into Canberra (I) in an attempt to sink her. Eventually a torpedo fired by the destroyer Ellet administered the final blow."

Read about HMS Neptune in the Mediterranean in 1941. She was mined only a few miles off Tripoli. Crew of 765. One survivor.

AB Thomas Welsby Clarke made it off the ship and probably a few others, however the currents were not with them and only AB Clark who was unknown till last year was found washed up dead on Christmas Island

It’s now known at least one life raft managed to break free from Sydney with a survivor of the battle in it who sadly didn’t survive to make landfall, a sailor by the name of Thomas Clarke. He’s since been reburied with proper military honors. He did make it home, posthumously.

BS. There was one life raft recovered. It is now in the Canberra war memorial. It happens to be the Carley float assigned to my father.

​@seventytwo1001000 There were probably more bodies that washed up on indonesia and india

Wow! What a remarkable turn of events. I find it so hard to believe that my German friends and I, if born a couple of decades earlier, would have been trying to kill one another. War is a truly horrible, horrible thing.

@@OceanlinerDesigns True. I used to struggle with Anzac Day. As a child I used to hate the day, feelings of shame,guilt and the like. I often found myself lying about who my grandfather fought for. Times have changed and I can now talk about my grandfather's experiences. Our T

Did he ever talk to you about Sydney?

My grandfather's brother, Alfred Horwood Shepherd, was on HMAS Sydney that fateful day

@@johngordon9387 My condolences to you.

I once saw a British merchant marine crewman diary writing about the Murmansk run. What struck me was a depressing pages about all the dead whales he saw. Nature took a frightful beating in the oceans as well. But nobody ever talks about this aspect of war.

Except for the fact Sydney crew are wrongly portrayed wearing US Navy uniform at 12:03 and again at 15:15. A bit of carelessness in film selection.

It's the photos and yhe music he reallly spent time on the material

@@scottyfox6376 It's as big ocean. I suppose some might have been mistaken for submarines but, really, why would more than a very few whales be killed by Murmansk convoy combat? Your whining about this is both implausible and misplaced.

​@@scottyfox6376l have often wondered about that . Depth charging must have caused havoc with the marine life .... but nobody mentioned that.

HMAS Perth was her sister ship at lost at Sunda with the USS Houston, worth looking into that Battle. It's been called a "Knife fight in a phonebooth". HMAS Hobart, the third sister, had her bow blown off but a Royal Navy half sister that had been sunk was scrapped and the bow welded onto Hobart.

@@goodshipkaraboudjan i learned about that battle from.the front a few weeks ago insane how they managed to defend for that long

Thanks for writing your comment with details, that are interesting.

@@steadmanuhlich6734 Thanks for your comment, I am hoping someone can fill in the story with any additional details they may know. The article I read on this event stated that the Komoran's goal was to sink the Aquitania in these waters because this area off north-western Australia was such a barren stretch of coastline with very few inhabitants at that time. Nobody knew the Komoran was even there. They planned on using mines fields to try to slow down the liner, which had a speed of nearly 24 knots. If they couldn't manage to force the Aquitania to hit a mine, and thus slow her down or possibly even stop her, the Komoran would never be able to catch her. It's a very interesting account written by a newspaperman named Jim Davies.

You are correct

In fact it was Aquitania's rescue of the Germans that the loss of Sydney first became known

Huge implications for Australia. All we had were the 4 infantry divisions overseas!

@TheBellLife Shorts The "History" Channel wouldn't air it unless aliens were involved in the disappearance of the Sydney's crew. I do agree that it is broadcast worthy, though.

@mbryson2899 "Your graphics and photos were perfect"? 12:03 and 15:15 shows Sydney crew wearing US Navy uniform. Mike could have done better with selecting film footage.

Negligence on the part of the captain of the Sydney, the inexperience and unreadiness of the crew, as well as the Kormoran scoring some very lucky hits.

@@BHuang92 At that range, it wasn't luck.

@@BHuang92 I would say the ignorance and incompetent of the Captain.

that sounds like an amazing place to go diving O-o'

@@marhawkman303 my grandpa was in the Navy and served in Vietnam, he always said the time he was stationed in guam was the most beautiful place he’d ever seen. We always wanted to take a trip out there with him but sadly he’s passed now.

That sums up the first half of the 20th century pretty well

of the ships that it sank no 1 sent a message that they were being sunk by a wolf in sheeps clothin. so no 1 was lookin out for her. ok.

@@mnpd3 Incorrect there were numerous briefings that German commerce raiders were in the area. Capt Burnett should have displayed far more wariness in this case. The inquiry into the sinking of the Sydney talks to it.

@@mnpd3 If you watched the video you would know that what you said is a complete opposite of what actually happened :)

Heck, even Detmers was sad about it. Yeah, he was happy to have sunk Sydney, but he did everything he could to assist search and rescue efforts. Admittedly, that was mostly just telling them what condition the ship was and giving his best guess as to location, but he did so honestly and without hesitation.

Your evidence that the Navy knew where the Sydney was "for 70 years" ? And how did they know ? And how would concealing the location prevent the public from knowing that all aboard were lost ? The loss of the Sydney was reported in scores, and possibly hundreds of Australian newspapers by the first week in December 1941. Every next of kin of the crew would have received a telegram from the Navy advising of the tragedy. How does that fit with your absurd claim of a 'cover-up'?

@@Baskerville22 the captain of the Kormoran told the navy when he was captured ., for a start ., the real reason behind the sinking was NEVER announced only that the ship was sunk ., it would have been a huge embarrassment at the time but the many members of the Kormoran told them what happened ., it is not an “absurd theory “

@@richardgodber8369 Australia was at war. Thousands of Australians were being killed in N. Africa & the Middle-East, so why would any Government be "embarrassed" about 600 sailors being killed ? Your conspiracy theory about a "cover-up" IS absurd.

"What happened to those who got off the ship, and there must have been a good few?" Given that the bow suddenly broke away, it is likely they were taken by surprise by that, at the same time the ship would have sunk very fast. They would not have had time to launch any life raft under those circumstances... but sure, there must have been men in the water, but how long can men in the water last?

@@mystikmind2005 It is possible, even likely, that the bow section failed suddenly, but only conjecture. The sea was calm that night. With its watertight compartments undoubtedly closed, and whatever damage control still available being put to use, the Sydney should not have foundered so catastrophically that the crew topside did not even have the chance to clear away a couple of Carley floats, which by their nature were designed for quick release. The crew should all have been wearing life preservers too, given their precarious situation. Even if, in the confusion of sinking , the order to abandon ship never came, something should have remained floating, even if it were just wreckage, or bleached skeletons in life jackets to be discovered weeks, months later. Just seems incredible. Edit: but then of course a few weeks later, the Japanese had turned this stretch of ocean into hostile waters, which probably accounts for the fact that no floating remains were ever recovered. I should have thought of that before.

@@Phaaschh "The sea was calm that night" No, Have you ever been to the beach in calm weather and saw no waves? There is always a rolling swell. And a gentle rolling swell can exert significant stresses on a hull when the ship is weighted down with water.

@@Phaaschh Three months after HMAS Sydney, a Carley float with a dead sailor on board was recovered near Christmas Island. Locals speculated that the sailor and float came from Sydney, but with no proof it was only speculation. More recently, DNA retrieved from the sailor was compared to family members of the ship's crew, and it was announced late last year that the sailorhad been identified and named as part of HMAS Sydney's crew.

@@danwincen1 wow , I didn't know that. So at last, one member of Sydney's crew could finally be laid to rest. I hope it was with all due ceremony. RIP.

Your correct in regards to the crew being assigned to other ships, the picture of all of Sydney’s crew was taken while she was in the Mediterranean, captain collins is in the centre front of the picture. Most crew were transferred to the N class destroyers such as Napier and nizam before she left the Mediterranean.

@The Road Back Home: How was the crew inexperienced since Sidney was the first to open fire? The germans were better prepaired, true, but that applies to the german army in general. Also, Sidney scored hits on the Kormoran even after she herself was already badly damaged. An inexperienced crew couldn't do what the Sidney crew achieved. The Kormoran simply was the better fighting prepared ship.

@@legioner9 you do have a point , what you said pretty sums up just how debated and heated the debate is with what happened, and the truth is that we will never know why Sydney got so close ,and what captain Burnett was thinking. In saying that. 1. There were numerous cases of British cruisers got too close to suspected enemy raiders. 2. When Hmas Canberra sank a captured German supply ship , by using its main guns from a long distance , the captain was heavily criticised for using too much ammo, among the naval Officers involved in the inquiry was captain Burnett himself. More food for thought , p.s I edited my answer to correct what I said

@@keiranallcott1515 Well, I've read only your edited comment anyway. It is debatable as who fired first, although it is clear that the crew from Sidney was in fact experienced. That was my point. An inexperienced crew couldn't achieve the battle performance the crew from Sidney achieved, even more so, since Sidney took far more heavy damage than Kormoran. That is my point, and it's common-sense at this point. I don't know what the guy posting the main comment was thinking ...

@@legioner9 There had to be some form of inexperience - a fully trained crew would not have gotten that close that the ships guns couldn't depress far enough. 3 to 4 thousand yards is plenty. Any closer and you're asking for trouble.

Murphy was not involved only a pompous career-minded Australian Captain that disobeyed standing orders and killed his crew, all of them.

@@drats1279 Exactly.

Glad you enjoyed the tale!

You're not Australian, I take it?

I also had never heard the story of the Sydney, as an American. It is an account that everyone should know, as a reminder of the sacrifice during World War II.

That's great! It is all fascinating history :)

@@OceanlinerDesigns History can be amazing to learn about

A light cruiser, not a battleship. Big difference.

you would have written your comment in german.

It's extremely complicated Germany and Japan once the US entered where doomed, more so once the North African campaign was lost. (Equipment was lost that was never really replaced entirely. As the heat turned up in Europe, german production went to shit.)

Almost got away safely what a load of BS it sunk not long after from badly damaged. it's survivors washed up on Australia soil.

If they had better leadership, there wouldn't have been a war.

Jesus

Thanks! I was wondering what song that was

My criticism is for Churchill who chose to turn this into a Disasterous World War when it wasn't necessary in light of Hitler appealing to him to retract Britains declaration of War against Germany instead of letting it be after Dunkirk. The British were given a break there but obviously Churchill was put up to it by the Rothschild-Warburg Criminal Bankers with an Agenda that Germany only wanted Stop from coming to fruition which is their World Government which is only just around the corner now to the World's detriment as they've already all but totally destroyed Western Civilization and Churchill's insistence on War cost the British Everything and has brought the Western Governments down with her as well. Churchill and FDR betrayed not just their 2 countries but All of Western Civilization itself and I'm certain both are Burning in Hell Forever for this Zionist-Masonic Victory because Nobody else Won WW 2 but the Communist's!!

Myself as well. Thank you for identifying it!

Thanks Richard! I wanted to discuss Thomas' story but was simply short on time and I plan on exploring it in future episodes. :)

It seems amazing that there were no survivours from Sydney, and there was I seem o remember, a rumour that the Germans massacred all the remaining crew.

RAN re-dedication ceremony ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kFzo2MtXHHQ.html

@@stephenobrien5909 , based on the relative locations of the two wrecks, those rumours could not have been true. Also, have a look a the damage to the ship and the devastation that would have been caused to the boats after the hit on the Seagull, which spewed burning high octane aviation fuel all over them. It is entirely believable that none of the boats got away (in fact the remains of several are still in their davits), and that any Carley floats were lost at sea, as was the float picked up by the Centaur. Basically, every conspiracy theory that was floated between 1942 and 2008 was debunked by the finding and photographing of the two wrecks.

@@stephenobrien5909 one theory is the bow snapping off didn't give the survivors enough time to get in the anything left of the boats and rafts.

Good stuff Tim, welcome aboard!

most certainly the Kormoran was a dangerous vessel

Thanks so much for watching!

Yeah, your grandfather is immortal.

He could've send a recon plane to search the Kormoran from the distance and should raise the alarm for the crew to be alert and man their battlestations but the captain neglected every advantage the Sydney has and allow the Kormoran to prepare for their single tactical advantage to score some very lucky hits.

@@BHuang92 Kormoran scored multiple hits on the Sidney, basically almost every shot fired, it also deployed torpedoes which hit Sidney. The Kormoran simply had better fighting ability. So no, you are not right about the "lucky hits". It amazes me that to this day there are people who still are butthurt that the germans defeated the brittish in direct battle. Remember that Germany lost the war because it had to fight all other worlds super powers, but 1 vs 1 in almost all battles it was the winner, and many times it had to just retreat because of lack of equipment and soldiers.

@@BHuang92 It might have interesting to have heard the interplay on the bridge of HMAS Sydney between the ineperienced captain and the (presumeably) more experienced XO and gunnery officer when they made the approach to Kormoran.

@@BHuang92 There was very little luck involved in Kormoran's shooting. The whole point of Detmers ruse was to lure the Sydney in close enough that his gunners could hit their targets quickly and decisively, before the Sydney could respond. At a range of only a few hundred metres, the Kormoran's heavy guns taking out the forward turrets and the 37mm gun raking the bridge were near certainties - not lucky hits. Where Kormoran was lucky was Sydney's inexperienced captain falling for their ruse in the first place.

@@legioner9 Mate, the ship is called the HMAS SYDNEY, so show them the respect by getting the name right from the start, SYDNEY… SYDNEY….. SYDNEY…… sure you’ll remember that now? And it was manned by Australian crew, another fact you keep ballsing up in your Eddie the Expert commentary. Burnett got it all wrong.. the plane should have done the flyovers and as soon as they did not meet the challenges correctly he should have taken defensive action from distance. All crew should have been at battle stations as a given. The SYDNEY should have been at distance where her fully depressed guns would still be able to hit the enemy. Another bad mistake by Burnett. The man was too inexperienced in hindsight and was one of the major causes of the loss of 645 men. “”Germany lost the war because it had too fight all the other superpowers !! 1v1 it was always the winner??? “” Hmmm!!! Let’s see now?? Occupies Western Europe, unprovoked attack on Poland, not a modern army, France - hahaha all talk and hot air - and with a traitorous Vichy element - dogs!! And brave Netherlands, Norway, Denmark.. but not that small island across the water from France.. then you decide to back door the Russians - another great move by Germany- arrogance and stupidity to fight on 2 opposing fronts. I’m trying to think what happened when all the great empires of the world tried to do that?? Not often because it’s suicide. So dial down the Germany is so great routine pal and stick to the right facts. Battle of Britain (RAF) - lost, Battle of Alamein (8th Army)- lost, Kursk, Stalingrad - lost - actually the whole Eastern Front was v 1 Nation. Bismarck - lost to the RN, Scharnhorst - lost to the RN, Tirpitz, sunk by 617 Sqn. They had brilliant individual military commanders but the country was led by an imbecile who was also a thug & nut job

If there were any survivors of the Sydney, the captain would've been court martialed for negligence........

@@BHuang92 Speaking of which, it's truly tragic that none out of the 645 survived. It makes me wonder if the entire crew had perished from their wounds and in the raging fires long before the ship itself went under.

​@@enpakeksi765 I doubt that I'd be surprised if half the crew was killed but surely even if 40% of the crew was knocked out you'd think that but still be enough men in order to try and save the ship they most likely fought on into the night trying to save the vessel the torpedo hit combined with the fires and the destruction of the number one and number two turret probably made that whole area uninhabitable they probably couldn't even get to the damage section of the ship in order to stop the flooding they most likely went down trying to save it instead of themselves

The Aussie who blinked first.

The Kororman blew up later about 70 crew were killed poss more - they didn't win exactly.

well, you are very easy to impress. no wonder we are going to get extinct ...

From what I can see all the blame is on the Captain of the Sydney for not having the crew on high alert also for the multiple mistakes he made, terrible loss.

it was far out on the sea, most liferafts was likely destroyed during the battle, and the search for Sydney started only several days after, as no distress call was sent. they hardly even knew were to search....

Those where big ships with large crews. More chances that some won the lottery of survival.

A huge number of crew was reportedly on deck during the closing and killed by the light AA fire. Its probably a contibuting factor why she sank. Its a good chance 50% of the died before the battle was over.

Also something your forgetting. Every single ship listed had other ships present to perform rescue efforts. All of those survivors where from people pulled from the water. Sydney may have had sailors get into the water to only drown/die of exposure. Because the radio room was likely destroyed no distress signal was sent and there was no rescue attempt.

Australians didn't know about the sinking of Sidney until they captured first German lifeboats. That was 4 days after the battle.

Lest we forget

Sure he was. Everyone has a false story.

The u boat war , was second to none victory and loses. but a hell of a war

excellent comander Komoran, hmmm

You must have done some further research because I commented about the depths Not being mentioned here having mentioned them being discovered and a couple of photos shown but no other info in that regard and was scrolling the comments to see if anyone had such details. I'll see about finding that information myself. I also find it odd there was not even one survivor of the Sydney being it took hours or so to sink and not instantly.

@@constitution_8939 they're supposedly 2500 meters deep

@@constitution_8939 My guess? The Crew of Sydney had no reason to abandon ship until the bow detached, and at that point they have only a few minutes. I suspect most of those who hadn't died in the firefight died trying to save their ship. If they'd known a sudden catastrophic failure was coming they'd have probably abandoned ship much like Detmers ordered.

@@marhawkman303 The fires would have assured a Much earlier departure, No chances would have been taken.

@@constitution_8939 how can you be sure of that though? Yes, the fires were a severe problem, but... if you can save the ship that's far better than jumping overboard. miles from land.

Thanks so much, Gravscool!

Thanks so much!

Well written and expressed

Doesn't matter! They were decimated by Russia on the Eastern front, and Japan was obliterated by the Ultimate weapon.

yes let`s forget this small unimportant incident and remember only the glorious victories over terrible german small cruisers

@@michaelpielorz9283 I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not, but let's talk about Emden more for sure!

Military incompetence again. Why the hell they never launched that floatplane at a minimum??

@@michaelpielorz9283 Emden's captain and crew were respected for their honor, they went into that fight knowing it was do or die as naval tradition demanded.

More than a coincidence too. Both Sydney cruisers engaged in combat with German raiders, about only 2000km from each other , almost the exact date (by ten days), 27 years later. I remember having read in some of the Kormoran’s men accounts, about these coincidences, mentioned among Detmers and the ship’s doctor, still on route to lay mines, when in few days or hours the alarm raised aboard.

Welcome aboard! :)