Sydney photos deepen mystery of lost crew
April 04, 2008 05:56pm
Article from: NEWS.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23482871-2,00.html <---for video and picsSHE still sits proudly upright on the ocean floor, but the first images of HMAS Sydney show the terrible destruction wrought on the warship by German guns.
Photos released today may also only deepen the mystery of why none of the Sydney's crew survived its battle with the German raider Kormoran off the West Australian coast in November 1941.
They show all Sydney's lifeboats missing, suggesting sailors may have escaped the sinking warship to an unknown fate.
Coloured a deep shade of blue by the Indian Ocean, photos taken 2.5km down by a remotely-operated submersible vehicle (ROV), and released today by the Finding Sydney Foundation, clearly show the damage inflicted on the Sydney.
The foundation says both funnels and masts are gone, shell holes have punched neatly through gun turrets, the bow is completely missing and there is "severe punishment" to the bridge and superstructure, which were known to have been targeted by the Kormoran's guns.
The peeling back of the ship's side in one area could have been the result of a torpedo strike from the Kormoran, says observer and naval historian John Perryman.
On the other hand Sydney's four big gun turrets remain, its guns pointing to port, and even the teak deck is visible in places.
"Although in a badly damaged state, this great warship retains a powerful aura, in her final resting place off the Western Australian coast," says Mr Perryman, in his analysis of the footage from the survey vessel Geosounder.
Search director David Mearns said the name Sydney was not visible anywhere on the sunken hulk.
"But there was no mistaking that the wreck before us was that of HMAS Sydney," he says in a web diary detailing the progress of the search.
The wreck of the Sydney was found last month – 66 years after it was lost with all its 645 crew – 250km off the coast of Western Australia. The wreck of the Kormoran was found nearby.
The photos provoked strong emotions today in people like Brisbane man Royce Laycock, 70, who was four years old when his father perished in the battle.
Mr Laycock said the photos show the Sydney was the target of a precise attack.
"They must have been blown out of the water," he said after seeing the photos.
"I'd say the bridge would have gone first and that's probably why there was no survivors.
"It's not random shooting, it's been precise shooting."
Mr Laycock has collected every piece of information he could over the years and said the new images would bring some closure.
The team aboard the Geosounder have much more work to do in a limited time, with an uncertain period of calm weather ahead and a technical fault hampering the ROV.
"Nevertheless, the underwater visibility is superb and we intend to collect as much video and photographic imagery as we possibly can after the ROV is recovered and repaired," Mr Mearns said.
Glenys McDonald, a director of the Finding Sydney Foundation and an observer aboard Geosounder, said she cried as the images emerged.
"I could not help it," she said.
"Because I could anticipate what these photographs were going to mean for so many of the relatives of the crew that I had come to know and love over the years."
Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said the wreck had not been touched by the ROV, and nothing had been retrieved from the Sydney, which is to be treated as a war grave.
What ultimately happened to the Sydney's crew, including claims surviving sailors were killed by the enemy on the surface, will be be considered by commissioner
Topic: Sydney photos deepen mystery of lost crew ~lest we forget~ (Read 827 times)