The Sinking of HMAS Sydney

How Sailors lived, fought and died in
Australia’s greatest naval disaster

By Tom Lewis
Published by Big Sky Publishing
RRP $32.99 in paperback | ISBN 9781923004320

HMAS Sydney was the pride of the fleet during the Second World War – a light cruiser and one of Australia’s main combat vessels.

On 19th November 1941 – two years into the war and almost a month before the Japanese launched their attack on Pearl Harbor – the Sydney engaged in a fierce and bloody battle with the disguised German raider Kormoran off the coast of Western Australia. Both ships were sunk, with no survivors from the 645-strong crew of the Sydney, leading to suspicion and speculation about what had occurred.

Following this action, the Sydney failed to return to port. This single ship engagement remains Australia’s greatest naval disaster.

The wreck was not discovered until 2008.

In this book, noted naval historian Tom Lewis has pieced together the full story of how those on board lived, worked and died and how naval warfare is undertaken.

First rule of war: identify that ship you’ve spotted on the horizon. A copy of Jane’s Fighting Ships was essential kit, it seems.

Some survivors from the Kormoran were picked up by the hospital ship Centaur, which was later to meet a watery grave off the Queensland coast, sunk by a Japanese submarine, in complete disregard of its status.

This is a highly-detailed book that seeks to explain how a naval ship operates in wartime.

Lewis also examines some of the ridiculous conspiracy theories surrounding the loss of the ship.

In the end, the accounts of the Kormoran survivors were consistent with the wreckage found at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Sydney sustained too much damage in the attack to survive, coming too close to the Kormoran, suggesting the captain, Joseph Burnett, was indeed deceived by the Kormoran’s appearance as a harmless merchant vessel.

Verdict: This is a fascinating book that illuminates an eighty-year-old mystery in unexpected ways.