The loss of HMAS Sydney II Commission of Inquiry Report was released by the Minister for Defence, Senator John Faulkner, in Canberra today. “This report offers Australians confirmation of the circumstances surrounding the loss of HMAS Sydney II, and I thank the President of the Commission of Inquiry, Terence Cole, for his painstaking work,” Senator Faulkner said. The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, AC, AFC said HMAS Sydney II was lost with all hands on 19 November 1941, following an engagement with the German raider, HSK Kormoran, off the Western Australian coast.

“For a long time our nation has struggled to understand how our greatest maritime disaster occurred. The unanswered questions have haunted the families of those brave sailors and airmen that never came home,” Air Chief Marshal Houston said. President of the Commission, the Honourable Terence Cole, AO, RFD, QC, said that the Inquiry’s key findings confirm that “accounts provided by the HSK Kormoran survivors of Sydney II’s last movements and of the damage she sustained during the engagement with the German raider are correct.”

When Sydney was lost, the Commanding Officer of HMAS Sydney II was performing his military duty in seeking to identify an unknown ship. “The Commanding Officer of HMAS Sydney II was not expecting to encounter any merchant ship in the location where he encountered Kormoran. That knowledge together with his knowledge of the possible presence of a German raider should have caused the sighted vessel to be treated as suspicious,” Mr Cole said.

Another key finding is that there is now additional compelling evidence to support the conclusion that the body recovered from Christmas Island in 1941 is that of a member of HMAS Sydney II’s ship’s company. Mr Cole further concluded that “each of the many frauds, theories and speculations reported to the Inquiry were thoroughly investigated and none were found to have any substance whatsoever.”Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Russ Crane, AM, CSM, RAN encouraged those with an interest in HMAS Sydney II to read the report and reflected that the loss of HMAS Sydney II needs to be viewed in context of the times.

“An appreciation of the training, tactics and procedures of the time and the particular circumstances of the day in question, including the fact that merchant vessels frequently did not properly respond to queries by warships, must be taken into account to help understand why HMAS Sydney II approached so close to HSK Kormoran,” Vice Admiral Crane said.

“In 1941 and today, command at sea of one of HMA Ships is an extremely complex and challenging job in a very harsh and unforgiving environment. This is even more-so during times of conflict. The crewmembers of HMAS Sydney II were highly trained professionals doing a tough job, in a period of war. They took great pride in the fact that they were defending Australia, our values and our way of life,” Vice Admiral Crane added.