Undersea 'detectives' End The Agony That Has Tormented Two Generations

The Age

Tuesday March 18, 2008

Brendan Nicholson, Defence Correspondent, With John Huxley

RIDING a light swell off Western Australia's Shark Bay on Sunday, crew members on the search vessel SV Geosounder crowded around a screen in its control room, watching a trail of debris on the ocean floor almost 2.5 kilometres below.

It was 10.03am when a distinctive shape crossed the starboard side of the screen. Search co-ordinator David Mearns, a veteran wreck hunter credited with finding the the German battleship Bismarck, identified the object as man-made and ordered another sweep past it.

The second viewing confirmed what they had been hoping: there lay the wreck of HMAS Sydney, upright on the seabed where it had gone down 66 years earlier in a battle with the German raider Kormoran.

It appeared that part of the Australian cruiser's bow had broken away and Mr Mearns suggested this was "the trigger that finally caused Sydney to sink".

The discovery of the wreck - a tomb for the 645 Australian sailors who went down with it on November 19, 1941- came just over 24 hours after searchers found the Kormoran about 10 nautical miles away, using a "side-scan SONAR" system that uses sound waves to create a picture what is on the seabed.

As the realisation sank in that, after years of intense preparation and 16 days into the search, they had found the Australian warship, the tears began to flow.

Glenys McDonald, author of Seeking the Sydney - A Quest for Truth, was among those on the search ship. "There she lay, looking proud and poignant. HMAS Sydney had been found," she said. "This was the ship that had taken the hopes and dreams of 645 families to the bottom of the ocean. There was jubilation from all, and a few tears from me."

Mr Mearns and Ms McDonald rang Ted Graham, chairman of Finding Sydney Foundation, who passed on the news to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Australia's defence chiefs.

"I spoke to Ted, and this six foot seven inch giant of a man was overcome," Ms McDonald said. "We unashamedly cried together. Even though we deserve our moment of jubilation after such a long and difficult journey to this moment in time, we have not forgotten that this was where we lost our men.

"I went up to the back deck and leant over the railing and cried and gave thanks."

Mr Rudd said the Sydney's discovery would begin a process of closure for families of the warship's crew. "It's also a time for the nation to reflect on the bravery of all of those who gave their lives in defence of their country in this particularly bloody and brutal naval engagement."

Mr Rudd said the site would be protected as a war grave and would not be disturbed. "It is very important to understand that this is a tomb," he said.

Mr Graham said the Geosounder would return to Geraldton on Thursday or Friday to pick up a remotely operated mini-submarine equipped with high-resolution cameras. It would be used to examine the wrecks of the Sydney, the Kormoran and the debris on the battle site.

"We are going to be working in very deep water with high technology and sometimes things don't quite go to plan so it might take us a while to get some proper photography back.

Navy chief Vice-Admiral Russ Shalders said it was hoped that the mini-sub's remote cameras would help solve the remaining mystery of what happened to the Sydney.

Members of the team that found the wreck rejected theories that the search had been deliberately delayed by governments for decades. Keith Rowe, director of the Finding Sydney Foundation, said: "I can now say unequivocally that the find puts to bed any conspiracy theory about the whereabouts of ship, and the damage it sustained."

No knowledge had been withheld in the past by government, he said. "We have been using information that has been researched over a long period of time. There is nothing secretive.

"The timing is explained entirely by three things: funding, expertise and technology which have come together at the same time and produced results," Mr Rowe said from Perth.

"Raising funds has always been an arduous task," said Mr Rowe. "By and large, corporate Australia has taken the view that it is the Federal Government's job to find its ship, its employees."

The expedition was eventually made possible after the former Howard government provided $4.2 million in two lots, and the Western Australia and NSW governments came up with $500,000 and $250,000 respectively.

It was no coincidence that it has been only in the past 20 years that new, high-powered, high-resolution sonar equipment, which first started demonstrating its worth in the rediscovery of the Titanic in 1985, has become available.

The catalyst for matching funding with the improved technology, that made feasible investigation of a target area of more than 1800 square nautical miles of ocean, was the recruitment of the experienced Mr Mearns as search director. -- With JOHN HUXLEY

HMAS SYDNEY

HER LAST HOURS...

...AND WHERE SHE RESTS

HMAS Sydney was sunk on November 19, 1941. Not one member of the battleship's 645-man crew survived what is Australia's greatest naval tragedy.

All that is known of the ship's sinking comes from survivors of the German raider Kormoran, which sunk the Sydney before itself going under. As best as the navy has been able to piece together, the Kormoran opened fire around 5.30pm. It is likely that the raider's first salvo destroyed Sydney's bridge, immediately putting her primary control out of action.

Sydney's guns opened fire almost simultaneously with a full salvo that missed the Kormoran.

Kormoran again scored hits on Sydney, with two salvos hitting her bridge and midships section.

Kormoran fired her last shot at 6.25pm at a range of about 10,000 metres. In all, she fired approximately 450 rounds from her main armament and hundreds from her anti-aircraft batteries.

As night closed in, the Germans could see only a distant glare from Sydney, then occasional flickerings until midnight, when all trace of the Australian ship disappeared.

Last week, searchers aboard the SV Geosounder found the wreck of the Kormoran about 110 nautical miles off Steep Point WA. The search for HMAS Sydney continued.

At 10:30 on Sunday, the Geosounder saw a small dark shape on the starboard side of its sonar scanner. In an otherwise featureless seabed this had all the characteristics of a major shipwreck.

The wreck, in 2468 metres of water was measured and its position plotted. It was about 10.2 nautical miles south-east of the battle site and 12.2 nautical miles from the wreck of the Kormoran. The searchers concluded that HMAS Sydney had been found.

The searchers then carried out several high-resolution sonar passes over the wreck. These produced a good image of the wreck lying on the seabed and provided an indication that part of the ship, possibly her bow, may have broken away from her as she limped away, causing her to sink. This tentative assessment will have to be confirmed using a submarine.

SOURCE: AAP/THE FINDING SYDNEY FOUNDATION

© 2008 The Age

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