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ILL-FATED SHIP: The HMAS Sydney in Sydney Harbour before the fatal battle with a German ship. It went down in 1941 with 645 sailors on board. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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CANBERRA - AUSTRALIA'S greatest military mystery was solved yesterday as a World War II warship which went down with all 645 crew members in a fierce battle with a German vessel more than 66 years ago was discovered.
A day after searchers located the wreck of the German merchant raider HSK Kormoran off the West Australian coast, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said they had also found the Australian battlecruiser HMAS Sydney, sunk by the German ship.
Mr Rudd said it was 'a historic day for all Australians, and a sad day for all Australians'. 'It's very important to understand that this is a tomb and there are 645 Australian sailors entombed there,' he said, adding that both ships would be declared war graves.
The sinking of the HMAS Sydney is Australia's greatest naval tragedy, with all hands lost after a 30-minute battle with the German ship on Nov19, 1941. The cruiser was also the biggest ship lost with no survivors from any World War II nation, historians said.
The Sydney was found intact by a government-funded research ship at a depth of 2,470m, about 240km west of Shark Bay, off the coast of Western Australia, lying 22km from the Kormoran.
REUTERS
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