Several years ago, the Australian government allocated $ 4 million for research that was supposed to provide an answer to one of the burning secrets of World War II.
We are talking about the cruiser "Sydney", whose death in a battle with the German raider "Cormoran" off the western shores of the "green continent" on November 19, 1941 shook the whole of Australia, became a national tragedy.
Not one of the crew of 645 people survived, they all disappeared without a trace …
FIGHTER "KUPTSOV"
Soon after World War II broke out in Europe, the German Navy received 11 so-called auxiliary cruisers at its disposal.
In fact, these were yesterday's cargo and passenger ships, urgently converted into warships.
Lacking full-fledged weapons and armor, speed and maneuverability, they were intended to destroy and capture enemy merchant ships, lay minefields on remote sea lanes, and also to carry out patrol and convoy service.
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In fact, these were raider ships.
Among them was the cruiser "Cormoran", converted from the cargo ship "Steiermark".
It now carried six 150 mm guns, two anti-aircraft guns, four torpedo tubes, several large-caliber machine guns, as well as two Arado reconnaissance aircraft and a light torpedo boat.
The number of the crew was 393 people.
On its first "military" voyage, the Cormoran left in early December 1940, heading for the South Atlantic.
There he hunted for merchant ships, and also served as a supply ship for German submarines on long voyages, which even made their way to the mouth of the Amazon and into the Caribbean.
In April 1941, the Cormoran, along with another auxiliary cruiser Atlantis, relocated to the vast Indian Ocean.
In total, the "Cormoran", which earned the nickname "fighter of" merchants ", had ten sunk ships.
But on November 19 of the same year, luck turned away from the raider.
Disguised as a Norwegian flag, she laid mines along the west coast of Australia and at about five o'clock in the evening was spotted from the Australian cruiser Sydney, which had the advantage of speed and had incomparably greater firepower.
Suffice it to say that the firing range of Sydney's main caliber guns exceeded 100 cables (more than 18.5 km), which allowed it to be out of the reach of the German slug raider.
It seemed the Cormoran was doomed.
And then his commander - Captain 2nd Rank Detmers decided to resort to military trick.
CAPTAIN DETMERS'S MILITARY CLEANING
Detmers ordered his crew to simulate a fire on the ship, and ordered the radio operator to broadcast an SOS signal. In general, this created the illusion that a "peaceful" merchant ship sailing under the Norwegian flag was
was in distress as a result of the attack of a certain sea pirate hiding somewhere nearby, and asked for help.
And indeed, a huge cloud of smoke enveloping the German raider misled the captain of the Sydney, Joseph Burnet.
By his order, the cruiser lay down to drift, and the team began to prepare boats to help the "merchant". Such complacency reigned on the deck of the Sydney that almost all the sailors who were not on duty gathered here. Meanwhile, the Germans, maneuvering, approached the Australian cruiser at a distance of about a kilometer. The Sydney, sideways to them, was now the perfect target.
The Cormoran fired two torpedoes and then fired a series of volleys from all of its guns and machine guns. The Australian received serious damage, but did not lose its buoyancy and combat capability. After a brief confusion among the gunners, his main guns opened fire. One of the shells hit the engine room of the raider, and he was now on fire. The flames crept to the mine cellar, which threatened to smash the Cormoran to pieces.
Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the Germans threw out the white flag. The surviving members of the crew got into the boats, hoping that the Australian, who was still afloat, would pick them up.
And then something inexplicable happened. A powerful explosion occurred on the Sydney. The ship broke in two and quickly disappeared into the depths.
The Germans nevertheless managed to overcome 150 kilometers by sea on their overloaded boats and reach the Australian coast, where they were interned. Of the 393 crew members, most survived - 313 people, the rest, mostly died in battle. But from the Sydney team, no one escaped, not a single person, although both crews were in approximately equal conditions. What could have happened to the Australian sailors?
THIRD FORCE
During subsequent interrogations, the captured Germans gave confused testimonies that did not allow any specific conclusion about the reasons for the fleeting death of Sydney. Various versions were put forward on this score after the war.
According to one of them, the Australian cruiser was sunk by a torpedo fired from a Japanese submarine, which made its way into the area specifically to meet with the Cormoran and participate in subsequent joint operations.
Furthermore. When the Sydney sank, the Japanese submarine rose to the surface, and the members of its crew began to cold-bloodedly shoot the Australian sailors floundering in the water.
The Japanese did not need extra witnesses. That is why none of the Sydney crew survived.
As for the Germans, they supposedly agreed not to talk about this bloody massacre, so that the Australians would not accuse them of indirect involvement in a war crime, for which a severe punishment was imposed.
According to another version of the same version, the captured Germans still told Australian investigators about the Japanese submarine.
The Australian authorities allegedly transmitted this information to London and Washington. But at that very period, the Americans and the British were conducting secret negotiations with Tokyo, hoping to conclude a pact of neutrality with the Land of the Rising Sun. The disclosure of the fact of the Japanese submarine attack on the Sydney could disrupt the diplomatic probe, so all documents on the incident were either classified or destroyed, and the prisoners from the German raider were ordered to remain silent …
Even many years later, when the British Admiralty declassified its official report on this event, experts found so many ridiculous inconsistencies in its text that it confused the overall picture even more.
LASER METHOD
At the turn of the 20th century, experts at the Western Australian Maritime Museum and the World Geophysical Corporation developed a method by which it was possible to pinpoint the site of Sydney's sinking with great accuracy.
It was about the latest laser technology. The fact is that even after many years from the ships resting on the seabed, the leakage of oil and fuel oil continues. However, this happens in such scanty quantities that special equipment is needed to detect traces of a leak.
It was then that Professor Don Pridmore, one of the project leaders, drew attention to a laser that can detect the presence of engine oil or fuel oil in seawater, even if their concentration does not exceed one ten-thousandth of a milligram.
After the Australian government provided the necessary funds, the operation entered its final phase.
The search began in early April 2008, and two weeks later, the wreckage of the Sydney was found at the bottom, at a depth of 2.5 km.
And after a while, the researchers found nearby and the building of "Cormoran".
A team of experts led by experienced expert Terence-Cole prepared a 1,500-page report.
The place of the shipwreck, which is located 150 km west of Shark Bay, washing the westernmost point of the "green continent", is marked on the map and declared a military burial.
But to determine the true cause of the death of "Sydney" and to put an end to this tragic story, a new expedition to the cruiser hull, using deep-sea technology, will be required.
