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Image Not Available for HMAS SYDNEY II and HSK KORMORAN commemorative stamps
HMAS SYDNEY II and HSK KORMORAN commemorative stamps
Image Not Available for HMAS SYDNEY II and HSK KORMORAN commemorative stamps

HMAS SYDNEY II and HSK KORMORAN commemorative stamps

Maker
Date2008
Object number00048255
NameStamps
MediumInk, adhesive paper
DimensionsOverall: 90 x 130 mm
ClassificationsCommemorative artefacts
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThe wreck of HMAS SYDNEY II was located on 16 March 2008 off the coast of Steep Point, Western Australia, 67 years after its loss. The search was led by the FINDING SYDNEY FOUNDATION with the support and agreement of the Commonwealth government. Sonar equipment was used to locate the wreck and after the discovery, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) were used to access both wrecks and surrounding debris in the area. Video imagery and still imagery were recorded. The loss of HMAS SYDNEY on 19 November 1941, following the hostile engagement with the German raider KORMORAN, was Australia's second-most costly maritime disaster in terms of loss of life. 645 men - the cruiser's entire crew - perished as a result of this action. When news of the disaster leaked out, its impact on morale on the home front was devastating; so many families being affected by the loss of a father, a husband, a son, a nephew or an uncle. This toll has been eclipsed only by the deaths of more than 1,000 Australian POWs and civilian internees in July 1942 when the Japanese transport ship MONTEVIDEO MARU - bound for Japan - was torpedoed by a US submarine in the Philippine Sea. The KORMORAN also sank, but only 78 of her crew died as a result of the action and subsquent sinking; more than 300 men were rescued several days later and taken to Geraldton for processing as prisoners of war. With the loss of all of the Australian crew, the only eyewitness accounts of the action were from KORMORAN survivors. Regrettably this circumstance - and the initial secrecy and misinformation on the part of Australian defence authorities about the loss of the SYDNEY - led to the circulation of many rumours and to the genesis of accusations regarding an official cover up. However, conspiracy theories as have been expounded have no basis in fact, nor any supporting evidence to substantiate them. Nevertheless suspicion and many theories about official complicity in a cover up held sway for decades and in some cases predicated efforts carried out in the 1970s and early 1980s to locate the sites of the wrecks, especially of the SYDNEY. With the advent of modern oceanographic technology, capable of detailed sonar imaging and of deploying sophisticated remote-sensing devices, searches could be carried out more methodically and at greater depths. On 17 March 2008 the Australian Government announced that the wreckage of both HMAS SYDNEY and the German raider KORMORAN had been found; KORMORAN lying at a depth of 2,560 metres; while the SYDNEY, located approximately 12 nautical miles away, is at 2,470 metres. The relative location of both wrecks and the deposition of debris found between the two sites confirmed the account of the action given by the KORMORAN's German captain Theodor Detmers. HistoryHMAS SYDNEY was built by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd at Wallsend on Tyne in 1933 and launched in 1934 by Mrs Bruce, wife of the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Named for the Australian city of Sydney and for the first HMAS SYDNEY, which had successfully engaged the German raider SMS EMDEN off Cocos Island in World War I, HMAS SYDNEY was one of three Leander class light cruisers operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Ordered initially for the Royal Navy as HMS PHAETON, the cruiser was purchased by the Australian government and renamed prior to its launch in 1934. During the early years of operational history, SYDNEY enforced sanctions during the Abyssinian crisis, and after the beginning of World War II was assigned to convoy escort and patrol duties in Australian waters until May 1940. SYDNEY then joined the British Mediterranean Fleet on an eight-month deployment; during this time she sank two Italian warships, participated in multiple shore bombardments, and provided protection to convoys, receiving only minimal damage and no casualties. Upon her triumphant return to Australia in February 1941, the SYDNEY's crew was feted in her home port and later resumed convoy escort and patrol duties in Australian waters. On 19 November 1941, HMAS SYDNEY was involved in a mutually destructive engagement with the German auxiliary cruiser KORMORAN, and was lost with all 645 men on board. The KORMORAN also sank, with a loss of 78 of her complement of 399. The exact location of the wreck sites of both ships was unknown until 2008. SYDNEY’s demise is attributed to the fact that while signalling to determine the KORMORAN's true identity she came in too close, giving KORMORAN, which was masking as the Dutch ship STRAAT MALAKKA, such advantages as total surprise and rapid, accurate fire when no longer able to pretend she was a Dutch vessel. The auxiliary cruiser KORMORAN was a German Navy merchant raider of World War II. Originally a passenger vessel named STEIERMARK, the ship was acquired by the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) following the outbreak of war for conversion into a raider. Administered by the Kriegsmarine under the designation 'Schiff 41' (Ship 41), to Allied navies it was referred to as 'Raider G'. As the largest merchant raider operated by the Kriegsmarine during World War II, KORMORAN was responsible for the destruction of ten merchant vessels and the capture of an eleventh during her 11-month marauding career in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. However, damage sustained during the battle with the SYDNEY prompted the scuttling and subsequent abandonment of the KORMORAN; the vessel actually blew up before she sank - after a fire on board, caused by one of SYDNEY's hits, reached a storeroom full of high explosive sea mines. 318 of the 399 on board the German ship survived on life rafts or in the ship's boats and were later rescued. They were eventually placed in prisoner of war camps until they were repatriated in the course of 1946/47. KORMORAN’s success against SYDNEY is widely attributed to a number of key factors: the proximity of the two ships during the engagement, the raider's advantage of surprise and her crew's ability to concentrate rapid, accurate fire on vital parts of SYDNEY's hull, gun turrets, bridge and superstructure. Prior to the discovery of the wrecks in 2008, the fact of the cruiser's loss with all hands, compared with the survival of most of the German crew, appeared incredulous and created controversy; it also spawned numerous conspiracy theories. Some opinions also alleged that the German commander, Theodor Detmers, had used underhand and illicit ruses to lure SYDNEY into range; others alleged that a Japanese submarine had been involved, and that the true details of the battle were concealed by Australian defence authorities through a major cover up. SignificanceThese stamps are representative of the items produced for the public to commemorate the discovery of the wreck of HMAS SYDNEY II on 16 March 2008.