From Great Depths
From Great Depths

Author: M. McCarthy

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 9781742589336

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Long considered one of the world's most significant wartime mysteries, the fateful dusk encounter between HMAS Sydney (II) and the German raider Kormoran stands as Australia's single largest naval disaster. The loss of both ships on the night of 19 November 1941 with Sydney's full war complement of men and boys sparked a growing mystery spanning sixty-six years for Australia's most famous fighting ship and for one of Germany's best known raiders. The 2008 discovery of the wrecks captured the imagination of two young researchers who dreamt and then lived their impossible dream -- bringing what lies in total darkness on the seabed nearly three kilometres beneath the waves and over 100 kilometres from the coast to the surface for all to experience. From Great Depths features the results of their astounding success, presenting absolutely stunning underwater photography and fascinating new discoveries, brought together with inspiring and heartrending personal accounts of wartime service on the ships, and their fierce battle with the devastating loss of over 700 souls from both sides.

HMAS Sydney
HMAS Sydney

Author: Tom Frame

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Published: 2012-06-01

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0733628745

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The complete and authoritative account of the sinking of the HMAS Sydney, and the recent finding of her wreck. On 19 November 1941, the pride of the Australian Navy, the light cruiser Sydney, fought a close-quarters battle with the German armed raider HSK Kormoran off Carnarvon on the West Australian coast. Both ships sank ? and not one of the 645 men on board the Sydney survived. Was Sydney?s captain guilty of negligence by allowing his ship to manoeuvre within range of Kormoran?s guns? Did the Germans feign surrender before firing a torpedo at the Sydney as she prepared to despatch a boarding party? This updated edition covers the recent discovery of the wreck ? with the light this sheds on the events of that day 67 years ago, and the closure it has brought to so many grieving families. `Tom Frame has produced the most comprehensive and compelling account of the loss of HMAS Sydney to date. His judgements are fair and his conclusions reasoned. If you only read one book on this tragic event in Australian naval history, and want all the facts and theories presented in a balanced way, Tom Frame?s book is for you? - Vice Admiral Russ Shalders AO CSC RANR Chief of Navy, 2005-08.

The Search for the Sydney
The Search for the Sydney

Author: David L. Mearns

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780732288891

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Tells the action-packed story of the hunt for the Sydney - and the Kormoran - and reveals what really happened on that fateful day in November 1941.

Flagship
Flagship

Author: Mike Carlton

Publisher: Random House Australia

Published: 2018-08

Total Pages: 651

ISBN-13: 085798778X

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In 1924, when the grand old battle cruiser HMAS Australia I, once the pride of the nation, was sunk off Sydney Heads, there was a day of national mourning. In 1928, the RAN acquired a new ship of the same name, the fast, heavy cruiser HMAS Australia II, and she finally saw action when World War II began, patrolling the North Atlantic on the lookout for German battleships. By March 1942, Australia had returned home, where the ship was stunned by a murder. One night one of her sailors, Stoker Riley, was found stabbed. Before he died, he named his two attackers, and the two men were found guilty and sentenced to death under British Admiralty law. Only weeks later Australia fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea near Papua New Guinea, the first sea battle to stop the Japanese advance in the Pacific. She was heavily attacked and bombed from the air but, with brilliant ship-handling, escaped unscathed. In 1944, she took part in the greatest sea fight of all time, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which returned General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines. She was struck by a kamikaze bomber, killing her captain and 28 other men. The next year, she was hit by four kamikaze planes on four successive days. She was attacked by more kamikaze aircraft than any other Allied ship in the war, and in the end this finished her war. She retired gracefully, laden with battle honors, and was scrapped in 1956--the last of her name, for the navy no longer uses Australia for its ships.

Beware Raiders!
Beware Raiders!

Author: Bernard Edwards

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2014-07-19

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1783379278

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A British naval historian recounts the victories and defeats of two of the most infamous German Navy vessels during World War II. Bernard Edwards’s Beware Raiders! tells the fascinating story of two German ships and the havoc they caused amongst Allied shipping in World War II. One was the eight-inch gun cruiser Admiral Hipper—named for World War I’s German fleet Admiral Franz von Hipper—fast, powerful, and Navy-manned. The other was a converted merchant man, Hansa Line’s Kandelfels armed with a few old scavenged guns manned largely by reservists, and sailing under the nom de guerre Pinguin. The difference between the pride of the Third Reich’s Kriegsmarine’s fleet and the converted cruiser was even more evident in their commanders. Edwards emphasizes the striking contrast between the conduct of Ernst Kruder, captain of the Pinguin, who attempted to cause as little loss of life as possible, and the callous Iron Cross–decorated Wilhelm Meisel of the Admiral Hipper, who had scant regard for the lives of the men whose ships he had sunk. Contrary to all expectations, as Edwards reveals in his thrilling accounts of the missions performed by each ship, the amateur man-of-war reaped a rich harvest and went out in a blaze of glory. The purpose-built battlecruiser, on the other hand, was hard-pressed even to make her mark on the war and ended her days in ignominy.

Lolita and the Hollywood Fleet
Lolita and the Hollywood Fleet

Author: William Blunt

Publisher:

Published: 2020-05

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780648842002

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On the 22nd of November 1941, the Sydney based motor cruiser, Lolita, was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Lolita. She was one of thirteen 'pleasure' cruisers requisitioned by the Navy to form its Sydney fleet of Channel Patrol Boats (CPB). That fleet became known as the Hollywood Fleet. Throughout the years of war in the Pacific, those Channel Patrol Boats with their crews worked to protect Australia. Several, including HMAS Lolita, fought in the Battle of Sydney Harbour. At least one of the fleet operated in Darwin during the Japanese bombing raids. She was later joined by two others. Another served on the south-west coast of New Guinea while two others reached the north coast of New Guinea with one eventually serving in Indonesia. One of the vessels which served on the north coast of New Guinea was HMAS Lolita before she was destroyed by a massive explosion. That explosion took the lives of two naval mechanics and injured others. Three other cruisers of the Hollywood Fleet were destroyed whilst on naval service. Another was gutted by fire whilst on patrol, but was salvaged and rebuilt and remarkably, remains afloat today along with two other vessels of the fleet. The whereabouts of the other six, remain to be discovered.This is the historical record of Lolita and HMAS Lolita, and the other motor cruisers that formed the Hollywood Fleet. It is also the record of how Lolita and her commander and crew were written out of history, and how they and their sister ships of the Hollywood Fleet and their crews, deserve their recognition and place in Australia's history.

False Flags
False Flags

Author: Stephen Robinson

Publisher: Exisle Publishing

Published: 2016-08-01

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1775593029

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The Sinking of HMAS Sydney
The Sinking of HMAS Sydney

Author: Doctor Tom Lewis

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2024-01-03

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 1923004336

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HMAS Sydney was the pride of the fleet during the Second World War. A light cruiser and one of Australia’s main combat vessels. On the 19th November 1941, off the coast of Western Australia, The Sydney engaged in a fierce and bloody battle with the German raider Kormoran. Following this action, The Sydney failed to return to port. An extensive search and rescue carried out, but the warship had disappeared with all 645 men on board. Whilst the battle lasted little more than an hour, this single ship engagement remains Australia’s greatest naval disaster. More Australian servicemen died in the battle between the German raider Kormoran and the light cruiser HMAS Sydney than perished in the Vietnam War. It was not until 2008 that the wreck was discovered. The passage of time between the sinking and the discovery led to numerous mystery and conspiracy theories, all of which started replacing the truth. Now, with an explanation of how those on board lived, fought, and died, this book tells the full story.