Australian wreck mystery probed

By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney

HMAS Sydney went down with all hands on 19 November 1941

An inquiry is under way in Australia into one of the country's great unsolved mysteries from World War II.

The 1941 sinking of HMAS Sydney caused the greatest ever loss of life in an Australian warship.

After a 67-year search, the wreckage of the ship was discovered two months ago off the coast of Western Australia.

But historians are no closer to finding out how such a sophisticated vessel was sunk by a German merchant ship sailing under a false flag.

The Sydney was the largest ship from any country during World War II to go down with all hands - 645 sailors died.

The German vessel, the Kormoran, also sank, but 317 of the 390 crew on board survived, rowing to the Australian coast where they became prisoners of war.

One of the main questions for naval historians is why such a well-armed cruiser engaged a German merchant ship at such close range.

The wreckage of the ship was found earlier this year

One theory is that the Germans lured the ship in by pretending to offer surrender and then opened fire.

Another long-standing theory is that a Japanese submarine also torpedoed the Sydney - even though Japan had not yet entered the war.

Some have also suggested that German sailors opened fire on the Australians as they struggled for survival in the water.

The head of the commission of inquiry, Sir Terence Cole, said he planned to travel to Germany to interview survivors from the Kormoran.

He also plans to interview Australian sailors who sailed with the Sydney on previous missions.

More Australians died on board the Sydney than in Korea or Vietnam, and he said no country could allow such a loss to remain unexplained.