Book Review - HMAS Sydney by Tom Frame

 HMAS Sydney by Tom Frame

Sydney: Hachette Australia, 2018 (originally published 1993)       ISBN 9780733640179

"The Sydney-Kormoran action should have been a one-sided contest. Sydney should have sunk Kormoran without any risk of damage to herself. This made the loss of Sydney inexplicable." These lines, appearing about half-way through this excellent book about the sinking of the Sydney, sum up why there has been so much ink spilled on what is the Royal Australian Navy's greatest disaster.

HMAS Sydney was probably the most famous RAN ship of World War II at the time of her loss, owing to her sterling service in the Mediterranean, where she played a major part in the sinking of the Bartolomeo Colleoni, an Italian cruiser. Sydney was herself a cruiser, sister-ship to the other RAN vessels Perth  and Hobart, with only the latter surviving the War. Her loss in a battle with the German auxiliary cruiser and mercantile raider was a huge disaster - the loss of 645 lives, as well as the ship in what should have been an unequal battle was, and is, hard to understand.

Australia has been blessed over the years with some excellent military historians, beginning with Bean, through Long, to the current generation of fine writers, of which Frame is a leading light. He has written the authoritative book on the Voyager disaster as well as other interesting books on Australia's naval history. The book under review is in reality the third edition of his book about the Sydney, having been updated several times owing to new evidence being found, although Frame's conclusion has not changed from the first publication in 1993.

Frame was initially drawn to write about the sinking of the Sydney owing to the publication of two books 50 years after the sinking, one that claimed a Japanese submarine assisted in the sinking, and another which accepted the German version of what happened and in the process heaped some calumny on the commander of the Sydney, Captain Joseph Burnett.

Frame, through a patient sifting and analysis of the available evidence, shoots down the Japanese sub theory (they are all accounted for in Japanese naval records, and none were in the area at the time of the encounter. Frame also points out that there was no real co-operation between the German and Japanese navies at that time). He also shows, through evidence, that Captain Burnett was by all accounts a prudent and cautious sailor.

Which brings us to the mystery of what happened on that November day in 1941. It's clear that Burnett closed to within 2000 yards of the Kormoran, far too close for safety, and in fact almost ensuring if not destruction, very heavy damage to the Sydney. Why did he do that? Frame has his theory, which is that Burnett may have thought that the Kormoran was actually the Kulmerland, the supply ship, and so was reluctant to engage at long range, partly so that he could capture the ship and learn of the movements of the raider, but also because he may have thought there were Allied prisoners on board. 

That still doesn't explain why the Sydney came so close to the Kormoran, but Frame has an explanation for that as well. He feels sure that the Captain of the Kormoran, Theodor Detmers, lured the Sydney in by feigning surrender. While he has no definite proof that this occurred, the evidence that he does present (Burnett's usual caution, Detmers' strange obsession with potentially being court-martialled by the Australians, several Kormoran survivors mentioning that Sydney was potentially lowering a boat), could be construed as supporting Frame's supposition.

Frame's theory delivers an answer to the mystery, and is something that certainly could have happened. We will never know: those members of the crew of the Kormoran who knew the truth certainly made no admissions (why would they), and of course there were no survivors from the Sydney to tell their side of the story.

This updated edition covers the discovery of the wrecks of the Kormoran and Sydney. This final piece of the puzzle closed the mouths of many of the conspiracy theorists that have buzzed around the incident for the last thirty years or so. The Kormoran was found where the crew said it would be, the Sydney where they said they last saw it, and the damage to both vessels confirmed the general outline of the battle that was given to the Australian authorities by the survivors of the Kormoran.

If you want the closest you'll ever get to a comprehensive guide to the build-up, battle, aftermath and controversies that surround the loss of the Sydney, I can highly recommend this book.

Cheers for now, from

A View Over the Bell