HMAS Sydney (D48)

HMAS ''Sydney'', named after the Australian city of Sydney, was one of three modified ''Leander''-class light cruisers operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Ordered for the Royal Navy as HMS ''Phaeton'', the cruiser was purchased by the Australian government and renamed prior to her 1934 launch.

During the early part of her operational history, ''Sydney'' helped enforce sanctions during the Abyssinian crisis, and at the start of World War II was assigned to convoy escort and patrol duties in Australian waters. In May 1940, ''Sydney'' joined the British Mediterranean Fleet for an eight-month deployment, during which she sank two Italian warships, participated in multiple shore bombardments, and provided support to the Malta Convoys, while receiving minimal damage and no casualties. On her return to Australia in February 1941, ''Sydney'' resumed convoy escort and patrol duties in home waters.

On 19 November 1941, ''Sydney'' was involved in a mutually destructive engagement with the , and was lost with all hands (645 aboard). The wrecks of both ships were lost until 2008; ''Sydney'' was found on 17 March, five days after her adversary. ''Sydney''s defeat is commonly attributed to the proximity of the two ships during the engagement, and ''Kormoran''s advantages of surprise and rapid, accurate fire. However, the cruiser's loss with all hands compared to the survival of most of the Germans has resulted in conspiracy theories alleging that the German commander used illegal ruses to lure ''Sydney'' into range, that a Japanese submarine was involved, and that the true events of the battle are concealed behind a wide-ranging cover-up, despite the lack of evidence for these allegations.

Construction and acquisition

The ship was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend-on-Tyne, England, on 8 July 1933 for the Royal Navy as HMS ''Phaeton'', named after the Greek mythological figure. However, in 1934, the Australian government was seeking a replacement for the light cruiser , and negotiated to purchase ''Phaeton'' while she was still under construction.

The cruiser was renamed after the capital city of New South Wales, and was launched on 22 September 1934 by Ethel Bruce, the wife of Stanley Bruce, former prime minister of Australia and the serving Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. ''Sydney'' was commissioned into the RAN on 24 September 1935, drawing her ship's company from ''Brisbane'', which had been decommissioned earlier that day.

Following the announcement that Australia was purchasing a British-built cruiser, there was criticism, primarily from the Opposition of the day, stating that such a warship should be built using Australian resources and labour. Several reasons were given in reply for acquiring British-built cruisers instead of Australian-made: the ship was already close to completion, the pending threat of war meant that there was not enough time to train Australians in the necessary shipbuilding skills, and that of the two cruisers built in Australian shipyards, one () had taken seven years to complete.

Design

''Sydney'' was one of three Modified ''Leander''-class light cruisers acquired by the RAN during the late 1930s.Goldrick, in Stevens, ''The Royal Australian Navy'', opp. p. 96 Although the first ship of the class to join the RAN, ''Sydney'' was the second ship to be laid down, although the first to be completed, in what was sometimes referred to as the ''Perth'' class: and operated with the Royal Navy for a short period before they were purchased by Australia in 1938. Like most British cruisers, the ''Leander''s were designed for long-range patrols, scouting, and trade protection duties.

''Sydney''s displacement ranged between 6,701 tons (light) and 8,940 tons (full load), with a standard displacement of 7,198 tons: improved fabrication and welding techniques made her 52 tons lighter than her sister ships.Cole, ''The loss of HMAS Sydney II'', vol. 1, p. 18 She had a length of between perpendiculars and overall, a beam of , and a draught at standard displacement between forward and aft.

The ship was propelled by four Admiralty 3-drum boilers, feeding Parsons single-reduction geared turbines, which supplied to the four propeller shafts. Unlike the first five ''Leander''s, which had their machinery arranged on the "in-line" principle (consisting of six boilers in three compartments forward, and four turbines in two further compartments aft), ''Sydney'' was designed with two redundant machinery groups, a design practice adopted from the United States Navy. The cruiser had two boilers and the turbines for the outer shafts forward, and two boilers and the turbines for the inner shafts aft; as steam from any boiler could be routed to any turbine, the ship could continue operating if one space was damaged.

Each space had its own uptake, giving the modified ships a different profile to the single-funnelled early ''Leander''s; an arrangement which contributed to naval historian Henry Lenton's description of the Modified ''Leander''s as "the most handsome cruisers ever built by the Royal Navy, with a symmetry that was as attractive as it was functional."

''Sydney'' and her sister ships were constructed from hull plating, with a armour belt over the machinery spaces (the lengthening of this belt from to adequately cover both spaces negated the weight reduction from their reorganisation), and plates over the shell rooms and magazines. ''Sydney'' was the first Australian warship fitted with asdic; a Type 125 unit in a retractable pattern 3069 dome. The retractable sonar dome, located near the bow, was a weak point in the hull.

One of the cruiser's early commanding officers, Royal Navy Captain J.W.A. Waller, believed that the ship's single director control tower was a weak point in the design. The director control tower was the highest compartment on the ship, from where personnel would determine the range and optimum firing angle for a gun salvo, then transmit this information to the gun turrets: the actual firing could be controlled from the tower or the turret. Waller believed that the centralised system could be destroyed with a single hit, or the wiring linking the compartment to the turrets could be severed, forcing the four turrets to rely on independent control. Although Waller suggested that a second tower be installed aft to provide redundancy, it was deferred indefinitely as subsequent commanding officers did not share his concerns, and combat experiences of other ''Leander''-class cruisers showed that the system was more robust than expected.

Armament

''Sydney''s main armament consisted of eight 6-inch (152 mm) breech-loading Mk XXIII guns mounted in four Mk XXI twin turrets: "A" and "B" forward, "X" and "Y" aft. All eight guns could be fired in salvo, elevated to an angle of 60° and depressed to −5°, and fire eight rounds a minute at targets up to away.

Four 4-inch (100 mm) quick-firing Mk V guns, mounted on single, high-angle, Mk IV mountings, were fitted to a platform around the aft funnel. These were primarily used to target aircraft at heights up to , but could also be used against surface targets, with a maximum range of . Their replacement with eight Mk XIX high-angle/low-angle guns in four twin mounts, which was to occur in the late 1930s, was prevented by the outbreak of World War II. The guns could have been swapped out during a maintenance docking, but the demand for cruisers and ''Sydney''s fortune in never sustaining major damage meant that the additional time in dock could not be justified. For close-range anti-aircraft defence, the 4-inch guns were supplemented by twelve Vickers Mk III machine guns, which were arranged in three Mk II quadruple mountings, one on each side of the forward superstructure, and the third on top of the aft superstructure.

A mixture of 0.303-inch (7.7 mm) machine guns were used for close defence work, and could be fitted to pedestals at various points on the ship, primarily around the bridge and on the three searchlight platforms (one either side of the forward funnel, the third raised above the aft superstructure). At launch, ''Sydney'' carried fourteen Lewis machine guns and two Vickers machine guns, but by the start of World War II, the Lewis guns had been reduced to nine, and the Vickers guns removed completely.

Eight 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes were fitted in two QR Mk VII quadruple mounts to the deck below the platform for the 4-inch guns.Cole, ''The Loss of HMAS Sydney II'', vol. 1, p. 18 Only eight Mark 9 torpedoes were carried. ''Sydney'' was fitted with a single depth charge rail at the stern, which held five Mk VII depth charges. Four 3-pounder (47-mm, 1.9-in) quick-firing Hotchkiss guns were carried as saluting guns. These were removed during the August 1940 refit.

''Sydney'' was fitted with a , cordite-powered revolving catapult between the two funnels, which was used to launch a Supermarine Walrus (sometimes described as a Seagull V) amphibious aircraft. The Walrus was operated by Royal Australian Air Force personnel from No. 5 Squadron RAAF (which was redesignated No. 9 Squadron RAAF in 1939). The 7-ton electric crane used to recover the aircraft also served to deploy most of the ship's boats.

Operational history

Early history

''Sydney'' completed working up trials before sailing from Portsmouth on 29 October 1935, Captain J.U.P. Fitzgerald RN in command. Almost immediately after departing, ''Sydney'' was instructed to join the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet at Gibraltar and assist the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in enforcing economic sanctions against Italy in response to the Abyssinian crisis. During January 1936, the cruiser underwent maintenance in Alexandria and visited medical facilities in Cyprus: cases of rubella and mumps had been circulating through the ship's company since late 1935. In March, ''Sydney'' was reassigned the 1st Cruiser Squadron, where she and the heavy cruiser continued to enforce sanctions and participate in fleet exercises with Royal Navy units. Following the resolution of the Abyssinian crisis, ''Sydney'' departed for Australia on 14 July; reaching Fremantle in late July before visiting Melbourne on 8 August and arriving in her namesake city three days later.

After reaching Australian waters, ''Sydney'' spent most of her time on fleet exercises and training cruises. In 1938, the cruiser was one of several RAN units prepared to respond to the Munich crisis, but all ships stood down after the potential war was averted. From 17 to 19 April 1939, ''Sydney'' was one of eight warships involved in a joint forces trade protection exercise off the south-east Australian coast. In early August 1939, ''Sydney'' was in Darwin, prior to visiting the Netherlands East Indies. However, in response to the events which prompted the start of World War II, ''Sydney'' was ordered to sail to Fremantle on a war footing, where she arrived on 22 August.

Start of World War II

Following the declaration of war, ''Sydney'' was instructed to carry out patrol and escort duties in Australian waters. Captain John Collins took over command of ''Sydney'' on 16 November. On 28 November, ''Sydney'' joined the Australian heavy cruisers and in an unsuccessful four-day search for the German pocket battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee'', which was known to be operating in the Indian Ocean. ''Sydney'' was relieved by on 13 December, and sailed to Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney for a maintenance docking. The work was completed in late January 1940, and as a shakedown cruise ''Sydney'' joined ''Canberra'' and the British ships ''Leander'' and in escorting the Suez-bound Anzac convoy US 1; ''Sydney'' broke off after the convoy left the east coast of Australia and returned to Sydney. Returning to Fremantle on 6 February, ''Sydney'' relieved ''Australia'' as the cruiser responsible for patrol and escort duties on the west coast.

On 19 April, ''Sydney'' joined the escort of Anzac convoy US 2 off Albany, and remained with the convoy until it reached the Cocos Islands on 28 April and was replaced by . The Australian cruiser set course for Fremantle, but on 1 May was assigned to the East Indies Station and rerouted to Colombo, where she arrived on 8 May. Arriving in Colombo on 8 May, ''Sydney'' was immediately tasked with meeting Anzac convoy US 3 off the Cocos Islands and escorting it across the Indian Ocean. The cruiser departed on 12 May, but while en route, she was instructed to make for the Mediterranean.

Arriving back in Colombo on 18 May, ''Sydney'' replenished before sailing at high speed to Aden, where she arrived four days later. The Australian cruiser, accompanied by HM Ships and , departed the next day, with the ships crossing the Suez Canal during the night of 25–26 May, and arriving in Alexandria that afternoon at 15:30. ''Sydney'' was originally marked for operations in the Red Sea, but after observing the performance of an Australian five-destroyer flotilla assigned to the British Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Andrew Cunningham decided to "keep the Australian cruiser for himself" and attached ''Sydney'' to the Royal Navy's 7th Cruiser Squadron.

Mediterranean operations

''Sydney'' was in Alexandria harbour on 10 June 1940, and that evening learned of Italy's intention to declare war at midnight. By 01:00 on 11 June, all ships in harbour had departed to search for Italian warships in position to attack Alexandria, and secure the sea lines of communication in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean. The Australian cruiser was involved in the westbound sweep, and sailed as far as the Gulf of Taranto during the four-day operation. Apart from an unsuccessful depth charge attack on a suspected submarine during the afternoon of 13 June, ''Sydney'' did not encounter any enemy vessels.

On 21 June, ''Sydney'' fired in anger