Frigatten Captain Theodore Detmers lowered his binoculars in thought. Their enemy - strong, fast and deadly - was slowly ripping open the Pacific waves with a sharp bow, some one and a half kilometers from his ship. Confident in his own strength, the enemy carelessly approached the one whom the commander of the Australian cruiser Sydney mistook for the harmless Dutch merchant Straat Malacca. The cruiser insistently and demandingly blinked the searchlight: "Show your secret callsign." The stock of tricks and tricks is over. The word was behind the guns.
From dry cargo ship to raiders
Having lost almost the entire merchant fleet as a result of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles that followed, Germany had to rebuild it. By the beginning of World War II, the German merchant fleet reached 4.5 million gross tons and was relatively young - a large number of ships and vessels were built in the 30s. Thanks to the widespread use of Diesel engines, the Germans managed to create ships with a long cruising range and autonomy. On September 15, 1938 in Kiel from the stocks of the Germanienwerft shipyard, which belonged to the Krupp concern, the motor ship Stirmark was launched. He and the Ostmark of the same type were built by order of the HAPAG company for long-term commercial transportation. "Stirmark" was a large ship with a displacement of 19 thousand tons, equipped with diesel engines with a total capacity of 16 thousand hp.
The ship failed to start a career as a peaceful dry cargo ship. The readiness of the completed Stirmark coincided with the aggravation of the political situation in Europe and the beginning of the war. The naval department had plans for a capacious ship with a long cruising range and mobilized it. At first it was thought to be used as a transport, but then the Stirmark was used more efficiently. It was decided to convert it into an auxiliary cruiser, since he had all the data for this role. The newest dry cargo ship received the index "auxiliary vessel 41". Soon "ship 41" was transferred to Hamburg, to the Deutsche Wert plant, where it took the vacant place after the auxiliary cruiser "Thor". In all accompanying documentation, the future raider began to be designated as "auxiliary cruiser No. 8" or "HSK-8".
Theodore Detmers, Cormoran Commander
On July 17, 1940, 37-year-old corvette captain Theodore Detmers was appointed its commander. He was the youngest commander of an auxiliary cruiser. He entered the navy at the age of 19 - at first he served on old training ships. After receiving the rank of lieutenant, he stepped on the deck of the cruiser "Cologne". The further way went on destroyers. In 1935 Detmers received command of the old G-11, in 1938 the corvette captain arrived at his new duty station, on the newest destroyer Herman Sheman (Z-7). He met the war, commanding this ship. Soon, "Herman Sheman" got up for repairs, and its commander received a new assignment to the auxiliary cruiser preparing for the campaign. The HSK-8 was being prepared hastily - it did not receive some of the planned weapons and equipment. Unlike its predecessors, the raider was supposed to be equipped with a radar, but due to technical difficulties (the equipment often broke down), they refused to install it. New 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns were not installed - they took the old ones. Sea trials were successfully carried out in mid-September. On October 9, 1940, an auxiliary cruiser named Cormoran officially joined the Kriegsmarine. Later Detmers recalled that for a long time he could not decide on the name for his ship. In this, he was unexpectedly helped by Gunther Gumprich, the future commander of the auxiliary cruiser "Thor". Even when the Cormoran was at the side of the shipyard, Detmers met with Rukteshel, the commander of the Widder, who had just returned from the campaign, with whom he discussed plans for a breakthrough into the Atlantic. It was decided that the Cormoran would break through the most dangerous, but also the shortest place - the Dover Canal. In winter, the Danish Strait, according to the Germans, was filled with ice. However, a radiogram soon arrived from the trawler Sachsen, a weather scout stationed in these latitudes. The trawler reported that there is a lot of ice, but you can go through it. The breakout plan was changed in favor of passage through the Danish Strait.
In November 1940, the raider moved to Gotenhafen, where the final adjustment and additional equipment was carried out. On November 20, the ship was visited by Gross Admiral Raeder and was pleased with what he saw. "Cormoran" as a whole was ready for the campaign, however, the mechanics were worried about the completely untested power plant. It took time for the final completion of all tests, and Detmers did not want to wait. The final armament of the "Cormoran" consisted of six 150-mm guns, two 37-mm guns and four single-gun 20-mm anti-aircraft guns. Two twin-tube 533 mm torpedo tubes were installed. Additional armament included two Arado 196 seaplanes and an LS-3 torpedo boat. Using the large dimensions of the "Cormoran", 360 anchor mines and 30 magnetic mines for the boat were loaded onto it. The raider was ordered to operate in the Indian Ocean, in African and Australian waters. The reserve area is the Pacific Ocean. As an additional assignment, the Cormoran was tasked with supplying German submarines in southern latitudes with new torpedoes and other means of supply. The raider took 28 torpedoes into the hold, a large number of shells, medicines and provisions intended for transfer to the submarines.
On December 3, 1940, the Cormoran, finally prepared for the campaign, left Gotenhafen.
To the Atlantic
On the way to the Danish Strait, the raider met bad weather. On December 8, he arrived in Stavanger. On December 9, having replenished supplies for the last time, he went to sea. On the 11th, "Kormoran" was made up to resemble the Soviet motor ship "Vyacheslav Molotov", but the fears were unnecessary - no one found the raider. Having withstood a severe storm, during which the 19-thousandth ship was strongly rocked, on December 13, the auxiliary cruiser got out to the Atlantic. The storm subsided, visibility improved - and on December 18, the first smoke of the unknown vessel was noticed. However, the raider had not yet reached his "hunting" area, and the stranger left with impunity. Soon, the command changed their orders and allowed Detmers to act immediately. The raider moved south - according to the calculations of the mechanics, his own fuel reserves with rational use should have been enough for at least 7 months of the campaign. At first, the "Cormoran" was not lucky with the search for prey: only one Spanish dry cargo ship and an American ship were noticed from it. On December 29, an attempt was made to lift a reconnaissance aircraft into the air, but the Arado floats were damaged due to the rolling.
The account was finally opened on January 6, 1941. As an initiative, the Greek steamship Antonis, carrying coal on a British freight, was stopped. After the appropriate procedures, having removed the team and 7 live sheep, as well as several machine guns and cartridges for them, "Antonis" was sunk. The next time, luck smiled at the Germans on January 18th. Immediately before dark, an unknown steamer was seen from the raider, which was moving in an anti-submarine zigzag. Detmers knew that the British Admiralty commanded civilian courts to do this, an instruction that had recently been seized by the Atlantis raider. Having approached at a distance of 4 miles, the Germans first fired flares, and then, when the steamer, which turned out to be a tanker, did not react, they opened fire. The Briton (and there was no doubt that it was him) broadcast the RRR signal. The third volley covered the target, and the radio went silent. When the "Cormoran" approached closer, a cannon suddenly rumbled from the tanker, which managed to make four shots, after which the raider, who resumed fire, set fire to the stern of his victim. From "British Union" - that was the name of the hapless tanker - boats began to be lowered. The surviving part of the crew was rescued, and the ship was sent to the bottom. Detmers was in a hurry to leave the area as soon as possible - the alarm raised by British Union promised unpleasant meetings. The Australian auxiliary cruiser "Arua" was in full swing to the place of the sinking of the tanker, he managed to catch eight more British out of the water, who shed light on the events that took place here. In British documents, the so far unknown large raider received the name "Raider G".
Command ordered Detmers, who caused the commotion, to go south to meet the supply ship Nordmark, transfer all torpedoes and supplies for submarines to it, and then head to the Indian Ocean. The Nordmark was actually an integrated supply ship - its pantries, fuel storage and cabins were used by a large number of German ships and vessels operating or passing through the southern latitudes: the "pocket" battleship Admiral Scheer, auxiliary cruisers, submarines, blockade breakers and other vessels provision.
Between the Cape Verde Islands and the equator on the afternoon of January 29, a vessel resembling a refrigerator was seen from the Cormoran. Pretending to be a "peaceful merchant", the raider waited for the ship to come closer and raised the signal to stop, while Detmers ordered full speed. After the stranger did not react in any way, the Germans opened aimed fire to kill. The refrigerator sounded an alarm and stopped. The boats were lowered from him. The African Star vessel did indeed transport 5,700 tons of frozen meat from Argentina to the UK. Its crew was taken on board, and the Germans were forced to flood the "African Star" - as a result of shelling it was damaged. The refrigerator was sinking slowly, and a torpedo was fired to speed up the process. As the raider's victim raised the alarm, the Cormoran left the area at full speed. Already at night, the signalmen examined the silhouette in which a merchant ship was identified. The received order to stop was ignored, and the auxiliary cruiser opened fire, first with lighting, and then with live shells. The enemy first responded from the stern cannon, which, however, soon fell silent. The steamer stopped the cars - the boarding party discovered that it was the British ship "Evryloch", heading with 16 dismantled heavy bombers to Egypt. The Eurylochus went off course and kept out of the water. Enemy radio stations were buzzing on the air with an angry, disturbed hive, and the Germans again had to spend such a valuable torpedo to quickly kill the prey.
Taking on board the crew of "Evryloch", "Cormoran" moved to a rendezvous with "Nordmark" in a special area called "Andalusia". On February 7, the meeting took place. The company "Nordmark" was composed of the refrigerator ship "Dukez", the trophy of "Admiral Scheer". The next day, the raider received 1,300 tons of diesel fuel, and 100 beef carcasses and more than 200,000 eggs were shipped from the refrigerator. 170 prisoners and mail were sent to "Nordmark". On February 9, the transshipment was completed, and the Cormoran finally sailed to the Indian Ocean. On the way to the Cape of Good Hope, Detmers met with the raider Penguin, who carefully “herded” an entire trophy whaling fleet. Captain zur see Kruder offered one of the whalers to run errands, but his colleague refused. The trophy was not enough, in his opinion, fast.
Bad weather prevented the deployment of a mine bank off Walvis Bay, Namibia. On February 18, an accident occurred in the engine room. Due to bearing breakage, diesel engines No. 2 and No. 4 were out of order. Detmers sent an urgent request to Berlin with a request to send at least 700 kg of babbitt by a submarine or another blockade-breaker for the manufacture of new bearing bushings. He was promised to fulfill this request as quickly as possible, the trip to the Indian Ocean was temporarily canceled. The raider was ordered to operate in the South Atlantic for the time being and wait for the "package." While in the engine room specialists were making new bearing parts from available stocks, on February 24, the Penguin contacted Detmers and offered to transfer 200 kg of babbit. On February 25, both raiders met - an exchange of necessary materials and films for the entertainment of the team took place. The Cormoran, meanwhile, continued to suffer from constant breakdowns in the engine room. The reserves allocated by "Penguin" should have been enough for the first time. On March 15, a meeting took place with one of the wards submarines, U-105, to which several torpedoes, fuel and provisions were shipped. The raider has had no luck with hunting.
"Kormoran" refueling the submarine
The long hiatus in the search for new production ended on March 22. The Cormoran hijacked the small English tanker Agnita, sailing in ballast. The ship was in a very mediocre condition and was sunk without regret. The most valuable loot was a map of the minefields near Freetown, showing a safe passage. Three days later, practically in the same area at 8 am, a tanker was seen heading in ballast towards South America. He did not react to the demand to stop - fire was opened. Since the ship gave the impression of new, Detmers ordered to shoot more accurately so as not to cause severe damage. After several volleys, the fugitive stopped the cars. The raider's spoil was the large (11 thousand tons) tanker "Canadolight". The ship was almost new, and it was decided to send it with a prize batch to France. The prize successfully reached the mouth of the Gironde on 13 April.
The consumption of fuel and provisions was quite extensive, and Detmers went to a new meeting with the Nordmark supplier. On March 28, the ships met, and the next day, two submarines pulled up here. One of them, U-105, handed over a long-awaited babbit to the raider, which, however, turned out to be not so much. Detmers' plans included a rendezvous with another supply vessel, the Rudolph Albrecht, which left Tenerife on 22 March. Having replenished the fuel, "Kormoran" on April 3 met with the new supplier, but, unfortunately, there was no babbitt on it. Rudolf Albrecht donated a lot of fresh vegetables, fruits, newspapers, magazines, a live pig and a puppy. Saying goodbye to the tanker, the Cormoran departed to the southeast.
On April 9, smoke was seen from the raider astern - some ship was moving along the same course with him. After waiting for the distance to be reduced, the Germans dropped their camouflage. Once again, the British ignored the order to stop and not use the radio. The Cormoran opened fire with several hits. Dry cargo ship Craftsman stopped. A violent fire broke out at its stern. The boarding party did not manage to immediately send the Englishman to the bottom - he did not want to sink. It was all about his cargo - a giant anti-submarine network for Cape Town harbor. It was only after being hit by a torpedo that the rebellious Kraftsman sank. The next day, the raider's radio operators received a radiogram that brought good news: Detmers was awarded the rank of frigatten captain. On April 12, the Germans intercepted the Greek ship Nikolaos DL, loaded with timber. And again, not without shooting. Taking the prisoners, "Cormoran" stuck in the victim several 150-mm shells under the waterline, not counting the previously detonated charges. The Greek drowned slowly, but Detmers did not spend a torpedo on him, believing that he would drown anyway.
The time has come to replenish the fuel again, and the Cormoran once again went to the meeting point with the Nordmark. On April 20, a whole group of German ships met in the ocean. In addition to Nordmark and Cormoran, there was another auxiliary cruiser, Atlantis, with the Alsterufer supply ship. Detmers' ship received 300 tons of diesel fuel and two hundred 150-mm shells from the Alsterufer. The work of diesel engines was more or less normalized, and the raider finally received an order to go to the Indian Ocean, where, after saying goodbye to his compatriots, he headed on April 24.
In the Indian Ocean
In early May, the ship rounded the Cape of Good Hope. The waters of the Indian Ocean greeted the Cormoran with a strong storm that raged for four whole days. On the way to the north, the weather began to gradually improve - the raider changed its color, disguised as the Japanese ship "Sakito Maru". On May 9, it became known about the death of the auxiliary cruiser "Penguin", after which an order was received to meet at the agreed place with the supply ship "Altsertor" and the scout "Penguin" - a former whaler "Adjutant". The ships met on May 14, and to the great annoyance of Detmers, by order of the command, he had to pump 200 tons of fuel to the Altsertor. The supplier, in turn, replenished the Cormoran's crew with members of his team instead of those who left for France on the Canadolight tanker.
Then monotonous everyday life dragged on. For almost a month, "Cormoran" plowed the Indian Ocean, meeting no targets in its path. On June 5, the camouflage was changed again - now the raider looked like, again, the Japanese transport "Kinka Maru". Twice the ship's "Arado" went on a reconnaissance flight, but both times to no avail. Once we met a brightly consecrated ship, which turned out to be American. On another occasion, an unknown passenger ship was scared off by a suddenly working smoke production plant. Seeing that the hunt was not going, Detmers decided to try his luck in a mine war - 360 mines were still waiting in the wings and were a dangerous and burdensome load. June 19 "Cormoran" entered the waters of the Bay of Bengal, the shores of which abound in major ports. At the exit from them, the Germans planned to place their mines. This primarily concerned Rangoon, Madras and Calcutta. However, the raider was not lucky here either. When Madras was less than two hundred miles away, smoke first appeared on the horizon, and then the silhouette of a large ship began to appear, similar to an English auxiliary cruiser. This kind of meeting was not part of Detmers' plans, and he began to leave at full speed. For an hour the unknown pursued the raider, then gradually fell behind, hiding behind the horizon. The Germans were really lucky - it was the British auxiliary cruiser Canton, who mistook them for the Japanese. The mine setting near Calcutta was also canceled - a hurricane was raging in the area.
A long streak of bad luck finally ended on the night of June 26, when the watchmen noticed a ship. Traditionally, the Germans demanded to stop and not use the radio. However, the discovered ship continued to follow as if nothing had happened, without trying, however, to go on the air. After knocking several times in a row with a signal searchlight, orders that had been ignored, the raider opened fire, having achieved almost 30 hits in seven minutes. The ship began to burn intensely, the boat was lowered from it. The Germans stopped firing. When the sailors were taken aboard from the boat, it turned out that the stranger was the Yugoslav dry-cargo ship Velebit, sailing in ballast. At the moment of contact, the captain was in the engine room, and the watch officer did not know (!) The Morse code and could not understand what some ship wanted from him. Yugoslavia was burning intensely, so Detmers did not begin to finish off the mutilated ship and went on. A few hours later, already at noon, smoke was again seen. A ship was heading towards Ceylon. Under cover of a storm of rain, the Cormoran crept up to its victim at a distance of 5 miles. Again the Germans demanded that they stop and not go on the air. However, the Australian "Mariba", which transported almost 5 thousand tons of sugar, did not even think to obey, but immediately transmitted an alarm signal on the radio. The raider's guns rumbled, and soon the Australian was already drowning, lowering the boats. Having picked up 48 crew members and finished off the victim, "Cormoran" hastily left the area. The raider went south, into deserted and little-visited waters, where he stayed until July 17. Preventive maintenance of diesel engines and electrical equipment was carried out. Having lost its relevance, the Japanese make-up was replaced. Posing as a neutral Japanese was already too suspicious, and even dangerous - at night you would have to walk with the lights on. In addition, the neutral ship did not have to abruptly change course, avoiding rapprochement with any suspicious ship, which might be a British cruiser.
The auxiliary cruiser was disguised as the Dutch merchant Straat Malacca. For added realism, a wooden model of the gun was installed at the stern. In a new image, "Cormoran" moved towards the island of Sumatra. Sailing in the tropics made it difficult to store food. For almost ten days, the crew, replacing each other, was engaged in sifting the ship's stocks of flour, in which there were many bugs and larvae. Stocks of cereals turned out to be generally unusable. In contrast, products for long-term storage in numerous refrigerated chambers have been well preserved. Continuing to the southeast, on 13 August, 200 miles north of Carnarvon (Australia), visual contact with an unknown vessel was made, but Detmers, fearing the presence of nearby warships, ordered not to pursue the stranger. The raider started back, in the direction of Ceylon.
On August 28, 1941, for the first time after leaving Norway, the Germans saw land - it was the top of Boa Boa on the island of Engano, which is located off the southwestern coast of Sumatra. The Indian Ocean was deserted - even seaplane flights did not bring results. Only on September 23, in the evening, to the great joy of the crew, languishing from the monotony, did the watchmen find the running lights of the ship sailing in ballast. Although these were signs of neutrality, Detmers decided to examine him. The stopped vessel turned out to be the Greek "Stamatios G. Embirikos" going with cargo to Colombo. The crew behaved obediently and did not go on the air. Initially, Detmers wanted to use it as an auxiliary mine layer, but the small amount of coal in the bunkers of the Stamatios made this problematic. After dark, the Greek was sunk by subversive charges.
The raider cruised the western Indian Ocean until September 29th. The need to replenish supplies forced the Cormoran to meet with the next supply ship. It was the Kulmerland, which left Kobe on September 3. The rendezvous was supposed to take place at the secret point "Marius". Arriving there on October 16, the raider met with a supply officer waiting for him. The auxiliary cruiser received almost 4 thousand tons of diesel fuel, 225 tons of lubricating oil, a large amount of babbitt and provisions for a 6-month voyage. The prisoners, five sick crew members and mail followed in the opposite direction. "Kulmerland" parted with the raider on October 25, and "Cormoran" started another engine repair. When the mechanics reported to Detmers that the vehicles were in relative order, the frigatten-captain again set off for the Australian coast to set mine banks off Perth and Shark Bay. However, the German command reported that a large convoy was leaving Perth, guarded by the heavy cruiser Cornwall, and the Cormoran moved towards Shark Bay.
The same fight
The weather was excellent on November 19, 1941, and the visibility was excellent. At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the messenger reported to Detmers, who was in the wardroom, that smoke was seen on the horizon. The frigatten-captain who ascended the bridge soon determined that it was a warship going to meet the raider. The Australian light cruiser Sydney was returning home after escorting the Zeeland, which was carrying troops to Singapore. Sydney has already distinguished itself in combat operations in the Mediterranean, sinking the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni in the battle at Cape Spada. However, in May 1941, the commander of the light cruiser, Captain 1st Rank John Collins, who had extensive combat experience, was replaced by Captain 1st Rank Joseph Barnett, who had previously served ashore. In many ways, this, probably, decided the outcome of the future fight.
Australian light cruiser "Sydney"
The Sydney was a full-fledged warship, with a displacement of almost 9 thousand tons and armed with eight 152-mm guns, four 102-mm guns, and twelve anti-aircraft machine guns. Torpedo armament consisted of eight 533-mm torpedo tubes. There was a seaplane on board. Detmers did not lose his presence of mind and ordered to turn to the south-west, so that the sun shone directly into the Australians' eyes. At the same time, the Cormoran went full speed, but soon diesel # 4 began to fail and the speed dropped to 14 knots. About an hour after the discovery of the raider, the cruiser approached a distance of 7 miles on the starboard side and ordered to identify itself with a searchlight. "Kormoran" gave the correct call sign "Straat Malacca" "RKQI", but at the same time he was raised between the pipe and foremast, so that from a cruiser approaching from the stern he was practically not seen. Then "Sydney" demanded to indicate the destination. The Germans replied: "To Batavia" - which looked quite plausible. To confuse the pursuers, the raider's radio operators began broadcasting distress signals that a Dutch ship had been attacked by an "unknown warship." Meanwhile, the cruiser was approaching - its bow towers were aimed at the pseudo-merchant. The Australians periodically broadcast the "IK" signal, which, according to the international code of signals, meant "prepare for a hurricane." In fact, the real Straat Malacca should have answered IIKP according to the secret code of signals. The Germans preferred to ignore repeated requests.
Finally "Sydney" began to get bored with this drawn-out comedy, and they signaled from him: "Enter your secret callsign. Further silence can only worsen the situation. " Game over. Each Allied merchant ship had its own individual secret code. The Australian cruiser had almost caught up with the Cormoran and was almost on its traverse, at a distance of just over a kilometer. In response to a request at 17 hours 30 minutes. The raider lowered the Dutch flag and raised the Kriegsmarine battle flag. In a record time of six seconds, camouflage shields fell. The first shot fell short, and the second volley of three 150-mm and one 37-mm guns hit the bridge of the Sydney, destroying its fire control system. Simultaneously with the second salvo, the Germans defused their torpedo tubes. The main caliber of the cruiser began to respond, but the sun was shining in the eyes of the gunners, and he lay down with the flight. The 20-mm anti-aircraft guns and large-caliber machine guns were launched, preventing the cruiser's team from taking places according to the combat schedule. At such a distance it was difficult to miss, and the Germans thrust shell after shell into the Sydney. The seaplane was destroyed, then the "Cormoran" switched fire on the bow turrets of the main caliber - they were soon disabled. The fired torpedo hit the cruiser's nose in front of the bow turret. The bow of the Sydney sank heavily into the water. The raider was fired on by the stern towers, which switched to self-guidance. The Australians smeared - nevertheless, three shells hit the Cormoran. The first broke through the pipe, the second damaged the auxiliary boiler and disabled the fire line. A fire started in the engine room. The third shell destroyed the main diesel transformers. The raider's turn dropped sharply.
One of the 150-mm guns of the "Cormoran"
"Sydney" was much worse - the cruiser suddenly turned on the opposite course. It was seen that the cover of tower B was thrown into the sea. The Australian passed in some hundred meters behind the raider - he was all engulfed in fires. Obviously, the steering on it was badly damaged or out of order. The opponents exchanged futile torpedo volleys, and the Sydney began to retreat in a 10-knot course, moving south. The Cormoran fired at him as long as the distance allowed. At 18.25 the battle ended. The raider's position was critical - the fire was growing. The engine room personnel fought the fire until almost all were killed, except for one sailor. The fire approached the mine hold, where there were almost four hundred mines, which the Cormoran carried with it throughout the entire campaign, but could not get rid of them.
The frigatten-captain realized that the ship could no longer be saved, and ordered the delivery of explosive cartridges at the fuel tanks. Life rafts and lifeboats began to be lowered into the water. The first raft deflated capsized, resulting in nearly 40 people drowning. At 24 hours, picking up the ship's flag, Detmers was the last to leave the doomed Cormoran. After 10 minutes, explosive cartridges worked, mines detonated - a powerful explosion destroyed the raider's stern, and at 0 hours 35 minutes. auxiliary cruiser sank. More than 300 officers and sailors were on the water. 80 people were killed in the battle and drowned after capsizing the raft. The weather worsened and life-saving appliances were scattered across the water. Soon the coaster picked up one boat and reported this to the command of the Australian Navy, who immediately began a rescue operation. Soon all the Germans were found, although some had to blab out on the rafts for about 6 days.
Sydney's main caliber tower. Photo taken by an Australian expedition that discovered the remains of ships
There was no news about the fate of "Sydney", except for the broken lifeboat thrown ashore two weeks later. The search, which lasted almost 10 days, yielded no results, and the cruiser "Sydney" was declared dead on November 30, 1941. For many years the mystery of his death remained unsolved. The captured Germans, who were thoroughly interrogated already on the shore, told about the glow of the fire, which they observed in the place where the cruiser enveloped in flames had gone. Only in March 2008, a special expedition of the Australian Navy discovered first "Cormoran" and then "Sydney" about 200 miles southwest of Carnarvon. Former opponents lie close to each other - 20 miles. A layer of water of 2, 5 kilometers reliably covered the dead sailors with its cover. What events took place in the flames of the compartments and decks of the Australian cruiser, how the drama that laid this ship to rest at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean ended, we will obviously never know.
