1941-11-19
Sydney and Kormoran
Indian Ocean, west of Western Australia
HMAS Sydney stopped the disguised German raider Kormoran on 19 November 1941. The two ships destroyed each other. Sydney was lost with all 645 hands. Kormoran was scuttled. Most of the raider's crew survived.
Sunk in this fight
2 ships.
Where the ships were found, not a track of the fight. North is up. The marks are the wrecks found in March 2008. National Archives of Australia, research guide, The sinking of HMAS Sydney: Kormoran at 26°05'49.4"S, 111°04'27.5"E, and Sydney at 26°14'37"S, 111°13'03"E, 12.2 nautical miles apart. The guide places the engagement a few miles north of the Kormoran wreck. That point is not plotted. The Australian War Memorial gives the finds as about 112 nautical miles off Steep Point, Kormoran in 2,560 metres and Sydney in about 2,470 metres. Coast from Natural Earth, public domain. Drawn for this site.