19 NOV 1941: HMAS Sydney is sunk. Sydney was lost with its entire crew of 645 men in a sudden and disastrous encounter with the German raider, Kormoran, off the Western Australian coast. The circumstances surrounding its loss remain controversial to this day. HMAS Sydney, a light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy with an […]
Sydney
Battle of Cocos
9 NOV 1914: World War I and HMAS Sydney [I] destroys SMS Emden at the Battle of Cocos, a single-ship action that occurred after the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (under the command of John Glossop) responded to an attack on a communications station at Direction Island by the German light cruiser SMS Emden (commanded […]
Sydney at Vung Tau
6 NOV 1971: Viet Nam and HMAS Sydney embarks the bulk of its final Australian army units from Vietnam at Vung Tau. Anecdotal evidence holds that most men returned from Vietnam in the dead of night, hidden from the public. In fact, large numbers actually returned on HMAS Sydney, to a welcome by dignitaries and a […]
