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Includes a number of photographs.
Torpedo tubes sink theory of mystery sub
Jonathan Dart
April 10, 2008
THE British author Michael Montgomery rattled a historical hornets' nest 27 years ago when he published Who Sank The Sydney? - a book that launched dozens of conspiracy theories about the ship's final hours.
As the Finding Sydney Foundation crew members returned to Perth yesterday with the first shots of the wreck of the Kormoran, they brought back a document almost as valuable as the photographs - a letter from Mr Montgomery congratulating them for their find, seemingly ending the decades of controversy about whether the Kormoran had acted alone.
The photographs showed underwater torpedo tubes, which are credited in German accounts with firing the shot that fatally crippled the Sydney.
Flaps on the above-water torpedo tubes were also discovered, giving an insight into the way in which the Germans camouflaged themselves in order to lure the Sydney into striking range.
For the Finding Sydney Foundation's search director, David Mearns, the pictures provided crucial evidence that the fatal torpedo shots were not from a Japanese submarine or any other vessel. "We've now proven that beyond a shadow of doubt and even Michael Montgomery has written congratulations to me."
It was an important milestone as researchers gather material before the start of the federal inquiry into the sinking of HMAS Sydney, which was announced last week. But, despite gathering a mountain of evidence on the wrecks, Mr Mearns said he was unsure about what the inquiry, to be headed by Justice Terence Cole, hoped to establish.
"I don't feel I'm in a position to comment on the inquiry," he said. "I've only just heard about it myself. There's been no instructions put to us about our data collection from [Justice Cole].
"I have no idea what the inquiry's going to entail and obviously very happy to co-operate but it's very early to say what needs to be done."
The leading historian Tom Frame, who wrote HMAS Sydney: Loss And Controversy, said the inquiry should stick to the evidence gathered from the wreck, rathering than trawling through Australian archives for answers.
He said the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was wrong to publicly state that there were archival documents taking up 23 kilometres of shelf space still to be examined. "I don't know how many times I have to say, 'Trust me, there are no documents hidden away,"' he said.
After viewing the pictures of the Kormoran yesterday, Professor Frame said it was now virtually beyond doubt that the Kormoran acted alone.
"My view is that the Kormoran did fire its underwater torpedo tubes and, with some of the evidence from the wreck, we can put the camera in a position to find out the status of the underwater torpedo tubes," he said.
"I would hope to be vindicated in the view that that was the crucial weapon used against the Sydney."
Includes a number of photographs.
Torpedo tubes sink theory of mystery sub
Jonathan Dart
April 10, 2008
THE British author Michael Montgomery rattled a historical hornets' nest 27 years ago when he published Who Sank The Sydney? - a book that launched dozens of conspiracy theories about the ship's final hours.
As the Finding Sydney Foundation crew members returned to Perth yesterday with the first shots of the wreck of the Kormoran, they brought back a document almost as valuable as the photographs - a letter from Mr Montgomery congratulating them for their find, seemingly ending the decades of controversy about whether the Kormoran had acted alone.
The photographs showed underwater torpedo tubes, which are credited in German accounts with firing the shot that fatally crippled the Sydney.
Flaps on the above-water torpedo tubes were also discovered, giving an insight into the way in which the Germans camouflaged themselves in order to lure the Sydney into striking range.
For the Finding Sydney Foundation's search director, David Mearns, the pictures provided crucial evidence that the fatal torpedo shots were not from a Japanese submarine or any other vessel. "We've now proven that beyond a shadow of doubt and even Michael Montgomery has written congratulations to me."
It was an important milestone as researchers gather material before the start of the federal inquiry into the sinking of HMAS Sydney, which was announced last week. But, despite gathering a mountain of evidence on the wrecks, Mr Mearns said he was unsure about what the inquiry, to be headed by Justice Terence Cole, hoped to establish.
"I don't feel I'm in a position to comment on the inquiry," he said. "I've only just heard about it myself. There's been no instructions put to us about our data collection from [Justice Cole].
"I have no idea what the inquiry's going to entail and obviously very happy to co-operate but it's very early to say what needs to be done."
The leading historian Tom Frame, who wrote HMAS Sydney: Loss And Controversy, said the inquiry should stick to the evidence gathered from the wreck, rathering than trawling through Australian archives for answers.
He said the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was wrong to publicly state that there were archival documents taking up 23 kilometres of shelf space still to be examined. "I don't know how many times I have to say, 'Trust me, there are no documents hidden away,"' he said.
After viewing the pictures of the Kormoran yesterday, Professor Frame said it was now virtually beyond doubt that the Kormoran acted alone.
"My view is that the Kormoran did fire its underwater torpedo tubes and, with some of the evidence from the wreck, we can put the camera in a position to find out the status of the underwater torpedo tubes," he said.
"I would hope to be vindicated in the view that that was the crucial weapon used against the Sydney."
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