HirooOnoda Wrote:Australians had simply found it difficult to accept that the nation's major warship should have been beaten in battle by a smaller, converted merchant vessel.
If I remember rightly, the German raider was almost as heavily armed as the cruiser....including underwater torpedo tubes. They were probably what dished out the opening, surprise, killer blow.
The Sydney had 8 x 6 inch & 4 x 4inch guns, with 12 machineguns and 8 torpedo tubes.
The Kormoran had 6 x 5.9inch guns, 2 x 37mm anti-tank guns, 5 x 20mm flak automatic cannon, 4 above water torpedo tubes and two more below the waterline, two seaplanes and even a light torpedo boat.
If you can imagine the Sydney checking out a suspicious merchantman, then suddenly one or more torpedoes striking the Sydney, with shells from six 5.9inch guns landing at point-blank range, and your ship being raked by 20mm cannon fire.....it brings to mind a picture of absolute chaos. Probably the only miracle is that they still managed to sink the Koromoran.
I guess it might have been such close range that basically neither side could miss.
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