AEROMEDIA
The Italian Aerospace Information Web
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L’incrocatore leggero della Royal Australian Navy HMAS Sydney (D 48), classe Leander, fu un protagonista delle battaglie navali nel Mediterraneo durante la prima parte della Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Il 19 novembre 1941, al largo di Shark Bay (Western Australia), il Sydney fu affondato dall’incrociatore ausiliario tedesco Kormoran, camuffato da mercantile. Il Kormoran, gravemente danneggiato dal Sydney che stava affondando, fu abbandonato dall’equipaggio. Il più grande disastro navale della marina australiana (nell’esplosione morirono tutti i 645 membri dell’equipaggio) rimase un mistero per diverso tempo, finchè furono scoperti gruppi di naufraghi tedeschi sulle desolate coste dell’Australia Occidentale. Del Sydney fu rinvenuto soltanto un canotto, conservato come una reliquia (relic) all’Australian War Memorial di Canberra. Finalmente, il 16 marzo 2008, il relitto del Sydney fu individuato, in una tomba subacquea a 2.468 metri di profondità, non distante da quello del Kormoran. Per approfondire http://airminded.org/2008/03/17/out-of-the-depths/. (Aeromedia)
The Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Sydney (D 48), a Leander class light cruiser, was a protagonist of the naval battles in the Mediterranean Sea during the first phase of WW2. But on November 19, 1941, off Shark Bay (Western Australia), the Sydney was lost during a fierce battle with the Kormoran, a German commerce raider disguised as a merchant ship. The Kormoran, badly damaged by the sinking Sydney, was abandoned by the crew just before it sank. The cause of the worst naval disaster of the Australian Navy (there were no survivors from the Sydney’s 645 crew members) remained a mystery despite groups of shipwrecked Kormoran sailors being picked up along the desolate coast of Western Australia. One of the Sydney’s lifeboats was later recovered, the only remains of the warship. It is preserved as a relic at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. On March 16, 2008, the wreck of the Sydney was finally discovered in its watery grave at 2,468 m depth, not far from where the Kormoran lies. See also http://airminded.org/2008/03/17/out-of-the-depths/. (Aeromedia)


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