HMAS Sydney 1934-1941
HMAS Sydney 1934-1941 Sources J. Collins, HMAS Sydney, The Naval Historical Society of Australia, 1971. T. Frame, HMAS Sydney, Loss and Controversy, 1998, (paperback ed.). R. Summerrell, The Sinking of HMAS Sydney. A Guide to Commonwealth Government Records, 1999. Parliamentary Inquiry, Report on the Loss of HMAS Sydney, 1999. W. Olson, Bitter Victory. The Death of HMAS Sydney, 2000. ______________________ HMAS Sydney - The Pride of the Fleet Launched in September 1934 from the Wallsend-on-Tyne shipyard, Sydney was a light cruiser of the modified Leander (or Perth) class. The Leander class cruisers were built to a basic late 1920s design.1 Modifications saw the installation of two separate machinery units rather than one, so reducing the possibility of a complete power failure, with each unit having its own funnel. Her armament was eight 6-inch guns (in four turrets), four 4-inch anti-aircraft guns, four 3-pounder saluting guns, three 4-barrel 0.5-inch machine guns and eight 21-inch torpedo tubes. Some of the modifications could be seen as compromising the ship’s battle worthiness. Weight was saved (so enhancing its speed) by only protecting the area between the funnels with armour. A pre-war captain, J. Waller, told the Naval Board that the primary gun control systems were ‘extremely vulnerable to gunfire and bombs, even of small calibre’.2 The fear was that a well-directed or lucky hit could knock out the main armament’s central control. The fire-control system was not however altered. Sydney served with distinction in the Mediterranean in 1940 under Captain John Collins.
[Show full text]