THE SEARCH FOR HMAS SYDNEY: AN AUSTRALIAN STORY

摘要

The story of HMAS Sydney's discovery is now being told in book form for only the second time. The first was in David Mearns' work on the blue-water operations some years ago. This new publication concentrates more on the work of the Finding Sydney Foundation which began its quest from the 1970s. It is a worthy production which dovetails well with the previous publication. From the beginning the realisation that the WWII cruiser Sydney could only be found by investigating the original story of the action was understood by the people behind the Foundation. They brought to the quest some powerful research procedures, but above all a spirit which imbues these pages: a calm and rational analysis that was streets away from the often hysterical and usually fanciful so-called analysis of sadly, many others. They took the cold hard facts: a highly capable, battle-proven warship had been sunk by a German raider with the loss of all 645 of her ship's company. The purpose-built cruiser should have mastered the retro-fitted raider with ease but did not. The survivors probably were telling the truth. And so the analysis began.