Battle Between HMAS Sydney and German Auxiliary Cruiser Kormoran - Search and Rescue

Search and Rescue

Note: All times in this section are UTC+8.

When Sydney did not arrive on schedule, there was little immediate concern: the northbound journey with Zealandia could have taken longer than expected, Durban may have been late to the rendezvous, Sydney could have diverted to aid southbound merchant shipping, or minor engine problems may have occurred. Warships were expected to maintain wireless silence unless necessary; none of these were sufficient reason to break silence and inform Fremantle of the delay. When the ship failed to arrive by 23 November, wireless communications stations (initially those in Fremantle, then all high-power stations in Australia) began to send out signals ordering Sydney to report in.

At 06:00 on 23 November, the troopship RMS Aquitania recovered one of the two rafts carrying 26 German sailors at 24°35′S 110°57′E / 24.583°S 110.95°E / -24.583; 110.95. Initially believing that these were survivors of a German raider attack, and that the raider might still be in the area, Aquitania resumed her voyage to Sydney, maintaining silence until the afternoon of 26 November. Detmers saw the troopship, but he did not make their boat's presence known, as he hoped to be recovered by a neutral ship.

Six Lockheed Hudson aircraft from No. 14 Squadron RAAF, based at RAAF Base Pearce, began to search for the ship on the morning of 24 November. When it was learned that the Zealandia handover occurred on schedule, air searches commenced in the Java Sea. The first news relating to the engagement between Sydney and Kormoran was received by the Australian Naval Board during the afternoon of 24 November; the British tanker Trocas reported that she had rescued a raft at 15:00 carrying 25 German naval personnel (one having perished) at 24°6′S 111°40′E / 24.1°S 111.667°E / -24.1; 111.667. After further communication with Trocas, the Naval Board learned that the sailors had come from the raider Kormoran, which had participated in a mutually destructive engagement with an unspecified ship, which the Naval Board assumed was Sydney.

Wireless signals to Sydney ceased, as it was assumed that if the cruiser had survived, battle damage or operational reasons prevented her reply. Six nearby merchant vessels (Pan Europe, Saidja, Herstein, Sunetta, Centaur, and Hermion) were instructed to pass through that location and keep a lookout for survivors or wreckage of either ship, while four RAN auxiliaries (HMAS Yandra, Heros, Olive Cam, and Wyrallah) sailed from Fremantle to search the area. Aircraft from No. 14 and No. 25 Squadrons were relocated to Carnarvon to commence aerial searches from there the next morning, and were supplemented by two PBY Catalina flying boats; one each from Townsville and Port Moresby. On 25 November, HNLMS Tromp was sent from Sunda Strait to follow Sydney's assumed course if she had headed for Surabaya or Singapore after sustaining damage.

Several German lifeboats were spotted on 25 November during the air search off Western Australia: the 46-man cutter had come ashore at 17-Mile Well, the 57-man lifeboat was nearing Red Bluff when spotted, and a third lifeboat was further off the coast. That afternoon, the staff of Quobba Station rounded up the two groups that had made landfall with no resistance. On the morning of 26 November, aircraft spotted two boats at sea, but were unable to find them again that afternoon. At sunset, the 31-man boat was located by the passenger ship Koolinda at 24°07′S 112°46′E / 24.117°S 112.767°E / -24.117; 112.767, which recovered the sailors and made for Carnarvon.

Centaur, which had been ordered to collect the Germans from Carnarvon and transport them to Fremantle, encountered Detmers' lifeboat at 22:20, at coordinates 24°39′S 112°15′E / 24.65°S 112.25°E / -24.65; 112.25. The crew of Centaur lowered food to the 62 in the lifeboat, took on 9 wounded, and began to tow the lifeboat. During the voyage to Carnarvon, the damaged and overloaded German lifeboat was swamped: Centaur's master lowered two of his lifeboats for the Germans to use, before resuming the "motley towing combination". Arriving in Carnarvon on the afternoon of 27 November, the Germans were relocated from the boats to Centaur's cargo holds, where they were joined by their colleagues which had reached shore and Australian Army guards. The last boat, carrying seventy Germans and two Chinese, was spotted from the air at 25°4′S 112°4′E / 25.067°S 112.067°E / -25.067; 112.067 during the late morning of 27 November, and was recovered shortly after by HMAS Yandra. On 28 November, HMAS Wyrallah found a German lifebelt and two four-man liferafts, one of which was carrying a deceased German sailor, who was buried at sea.

Trocas Koolinda Centaur Yandra 17-Mile Well Red Bluff Carnarvon Reported battle site Recovery of survivors

The search was terminated at sunset on 29 November. All of the German lifeboats were accounted for: between them, 318(III) of Kormoran's 399 personnel survived. Conversely, none of 645 from Sydney were found, and the only definite remains from the Australian warship were an inflatable lifebelt located by HMAS Wyrallah on 27 November (the discovery of a second RAN lifebelt by the merchant ship Evagoras that same day was initially reported, but later found to be false), and a damaged carley float discovered by HMAS Heros on 28 November. A second carley float, which washed up on Christmas Island in February 1942, is believed to be linked with the cruiser.