Kormoran's crew are treated as sincere witnesses, while the fate of Sydney's crew remains unexplained. A cruiser designed with separated machinery, backup systems, and multiple life-saving appliances apparently continued away from the action before losing all hands. The wreck was found in 2008 about 207 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia in roughly 2,500 metres of water. Its proximity to Australia and the absence of recovered survivors or confirmed signals leave questions about the final sinking and any attempt to abandon ship. Proposed explanations include destroyed boats, failed communications and later flooding, without establishing which combination caused the loss of every crew member.
Notable Point · 1:43:00-1:57:07
Why Sydney's loss remains difficult to explain
The loss of all Sydney's crew remains a difficult historical problem because the reported damage and the absence of survivors seem hard to reconcile.