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Sydney Korgan Case Study

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Background 1. HMAS Sydney sank on 19 November 1941, after engagement with HSK Kormoran, a disguised German raider as a Dutch merchant vessel off the coast of Western Australia (Bathgate, 2007). All 645 members of her crew were lost whilst the Kormoran lost 81 members of its 399 crew (Royal Australian Navy, n.d.). The lack of clarity of the events surrounding the engagement has resulted in conspiracy and controversy towards the actions of Sydney, with the addition of the unknown location of both vessels until 2008. Sydney is the greatest maritime disaster in Australian history. (Affairs, 1999) Aim 2. To investigate the actions of the Sydney and Kormoran towards each other and how they effected the overall outcome. The analysis of the strategic …show more content…

From the accounts of the crew of the Kormoran and the damage of the wreck of Kormoran which was found in 2008, it is clear that the crew continued to fight even after communication was lost with the bridge. The crew of Sydney was highly trained, being praised for actions in battle especially in the sinking if the Italian destroyer Espero (Royal Australian Navy, n.d.). Thus, Sydney would have been able to bring themselves to action stations for each individual department without the usual reliance on the executive branch. For the damage that was inflicted on the Kormoran to cause her to sink would be only possible if continued to fight even with critical damage and beginning to sink. Throughout a battle Sydney's crew had three main objectives; fighting the enemy ship, coping with floods and fighting fires. The training the crew had practised before would have meant that would have worked frantically on these 3 objectives rather than self preservation. Even though these actions resulted in Sydney's crew to unable abandon ship as there was no direct order to evacuate and resilience of Sydney would have trapped a majority of the crew inside the hull. It is miraculous that the crew of Sydney was able to continue fighting for long and inflict the amount of damage on the Kormoran even with a surprise attack, proving the resilience of its crew. (Lewis,

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This weakened Australia’s ties with Great Britain making Australia more independent. This was also the first time Australia had to defend itself from a foreign invasion. After the Kokoda campaign, Australian soldiers and citizens also gained various qualities such as persistence, courage, endurance, mateship, and sacrifice. Therefore, the Kokoda campaign caused many short-term and long-term consequences for

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Australia and allies lost 900 people, 77 aircraft and a load of ships. Facilities were destroyed and the Japanese lost around 131 planes during the attacks. Australians were terrified that the Japanese would invade or attack more areas. You could feel the uneasiness of

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The Kokoda Campaign was a series of events fought between Australian and Japanese soldiers. It was one of the most difficult, yet important campaigns for Australian soldiers. The campaign had a high-level impact on the physical and mental health of soldiers who fought in it. This essay will convey key information from sources that explore different aspects of the Kokoda Campaign.

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Impacts in, and on Australia were felt almost instantly, and can still be noted in today's modern society where the relationships between Australia and the United Kingdom, and Australia and America are fortified internationally. Prior to World War Two, Australia was apart of the British commonwealth, and still is today, but during the war, Australia was at great risk because of it's geographical location. Many felt that support from the British was scarce, and as the Japanese continued fighting in the Pacific, the risk of attack on Australia was imminent. This was shown by the infamous bombing of Darwin on the 19th of February 1942. Source 1 shows a map of Japanese occupied areas in the Pacific at it's peak.

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Each individual soldier demonstrated exception courage when fighting the Japanese, truly displaying that the Anzac Spirit was very much alive within the Australian troops at Kokoda. The Australian troops at Kokoda fought courageously for the freedom of their country. Everyday they confronted obstacles and experienced frightening situations but they did not budge, everything they did was courageous fighting the Japanese to saving their own men. Brigadier A.W. Potts was a man whose fortitude, courage and inspirational ability to Australian troops inspired many others to save Port Moresby from being taken by the Japanese. An incoming battle from the north of the track was minutes from attacking the site Brigadier was stationed at.

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Not only the war had a massive effect on the Indigenous in Australia, The war was a huge boom to the Australian economy and as it turned out another massive factor. As many Australian fundamental products were purchased as could be produced, and secondary, subsidiary industries manufactured many ‘modern’ items for the services. Many men and women retired and fled their careers to accompany the armed forces leading to a ‘deficit’ of labour. New commerce and businesses need to have been created to fund the troops with combat weapons, uniforms and ammunition. Scarce goods needed to be controlled by the Australian Government in enhancing better buying and selling and in ensuring that everyone received a fair share.

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