A few things here, my apologies to all if this is seen as going off topic but I did believe it relevant as one of the initial aspects of this thread was about the ability of a raider to survive and mention had been made of the successes of various raiders during the World Wars including the Kormoran. Targan's description of the battle was incorrect and I sought to redress that.
The opening shots of the Kormoran's light guns hit the bridge and the fire direction centre of the Sydney. Without these, Sydney lost it's command and control before she began to fight. The fire control centre in particular was seen as a weak point in the design and had been armoured in other ships of the type although on Sydney it had been left unarmoured. That was some incredible luck for the Kormoran undoubtedly. When her larger guns began to score hits on Sydney, she hit A turret in a spot that wrecked it with one shot, skill or luck, who knows but they scored hits and that's all that counts. Both ships were taken out of the fight, it was a hollow, nasty victory for both sides.
Targan, piss you off? It was not my intent but I cannot understand the need for revenge on the crew of the Kormoran when the events as portrayed to justify their murder are demonstrably wrong. I really do pity anyone who wants to initiate violence just for the sake of feeling better. If you wish to continue to believe an incorrect version of the event then so be it and I will speak of it no more but I will never accept revenge as a justifiable excuse to kill someone based on ignorance of the facts.
If you wish, I can met you, you can punch me in the mouth and then I'll buy you and me a whisky or three and I'll call you a f**king arsehole for giving me a fatlip. We can get drunk and fall over and forget what the hell we were arguing about and then agree with Legbreaker that the navy really isn't as good as the army.
As for Captain Burnett, he screwed up, plain and simple. As I first stated, he should never have allowed Sydney to get so close to Kormoran. Australians at the time did not want to believe that the Germans might actually have been telling the truth about the loss of the Sydney, many theories were concocted as to how they could possibly have done it including the Germans having the assistance of a Japanese submarine and some even more outlandish tales.
However with the finding of both ships it was revealed by the latest board of inquiry in Australia that most of what the Kormoran survivors had said was correct.
I was a member of a few RSL clubs across Australia as I moved around the nation and have discussed the loss of the Sydney with a few members and several navy personnel. Not one of them has ever threatened my health because I see Captain Burnett as ultimately responsible for the loss of the Sydney.
|