The engagement between Sydney and Kormoran has been the focus of a large number of conspiracy theories. This is not entirely surprising. It's a shocking event - converted merchant ships do not, as a rule, sink major modern warships. We only have one side of the story, as the only survivors were from Kormoran. The facts of the case suggest that Sydney's officers made a number of mistakes, leading people to try to exonerate them. This results in a wide variety of conspiracy theories, ranging from the presence of Japanese submarines to allegations that survivors ended up in POW camps in Japan. Those that argue that Kormoran used an illegal ruse to lure Sydney into close range have three main suggestions: either Kormoran made illegal use of a non-German flag, she made a false surrender, or sent a false message requesting assistance for a medical or mechanical emergency.

Of these, the false use of a non-German flag is closest to the truth. In the run-up to the battle, Kormoran had been disguised as the Straat Malakka, a Dutch cargo ship of similar design. Part of this disguise involved flying the Dutch flag. This was entirely legal under the laws of war. It was a long-standing practice; a ship could use foreign flags to lower the suspicions of a target or to evade attack. However, a ship could not fight under that flag, only under their own. This helped to protect neutrals - a warship could have a degree of assurance that a ship flying a neutral flag was not a direct threat, and so would be less likely to fire into it without provocation. In the case of the Sydney, we know that Kormoran was flying the Dutch flag as Sydney approached. The conspiracy theorists claim that this was only hauled down and replaced with the German flag after Kormoran had opened fire. This assumes that Sydney was at full readiness and ready to fire the instant that Kormoran revealed herself as a German ship; more realistically, Sydney's crew, not expecting a raider in the region, were more relaxed and not able to fire at a moment's notice. Some allege that the time taken to change flags in German recollections of the battle is too short for the change to have taken place. This ignores the standard practice of Kormoran's captain, which was to have the German flag ready to hoist on a separate halyard from the flag he was using for a disguise, greatly speeding up the transition. In all of Kormoran's previous engagements with merchants she had flown the German flag when firing. The reports from survivors of these engagements indicate that the transition between disguise and warship took just seconds.

Other conspiracy theorists claim that Kormoran attempted to fake a surrender to draw Sydney in. This would be a clear breach of the rules of law. Fake surrenders were expressly forbidden in international law; for example, the 1913 Oxford Manual of the Laws of Naval War, which laid out much of the law governing war at sea during both World Wars, stated that 'it is forbidden ... to make improper use of a flag of truce'. Making false surrenders illegal meant that those who wished to surrender could be assured that they would not be attacked out of hand by an enemy that suspected that they were faking. In the claims of the conspiracy theorists, Kormoran signalled her surrender, using a white flag, signal lamp or by hoisting down her flag. Sydney would then close in to take possession of Kormoran, bringing her into a vulnerable position. The flaw in this argument is that there is no evidence for it; the accounts from Kormoran's crewmembers are consistent in stating that Kormoran made no false surrender. Since the rest of their testimony is largely consistent with the available corroborating evidence (for example, Sydney's wreck), there's no reason to assume they are lying on this point.

A similar speculation is that Kormoran faked some kind of emergency, and then attacked Sydney while she was preparing to render aid. This might have been some kind of medical emergency, conveyed through flag or light signals, or a mechanical problem, aided by the release of smoke and the ship slowing down. A fake distress call would be another illegal ruse, as such an abuse might lead to warships disregarding real ones. Again, there is no evidence for it. One conspiracy theorist suggests that some passages in interrogation reports from the German crew indicate that Kormoran had been making smoke as part of this ruse. However, these clearly refer to smoke made after the engagement had begun, either from the guns or from real fires aboard Kormoran. Kormoran's actions, as described in the German testimony, do not correspond to the actions of a ship seeking to attract attention in order to get help.

The "illegal ruse" theories regarding the naval battle between the Sydney and the Kormoran largely arise from a misunderstanding of the rules of war in relation to "false colours". Under the rules of war it is not illegal to sail under false colours to deceive an enemy nor to use them to approach an enemy but it is illegal to commence direct hostilities (i.e. to open fire or even to return fire) while under false colours. The HSK Kormoran was a converted freighter, a German auxiliary cruiser commerce raider with a crew of 399 under the command of Fregattenkapitan Theodor Detmers, armed with guns, mines and torpedoes, disguised to appear as a freighter, and with the mission of performing extended operations at sea attacking merchant shipping and able to be resupplied from supply ships. She had sunk 11 merchant ships. She was not intended or armed to take part in any sort of fleet action.

HMAS Sydney was an Australian cruiser which was considered highly successful and had provided distinguished service in the Mediterranean and was armed and designed for fleet action. Her guns significantly outranged those of the Kormoran, she carried spotter aircraft and she was faster. She had a crew of 645 under Captain Joseph Burnett who had been recently appointed to her command.

At 1700hrs 19 November 1941 about 120 nautical miles West of the West Australian coast HMAS Sydney spotted a vessel and challenged it to identify itself, signalling continuously with a signal lamp while sailing directly towards the vessel. The vessel was slow to respond but hoisted the Dutch flag and signal flags identifying it as the Dutch merchant ship Straat Malakka. By 1800hrs HMAS Sydney was approaching and was preparing to release her spotter aircraft, and the vessel sent a radio signal to "all ships" as the Straat Malakka that it was being approached by a "suspicious ship". The signal was received on land at Geraldton.

By 1815hrs HMAS Sydney had stood down the spotter aircraft and was sailing parallel to and less than a mile from the vessel with her crew at action stations, guns and torpedo tubes bearing and signalled "Where Bound" to which she received the reply "Batavia". She then signalled a secret identifying code for the Straat Malakka, to which the vessel was required to give a countersign.

Not possessing the countersign, Frigattenkapitan Detmers ordered the Dutch colours to be struck, the German Naval Ensign hoisted and opened fire with all armament at approximately 1830hrs. HMAS Sydney returned fire immediately. HMAS Sydney's first salvo passed over the Kormoran. HSK Kormoran's first two salvos struck the Sydney while the third passed over. The battle continued until about 1925 hours. The Kormoran initially fired two torpedoes, one of which hit the Sydney and later fired a third that missed. The Sydney fired four torpedoes during the battle while closing on the Kormoran, while the Kormoran was turning and all missed. Both ships were severely damaged by gunfire with the Kormoran on fire and with her engines crippled, while the HMAS Sydney, also on fire, was able to sail southwards still exchanging shots.

Both ships sank. HMAS Sydney was lost with all her crew. There were no survivors. Frigattenkapitan Detmers was able to order the difficult abandonment of the burning Kormoran which was completed by about midnight with the loss of a life raft and 40 men. The Kormoran exploded at 0030hrs and sank rapidly. There were 318 survivors eventually rescued. During the interrogation of the prisoners of war from HSK Kormoran particular attention was paid to the point of whether HSK Kormoran exchanged her Dutch "false colours" for her true colours before opening fire. The interrogators were satisfied by the statements from Frigattenkapitan Detmers and by those of his surviving crew who were in a position to witness it that the action commenced under her true colours. That would indicate that there was no breach of the laws of war.

The various theories arise from the clear fact that Captain Burnett made a major mistake. He commanded a more powerful ship with greater range but approached to within what for a naval engagement was almost point blank range before confirming identity. Had he maintained his distance it would have been unlikely that the HSK Kormoran could have damaged HMAS Sydney seriously. Since there were no survivors of the Sydney we have no explanation of his mistake. So was he inexperienced? Was he negligent? Was he incompetent? Or was he the victim of some dastardly, illegal ruse?

The above details are based mostly on the statements by the German survivors and there is some variation given by various reports (such as how effective were different salvos, and how damaged were the different ships).

The major Reference used: The Commonwealth of Australia House of Representatives Joint Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry - Report On The Loss of HMAS Sydney; presented 22 March 1999