Ship History
A modified Leander-class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. Sydney was laid down by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne, England on 8 July 1933 as HMS Phaeton, purchased by the Australian Government in 1934 and renamed in memory of the earlier Sydney. She was launched on 22 September 1934 by Mrs S. M. Bruce, wife of the Australian High Commissioner to Britain and commissioned at Portsmouth on 24 September 1935.

Sinking History
At 4 pm on November 19, 1941, HMAS Sydney returning to Fremantle from Java sighted the Kormoran about 200 miles west of Carnarvon, Western Australia. For 90 minutes the Kormoran tried to pass itself off as a Dutch vessel but when all chance of deception evaporated, it opened fire on HMAS Sydney with guns and torpedoes. The action lasted 30 minutes with both ships being crippled and set ablaze. Both sank and the entire complement of HMAS Sydney was lost.

The sinking with all hands represents the greatest ever loss of life in an Australian warship; Sydney was also the largest vessel of any country to be lost with no survivors during the war.

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