The reports by the surviving crew of the Kormoron the German raider that sank the Sydney seems to reveal what happened. As the Kormoron was disguised as a Dutch merchant ship and the Sydney captain was ordered to preserve merchant shipping which was highly needed, and he had no other way of identifying the ship, he allowed the distance between the ships to get down to 1000 yards which in warship terms is virtually point blank and lost the advantage of the Sydneys bigger guns. when the Kormoron opened fire it was premeditated and carefully planned and accurate and knocked out the bridge and most of the commanding officers immediately as well as much of the gunnery directors. There was such destruction that communications within the ship would have been minimal. So was over very quickly, much internal damage and loss of crew even though some of Sydneys guns caused severe damage to the Kormoron which later was abandoned.

Hi, I've seen your model of HMAS Sydney on YouTube -very impressive, must have taken many months to make. Can understand why you built it, this ship has a very special place in Australian Naval history. With the loss of 645 men in November 1941 after engagement with an armed German merchant ship, I've often wondered why the captain chose to remain underway and not order abandon ship. Had he done so it's likely many would have survived as the ship broke in half underway and sank quickly.

Many many years ago I was able to visit/tour the StRoch in Vancouver BC. It's a very small vessel. Then the next time I was out there I wanted to visit it, but it was closed to crawling around onboard. Apparently it was not "accessable", so since a person in a wheelchair can't get up there & explore, now it is closed to able-bodied persons as well. "WOKE" culture, PC(political correctness). I first heard of StRoch in abt gr5 when I was 10y.o. That wud be 1957. It was in our history text. I'm 75 now, wish I cud view it again. RCMP vessel, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Proved that we "owned" the Northwest Passage

Hi Tony, thanks for your interest, the warship in background is the HMAS Sydney (2) a 1/72 scale RC model scratch built. It is built in 2 halves which can be easily bolted together pondside before ballast is added. This makes it easy to deal with a working 2.4metre long model.
It is pictured in the August 2022 Model boats mag. As I get older my models are carefully designed for practicality in transport and operation. The entire superstructure is attached to large deck access panels which are held on with magnets. The launching procedure is to first remove all superstructure, bolt the 2 halves together, carry the hull to the pondside and place on stand, fit ballast, add superstucture, then lift into water with slings under hull. A youtube clip is available if you google HMAS Sydney RC on youtube, piratefleet channel.

I'm very curious about the warship in the background -can you enlighten me as to what? Super build by the way. Not a kit man myself (except for plastic models) over the years, mostly I scratch build. What you say concerning the C of G has been an issue I've had to overcome when building from plans. Currently that applies to the Dragon yacht I'm building -on hold at the moment. Tony A.....

jUst finished RC highly modified Billings kit of St Roch. This is very small model for RC as only about 170mm long and previously viewed youtube RC versions have struggled with high C of G. and have been forced to attach false keel extensions. I have used little of the original kit heavy plywood parts but instead most superstructure rebuilt from very light balsa and also a length of lead incorporated into bottom of keel. This model is very stable on the water and sails very well.