Case file · High strangeness
HMAS Sydney lost with all hands
On 19 November 1941 the cruiser HMAS Sydney fought the German raider Kormoran off Western Australia and vanished with all 645 crew, Australia's worst naval loss.
1941 CE · -26.24, 111.21 · status: explained
The account
Survivors from Kormoran described the battle, but for 67 years rumours flourished of a Japanese submarine and cover-ups. Both wrecks were found in March 2008; a 2009 inquiry confirmed the battle accounts.