Underwater Images Of HMAS Sydney Shown

As Rough As It May Seem, It's Not always Steady As You Go...

SEEING the first images of the sunken HMAS Sydney provides some closure to the 66-year-old mystery, the son of one of the ship's crewmembers says.

The images were published today after being taken by a remotely-operated submersible deployed from the survey vessel Geosounder.

The Sydney wreck was found last month -- almost seven decades after it was lost with all 645 crew -- off the coast of Western Australia.

The Australian warship sank after a gun battle in November 1941 with the German mercantile raider Kormoran, the wreck of which was also found last month.

The images show a gun turret on the Sydney with a shell hole clearly visible between the two guns.

Another shows a gun turret with wreckage strewn over it, while a further photo shows a section of the deck with teak decking remarkably intact.

Brisbane man Royce Laycock, 70, was four years old when his father, of the same name, perished in the sinking.

Mr Laycock said the photos show the Sydney was the target of a precise attack from the Kormoran.
"They must have been blown out of the water,'' he told AAP after seeing the photos.

"I'd say the bridge would have gone first, and that's probably why there was no survivors.

"It's hit its water line, and then the guns have been wiped out. It's not random shooting, it's been precise shooting.''

A keen follower of the HMAS Sydney mystery, Mr Laycock has collected every piece of information he could over the years, and said the new images would bring some closure.

"I think that it will bring some closure to it, seeing the damage sustained,'' he said.

"It just wasn't a single torpedo on the boat that sort of broke it in two and it's gone down.

"It limped away but it must have been hammered right, left and centre.

"My father was a stoker who wouldn't have had one hope in hell of getting up on deck.''

Mayport in line for new fleet command quarters

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...

The Navy will announce in "a matter of days" the creation of the 4th Fleet at Mayport Naval Station, a Jacksonville military expert told the Times-Union on Wednesday.

While it won't mean an influx of ships or a lot of new personnel, the command will raise the city's naval prominence.

"It portends good things for the future of Mayport," said John Meserve, a former Mayport commanding officer and the current military issues chairman for the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Meserve said he learned of the decision from congressional and Navy sources.

A Navy spokesman said he could neither confirm nor deny that a decision to re-establish the Navy command would come by the end of this week or early next.

"But I can say that we think it's a good idea," said Lt. Sean Robertson, Navy public affairs officer in Washington.

The idea is to create a fleet command responsible for conducting naval operations in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

In this case a "fleet" denotes not a group of ships but a hierarchy responsible for a certain region of the world. The new organization would join five other existing Navy fleets: 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th. The former 4th Fleet was shut down shortly after World War II.

The modern incarnation would be part of U.S. Southern Command, an inter-service headquarters based in Miami.

Naval operations in that part of the world currently fall under U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, which is based at Mayport and led by a one-star admiral. A new 4th Fleet, if established, would be led by a two- or three-star admiral, the Navy has said.

Meserve, who also is the mayor of Atlantic Beach, said 4th Fleet will boost Mayport's clout because that higher-ranking admiral would attend naval strategy meetings in Norfolk, Va., and Washington.

"Those people are part of the decision-making process of where to base and disperse forces, where they see threats coming up and the immediate response to those threats," Meserve said. "For us to have a Mayport flag officer seated at the table, putting in his two cents worth, is important."

Basing 4th Fleet at Mayport doesn't guarantee a nuclear aircraft carrier will be homeported at the base, but it certainly doesn't hurt the city's chances of landing a flattop, either, Meserve said.

Mayport hasn't had a tenant aircraft carrier since March 2007, when the oil-fired John F. Kennedy was decommissioned. A mix of cruisers, destroyers and frigates remain at the base, located at the mouth of the St. Johns River.

The Navy is expected to make a decision by year's end on whether to replace the Kennedy at Mayport with a nuclear-powered carrier, other kinds of warships, or both.

Dan McCarthy, the city's military liaison, declined to comment Wednesday but previously has said a 4th Fleet presence at Mayport would create "a greater opportunity to station a carrier here."

Not all of the Navy's fleets have carriers. The 5th Fleet in Bahrain and 6th Fleet in Italy have no bases where carriers are homeported

Hole Found In Nuclear Submarine

SAFETY fears have been raised after a hole was discovered in the hull of a nuclear submarine berthed in the Firth of Forth.

The hole – about the size of a fist – was found during routine checks on the decommissioned sub HMS Revenge at Rosyth Dockyard.

The vessel is one of seven redundant nuclear subs stored at Rosyth by the Royal Navy since the early 1980s.

Google Satellite Photo

The breach, discovered during a routine inspection in February, was in one of six external ballast tanks of the Polaris submarine, and was immediately sealed by Navy engineers.

Although weapons and high-level radioactive fuel have long since been removed from the submarines, successive governments have failed to come up with a safe way of disposing of the radioactive reactor compartments, which remain at the centre of the subs.

Navy chiefs today said the hole had been caused by microbes in the water and was repaired immediately, with no danger to the public.

Environmentalists today said the incident was a reminder that a long-term solution for the ageing subs was needed.

John Large, a leading UK nuclear consultant, said: "This is a significant incident as it will force the MoD finally to make a decision on this after years of humming and hawing.

"The indecision and incompetence shown by the Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy over what to do with these boats has been absolutely staggering.

"They've had no strategy and just to leave them afloat to rot really beggars belief.

"You have to remember that up until 1985, the Royal Navy's policy on what to do with these old nuclear submarines was simply to dump them at sea.

"I would imagine that when they take Revenge out of the water it will be like a car's MoT – once they find one thing wrong, they'll find others."

The hole on HMS Revenge was discovered on one of six external ballast tanks, which are about half an inch thick compared with the inner hull, which is an inch and a half thick.

The vessel will be moved to a dry dock next month to allow the vessel's hull to undergo a thorough examination.

Pete Roche, an anti-nuclear campaigner and energy consultant, said: "This is very worrying news, but the problem is that nobody is coming up with any ideas on what to do with them."

In April 1983, Britain's first nuclear sub, HMS Dreadnought, was towed into Rosyth at the end of her service and six others have followed.

Stuart Hay, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "This just goes to show the madness of going ahead with a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK."

Royal Navy spokesman Neil Smith said: "The hole was immediately plugged. There was no chance of the boat sinking and absolutely no risk to the environment or wider community."

Forth U-boat to be protected war grave

CAMPAIGNERS have won their battle to have the wreck of a German U-boat, sunk off the Firth of Forth, declared a protected war grave.

U-714 was sunk in March 1945 by depth charges from South African frigate HMSAS Natal and the British destroyer HMS Vivern. All of the ship's 50-strong crew were lost.

Roger Williams, who was 18 when he dropped the depth charges, and Axel Schwebcke, the son of the 27-year-old German skipper who died, have campaigned for the wreck to get protected status.

The wreck of the U-boat was discovered by divers from South Queensferry Sub Aqua Club 18 months ago.

Mr Williams, who lives in South Africa, said his campaign was not about guilt or regret. He said: "It was the circumstance of the time. We have respect for seamen of all nations; that is part of the brotherhood of the sea."

Stevie Adams, from South Queensferry, who helped find the site, said he kept its location secret so it was not disturbed by looters. He said: "This protected status is great, because it does mean that people are told they can look but not touch anything at the site."