HMAS Sydney (I)

HMAS Sydney (I) was the first Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ship to be called Sydney. It was a Town class light cruiser. It was one of three ordered in 1910 and which formed part of the initial RAN fleet. Sydney is best remembered for sinking the German raider Emden in November 1914.

HMAS Sydney (I) dressed in honour of the visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in 1920

Cruisers such as Sydney were flexible workhorses. They were suited to trade protection and scouting duties. There were 3 groups of Town class cruisers. Each group represented improvements in seakeeping and warfighting capabilities. Sydney belonged to the third group, the ‘Chathams’. These had a side belt of 3-inch armour for protection against torpedoes and shells. The belts also enhanced ship stability, thereby improving gunnery accuracy.

Lady Henderson, the wife of Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson RN, launched Sydney in August 1912. It commissioned at Portsmouth on 26 June 1913, with Captain John C T Glossop RN as its first commanding officer. After departing Portsmouth on 25 July 1913, Sydney reached Albany, Western Australia, on 19 September 1913. 

On 4 October Sydney took part in the ceremonial entry of the RAN Fleet Unit to Sydney harbour. It was welcomed by tens of thousands of spectators who lined the shores of the harbour. Sydney’s first overseas visit was to Singapore in March 1914. There it met the two new RAN submarines, AE1 and AE2, and escorted them to Australia.

In the days before the First World War, Sydney went north with the destroyers HMA Ships Warrego and Yarra. They formed a unit of Admiral Patey's Pacific Squadron. After the outbreak of war, Sydney operated in New Guinea and Pacific waters. It operated against German possessions in the Pacific. Highlights of this period include the capture of Rabaul (9 to 11 September 1914) and destruction of the German wireless station on Angaur Island on 26 September 1914. 

In October 1914, Sydney escorted the 38 transports of the first Anzac convoy to the Middle East, with HMAS Melbourne, HMS Minotaur and Japan’s HIJMS Ibuki. The convoy departed Albany, Western Australia, on 1 November 1914. Eight days later, when 50 miles east of the Cocos Islands, escort telegraphy operators picked up signals in an unknown code. They also heard a transmission from the Australian-staffed Cocos Island station asking, 'What is that code?' 

The encoded transmissions were the German cruiser Emden asking its collier, Buresk, to join Emden at Point Refuge in the Cocos Islands. The next signal from Cocos Island was, 'Strange warship approaching’. The message was then repeated, but with the international distress call, ‘SOS’, at its start. 

Emden had anchored in Port Refuge and landed a raiding party to destroy the Australian cable and wireless station. As its captain, Kapitän zur See Karl von Müller, awaited the return of his landing party, lookouts saw smoke on the horizon. Assumed at first to be Buresk, the masts of the approaching ship were identified as those of a warship. Müller raised steam and cleared the ship for action. Unwilling to wait for the return of the landing party, Müller cleared Port Refuge to the north northwest and took position to confront the approaching warship.

As the convoy escort closest to the Cocos Islands, Sydney was ordered to investigate the signals. At 9.15 am on 9 November, Sydney sighted the German cruiser 7 to 8 miles away and closing in at 20 knots. Emden opened fire first, at a range of 10 500 yards. None of the shells in the first salvo hit Sydney, but Emden established the range and bearing. Sydney came under heavy fire. Fifteen hits were recorded but only five shells exploded. It was during this early stage that Sydney sustained its casualties. 

Sydney’s first salvo was over, the second fell short but the third scored two hits. At first, Müller maintained a rapid rate of fire. Although Sydney’s range finders had been damaged by Emden’s early salvos, Sydney used its superior speed and firepower to advantage. Its shells wrecked Emden’s steering gear, shot away its range finders and smashed the voice pipes. This severed communications with the guns. 

Emden’s forward funnel toppled overboard, followed by its foremast, which carried away the fire control station and wrecked the fire bridge. Despite the damage, Müller continued to fight, though casualties and shell damage meant the salvos were less frequent and accurate. Finally, with Emden’s engine room on fire and a second funnel gone, Müller ordered a run for land. At 11 am, the raider was fast on the reef of North Keeling Island.

Seeing that Emden was aground and immobilised, Sydney turned its attention to the collier, Buresk, which had been sighted to the north. A shot across Buresk’s bows brought it to a stop. An armed party boarded and claimed it as a prize. Buresk’s crew, however, had opened the seacocks and they could not be closed. The boarding party and Buresk’s crew were recovered. Sydney then fired four shots into the collier to sink it quickly.

Sydney returned to North Keeling Island at approximately 4 pm. Emden was still flying the German ensign. ‘Do you surrender?’ Sydney signalled. Emden played for time: ‘No signal books, what signal?’ Sydney asked a further two times whether Emden would surrender. When no reply came, it opened fire. After a few salvos the Germans waved a white flag. Glossop dispatched a boat, crewed by some of the sailors from Buresk, with water and a letter to Müller. The letter read:

I have the honour to request in the name of humanity that you now surrender your ship to me. To show how much I respect your gallantry, I will recapitulate the position. You are ashore, three funnels and one mast down and most guns disabled. You cannot leave this island and my ship is intact. In the event of you surrendering, in which I venture to remind you is no disgrace but rather your misfortune, I will endeavour to do all I can for your sick and wounded and take them to a hospital.

Sydney then headed to Port Refuge in the hope of capturing Emden’s landing party but arrived too late. After witnessing Emden’s fate, the landing party stole a schooner, Ayesha, and escaped. They eventually made it back to Germany.

Sydney returned to the grounded Emden the following morning. The situation aboard the raider was desperate. Dead and wounded lay in heaps. Emden’s only surviving surgeon had few dressings or medical supplies left. The 190 German survivors were taken aboard Sydney. Sydney’s surgeon lieutenants and sickbay attendants, assisted by Dr H S Ollerhead from Direction Island, treated the wounded. En route to Colombo, the wounded were transferred to a Royal Navy (RN) auxiliary cruiser.

From Colombo, Sydney steamed to Malta where it joined the North America and West Indies Stations for patrol duties. It remained on that station until 9 September 1916, when it proceeded to Greenock (near Glasgow) for a refit. 

On 15 November Sydney sailed for Rosyth. There it joined HM Ships Southampton and Dublin and HMAS Melbourne as part of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron attached to the 2nd Battle Squadron. For the remainder of the war, Sydney served in North Sea patrols.

On 4 May 1917, while patrolling off the east coast of Britain, Sydney fought a running engagement with the German zeppelin L43. The encounter lasted until Sydney had used all its anti-aircraft ammunition and the zeppelin all its bombs. Neither the ship nor airship was damaged. 

Sydney had a 3-month refit in 1917 that involved refitting its tripod mast and installing a revolving aircraft-launching platform. This was the first revolving aircraft-launching platform installed on a warship. HMS Dublin lent Sydney a Sopwith Pup aircraft that was successfully launched from Sydney's platform. It was the first aircraft to take off from a RAN ship.

While in enemy-controlled waters on 1 June 1918, Sydney saw Melbourne dive-bombed by two German seaplanes. Sydney’s Sopwith 2-F1 Camel, with Flight Lieutenant A C Sharwood RAF as pilot, was quickly launched, as was Melbourne's Camel. 

Sharwood climbed to 10 000 feet, located three German aircraft and pursued them. After a 60-mile chase, Sharwood attacked. He dived onto the single-seater plane and sent it into the sea. As he followed it down, he was bounced by another German aircraft. Sharwood engaged but had to break off when his guns jammed. He was faced with returning, without armaments, to Sydney, over 70 miles away. Luckily, he saw the Harwich Force destroyer HMS Sharpshooter below and ditched alongside it. Sharwood was rescued by sea boat. The Sopwith Camel was later recovered.

In 1918 the RAN made a commemorative medallion to recognise Australia’s first naval engagement, the Sydney-Emden encounter. The centrepiece of the medallion was a Mexican silver dollar. Thousands of these dollars were recovered from the wreck of Emden. The coins were mounted by Sydney jeweller W Kerr. They were presented to officers and crew who were aboard Sydney during the engagement. 

Medallions were also given to the cable and wireless staff on Cocos Island, the Admiralty, the Australian War Memorial and other museums. The citizens of Western Australia commissioned another medallion to recognise Sydney’s Western Australian officers and sailors. 

Sydney operated in mainly Australian and southwest Pacific waters for the rest of its career. In December 1919 it was in the Timor Sea ready to help a Vickers Vimy bomber on the first flight between England and Australia. 

Sydney took part in the June 1920 visit to Australia by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. In 1922 it conducted a ‘show the flag’ cruise to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) and New Caledonia. 

Placed in reserve on 13 April 1923, Sydney recommissioned on 29 November 1924 as the flagship of the RAN.

In early February 1925 the First Naval Member, Rear Admiral Percival Hall CB CMG RN and his staff travelled on Sydney to Singapore for the Pacific and Far East Conference. Before commercial air travel, warships often transported senior officers and dignitaries. 

On returning to Australia, Sydney resumed normal peacetime exercises. This included visits to Auckland and Wellington, and exercises with the New Zealand Squadron of the RN.

In 1927 Sydney circumnavigated Australia and visited Dili, Portuguese Timor. In September and October Sydney visited New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. In March 1928 Sydney became the set for Ken Hall's ‘cinesound’ movie, The Exploits of the ‘Emden’. Sydney’s crew played the Australian and German sailors in the film. 

Sydney paid off at Sydney on 8 May 1928, and on 10 January 1929 was delivered to Cockatoo Island for breaking up. Sydney’s stern and several other artefacts were donated to the Australian War Memorial, other museums and Australian naval bases. 

Sydney’s ship’s bells

Sydney carried two bells. One commemorated the ship's commissioning in 1911. The other was presented to the ship on its arrival in its namesake port in 1913. The second bell was solid silver and weighed approximately 1000 oz. It was engraved with the City of Sydney coat-of-arms and the words, “Presented by the citizens of Sydney to HMAS Sydney”. The bell was later transferred to HMAS Sydney (II) in continuation of the tradition. The bell was lost when Sydney (II) was sunk on 19 November 1941.