soc.history.war.world-war-ii

aspqrz@pacific.net.au (Phil McGregor) wrote:
>
> "Scott M. Kozel" wrote:
>
> > The ships sunk 12 miles apart. That would indicate that one or both
>
> 12 *nautical* miles.

A nautical mile is 1.15 statute mile ... not much difference.

> >ships still had a considerably amount of power after the battle, that
> >both ships stayed afloat for hours, and that it wasn't possible for the
> >Kormoran crew to massacre the Sydney crew.
>
> Did *I* ever say that this happened?

No, but that has been a common conspiracy theory ever since the battle,
and you *did* cast aspersions on the Kormoran crew, where you said, "So
the only story we have is theirs [Kormoran crew], which makes it
immediately suspect all other things being equal." So I was wondering
where you were going with this.

In any event, considering that Kormoran was in great distress after the
battle, with the crew wondering how they would survive with the likely
prospect of abandoning ship on the high seas, it is hard to conceive how
they could have had any notion of finding and 100% killing the crew of
another ship that probably was miles away by then.

> I referred to the allegations that Detmers fired his torpedoes BEFORE
> lowering the Dutch Flag (or, possibly, had already raised the White
> flag as a sign of surrender) and raising the German flag, which made
> the attack an act of Piracy.
>
> Subject to the death penalty and certainly a war crime as well under
> the Hague conventions.

Allegations about that battle that are unprovable, so why do you make
them?

.....

Regarding my questions about the 100% loss of the Sydney crew of 645
men, on another forum where I asked, a reply was made that rapid
capsizing coupled with no immediate outside rescuers could account for
that.

If Sydney did stay afloat for hours, with most men belowdecks fighting
fires and making repairs, a rapid capsizing could trap nearly all of
them, prevent the launch of any lifeboats, leaving few survivors, and
they could have died in the several days that it took for the navy to
get to the scene.

--
Scott M. Kozel Highway and Transportation History Websites
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Capital Beltway Projects http://www.capital-beltway.com
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