Able Seaman James Cummings, HMAS Sydney (II), Royal Australian Navy

Story

HMAS Sydney II AWM300767

Australian War Memorial

Posted on

James Cummings was born on 20 October 1920, the son of James and Sarah Cummings, of the Sydney suburb of Manly.

James enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy on his 18th birthday, 20 October 1938, signing on for a period of 12 years. 

He began training at HMAS Cerberus, the Navy’s initial training base on Westernport Bay south-east of Melbourne, but soon joined the crew of HMAS Sydney (II).

After the declaration of war in September 1939, Able Seaman Cummings joined the crew of Daring Class destroyer HMAS Vampire, but returned to Sydney after a year.

In November 1941 Sydney escorted the troopship Zealandia north to Sunda Strait, where she was to be relieved by the British cruiser HMS Durban for the last leg of Zealandia’s passage to Singapore. Many of Sydney’s crew viewed this work as being a “milk run” in comparison to the high tempo of operations in the Mediterranean ­– where Sydney had achieved successes in actions against Italian ships, most famously the Bartolomeo Colleoni.

The voyage to Sunda Strait occurred without incident and Sydney was returning south along the coast of Western Australia when, on the afternoon of 19 November, she sighted what appeared to be a merchant vessel, some 200 kilometres west of Shark Bay.

The ship was in fact the German raider Kormoran disguised as a Dutch merchant ship which had broadcast a false cry for help.

Attempting to establish the identity of the vessel, Sydney drew almost abeam of Kormoran at very close range, keeping her main armament trained on the mysterious ship.

When concealing the vessel’s identity was no longer possible, Kormoran revealed her colours and opened fire. Sydney’s guns returned fire, but her first full salvo passed over Kormoran without damage. Kormoran immediately scored hits on Sydney, with two salvos hitting her bridge and midships section.

Sydney’s two forward turrets were quickly put out of action, but her aft turret engaged with fast and accurate fire, hitting Kormoran in the funnel and engine room. Simultaneously, Kormoran engaged with torpedoes, striking Sydney under her damaged forward turrets.

With her bow low in the water, Sydney turned towards Kormoran as though attempting to ram. The top of one of the forward turrets was blown off and flew overboard, before the cruiser passed under Kormoran's stern on a southerly heading. Kormoran, now on fire in the engine room with the resulting loss of propulsion, continued to engage Sydney until out of range.

Sydney, crippled and on fire from the bridge, steamed slowly to the south. Both ships had been dealt mortal blows and sank during the evening.

Survivors from the Kormoran were eventually rescued and interned: none of Sydney's complement of 42 officers and 603 ratings survived.

James Cummings was 21 years old. With no grave but the sea, today his name appears on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in England, which commemorates more than 7,000 Commonwealth sailors of the First World War and almost 16,000 of the Second World War.

Sources:

Last updated: