News Service from House Harris

NSW: Inquiry head rejects claim Japanese sub sank HMAS Sydney

SYDNEY, Dec 1 AAP - Claims that the Australian and British governments conspired for decades to cover up the true cause of HMAS Sydney's sinking have been dismissed by an inquiry.

Author Michael Montgomery, the son HMAS Sydney's navigator, has told a defence department inquiry that a Japanese submarine was behind the sinking of the Australian warship.

The Sydney went down on November 19, 1941, with the loss of all 645 crew aboard.

The tragedy followed a battle off the West Australian coast with the disguised German raider Kormoran.

Mr Montgomery, who penned a book on the tragedy that killed his father, claimed the Kormoran was working in conjunction with a Japanese submarine at the time.

He cited as evidence a 1941 article from the British newspaper, The Daily Express, conversations with a late naval captain, and cable messages between the Australian navy and a British naval command in Singapore.

He said he was convinced the Kormoran alone could not have destroyed the Sydney.

While the Kormoran fired three torpedoes at the Australian warship, Mr Montgomery claimed the lethal assault came hours later when HMAS Sydney was struck by a Japanese submarine.

But Commissioner Terence Cole, who is hearing the inquiry, said the cables cited by Mr Montgomery made no reference to a Japanese submarine.

Mr Montgomery claimed that was because documents detailing the sub's existence had been "hidden or destroyed".

Commodore Jack Rush QC, counsel assisting the inquiry, asked Mr Montgomery if he was accusing the Australian and British governments of a cover up.

"Is it that this cover up you mention has been held by all Australian and British governments persistently since 1941?" Mr Rush asked at a hearing in Sydney on Monday.

"Exactly," Mr Montgomery replied.

Mr Cole dismissed the claims as groundless.

"What you have done is transfer ... speculation plus a possibility into a certainty of the existence of this Japanese submarine," he told the inquiry.

"This is not a very happy process of logic.

"Were your speculation to have any substance whatsoever, how is it that the naval board was not aware of the matter?" he added.

Mr Montgomery had submitted to the inquiry a cable message dated November 25, 1941, six days after HMAS Sydney went down.

In it the British admiralty tells the Australian navy and the commander-in-chief of China Station, a British naval command in Singapore, that it believes the Kormoran is behind the tragedy.

"The only explanation we can think of is that raider torpedoed Sydney before being sunk," the cable reads.

"Request your views and detail of steps that you are taking to try and locate her."

A responding cable, dated the same day from the commander-in-chief of China Station, says: "Concur that this is the probable explanation. (Naval Board) is organising search."

Mr Cole began hearing the inquiry in May, soon after the wreck of the Sydney was found.

It was located in March this year, 112 nautical miles off Steep Point in Western Australia, at a depth of 2,560 metres. It's location had been unknown for more than 60 years.