The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (12782) Petty Officer Stoker Arthur John Richter, HMAS Sydney (II), Second World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (12782) Petty Officer Stoker Arthur John Richter, HMAS Sydney (II), Second World War.

12782 Petty Officer Stoker Arthur John Richter, HMAS Sydney (II)
KIA 20 November 1941
Photograph: P08657.001

Story delivered 19 July 2015

Today we remember Petty Officer Stoker Arthur John Richter and the ship’s company of HMAS Sydney (II), lost after engaging the German surface raider Kormoran in 1941.

A modified Leander-class light cruiser, Sydney was armed with eight 6-inch guns and was the pride of the Royal Australian Navy. Built in England, the cruiser was commissioned into the RAN in 1935 with a mixture of ages and levels of experiences on board.

Born in Culcairn in the south-east Riverina on 10 March 1900, Arthur Richter enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy in 1920. During the interwar period he served as a stoker on HMAS Sydney (I), the veteran of the Great War, as well as the cruiser Adelaide. When the Second World War began in September 1939 Richter was a leading stoker on the modern cruiser HMAS Hobart – sister ship to the Sydney (II). He joined Sydney’s company as an acting petty officer in April 1941 after the cruiser’s return to Australia from the Mediterranean.

Sydney briefly visited Noumea, Auckland, and Suva, but most of the year was spent carrying out convoy escort and patrol duties in Australian waters.

On 19 November 1941 Sydney was steaming back to Fremantle, having escorted a troopship part of the way to Singapore. At about 4 pm the cruiser spotted a suspicious merchant vessel and set off to investigate. By 5.30 pm Sydney had nearly pulled alongside the vessel when it revealed its true identity as a German raider.

Hoisting its German naval ensign, the Kormoran fired its guns and torpedoes. Its first salvo slammed into Sydney’s bridge. Sydney returned fire, but Kormoran’s second and third salvos again hit Sydney’s bridge and amidships. Sydney’s three main turrets were soon out of action, but a fourth kept up fast and accurate fire that hit Kormoran’s funnel and engine room. Sydney, in turn, was hit by a torpedo between turrets.

Mortally damaged and ablaze, Sydney turned away from the raider, continuing to fight using its secondary armament and torpedoes.

The crippled Kormoran was also burning. At 6.25 pm its captain gave the order to abandon ship. As the German sailors evacuated their stricken vessel, they watched the Sydney, now only a distant glow on the dark horizon, disappear into the night. By midnight Sydney was gone, lost with all 645 hands, including Arthur Richter.

Sydney’s loss was one of the enduring Australian mysteries of the war. It was not until 2008, after more than six decades and many searches, that the wrecks of Sydney and Kormoran were finally located.

Richter was 41 years old when he died. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Devon, England, and here on the Roll of Honour to my left, along with some 40,000 Australians who died during the Second World War. His photograph is displayed by the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Petty Officer Stoker Arthur Richter and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Karl James
Historian, Military History Section

Sources:
National Archives of Australia, service record, Arthur John Richter.

G. Hermon Gill, Royal Australian Navy 1939–1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957.

Karl James, “Gallant fighter”, Wartime 43, 2008, pp. 36–40.