The first images of two warships which sunk after a deadly battle during World War II have emerged.
The wrecks lie 20 kilometres apart from each another about 200 kilometres west of Steep Point, Shark Bay in Western Australia, north-west of Perth, and sunk in November 1941.
The German raider HSK Kormoran and the light cruiser HMAS Sydney were re-discovered in 2008 with an expedition to the wrecks going out earlier this year.
Researchers from Curtin University and the Western Australian Museum captured 700,000 high resolution images of the two ships with the help of two remotely operated underwater vehicles lowered to 2.5km on the ocean.
The museum's images from the expedition have attracted great attention on Facebook.
'I really can't wait to see the finished product. Best of luck to all and a safe voyage,' one group said under the post.
The HMAS Sydney lost 645 sailors while the Kormoran lost a crew of 80 when they sank.
Museum chief executive, Alec Coles said: 'We are seeing things that nobody has ever seen before – some things we didn't expect to see.'
'The images from Kormoran show a very human side of the German story, an intensely personal perspective of their war,' he said.
A list of ships either sunk or captured by the Kormoran and a gun named 'Linda' marked with a skull and bones, are two of the most striking images from the series.
(dailymail.co.uk)
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