I still can't figure out why the Sydney floated for over 4 hours following the battle with no one managing to get off. Obviously the command structure on Sydney was completely devastated after the first shot from the Kormoran. It appears that the sailors operating X Turret managed to fatally cripple the Kormoran in spite of all senior officers on Sydney being dead and there being no communication left functioning on Sydney after the initial assault by Kormoran.
Still it would have seemed that at least some of the Aussies would have survived the battle which only lasted about 5 minutes ( 5 minutes can seem an enternity in war). The Germans scuttled their ship when it became apparent that they could not contain the fires caused by Sydney's X Turret gunners. As Detmer who commanded the Kormoran instinctively knew, the fires would eventually reach the mines stored in the large ammunition cache and destroy the boat. The Germans abandoned ship and watched the Sydney limp away in tact. They could see the fires on the Sydney until it disappeared over the horizen after 10:00 pm. The battle was at 5:30 pm!
Why did no Aussie succesfully launch a life boat to safety? The five life boats that were found in the wreckage had some holes from the battle. Were they too damaged to float? Where are the rest of the 9 life boats. Why was not a single sailor able to get off in a boat in the 4 1/2 hours between the battle and the bow break that caused the Sydney to sink. Maybe the sailors didn't think the bow would break and therefore did not abandon ship. That seems unlikely since there was massive damage to the Sydney. If they did not think the boat would sink, then where are the rest of the life boats? Why didn't the other boats go down with the Sydney as well. Perhaps the rest of the life boats were launched but were so damaged from the battle that they sunk before the Aussies could guide them to safety. That seems unlikely to as the battle was all on Sydney's port side, the starboard life boats should have been in decent condition, at least one of them.
There are still a LOT of unanswered questions.

Regards,
Matt