one of which was carrying a dead German sailor, who was buried at sea. The search was terminated at sunset on 29 November. All of the German lifeboats were accounted for: between them, 318 of Kormorans 399 personnel survived.Olson, Bitter Victory, p. 308 Conversely, none of 645 from Sydney were found. The only definite remains from the Australian warship were an inflatable lifebelt located by HMAS Wyrallah on 27 November (the discovery of a second RAN lifebelt by the merchant ship Evagoras that same day was initially reported but later found to be false) and a damaged Carley float discovered by HMAS Heros on 28 November.Olson, Bitter Victory, p. 72 A second Carley float, which washed up on Christmas Island in February 1942, is believed to be linked with the cruiser. Aftermath On 26 November, the Naval Board distributed lists of Sydneys ship's company to all naval district offices. Telegrams to next-of-kin stating that their relatives were "missing as a result of enemy action" were lodged, although naval censors advised the media that no announcements relating to the cruiser be made. Despite this, rumours about the ship's loss were circulating, fuelled by the lack of information to substantiate the "missing" telegrams.Dennis, in Zombie Myths of Australian Military History, p. 118 Australian Prime Minister John Curtin officially announced the loss of the cruiser on the afternoon of 30 November. Censorship restrictions on the newspapers were lifted to publish the statement, but radio stations were instructed to wait 48 hours before broadcasting the news to avoid alerting any other German ships in the area.Mearns, The Search for the Sydney, p. 48 Several Melbourne stations disobeyed and were temporarily suspended from broadcasting. Curtin made a second announcement three days later, providing some detail about the battle. The destruction of Sydney with all hands was a major blow to morale: it was the largest loss of life in the history of the RAN, and the ship's company made up over 35% of RAN naval personnel killed during World War II. This was compounded by the loss of , which was sunk by a German U-boat on 27 November; news of this was announced a day after Sydneys fate was made public.Montgomery, Who Sank the Sydney?, p. 204 However, the battle was not widely reported in other Allied nations, as it was a small loss compared to contemporary naval incidents — the aircraft carrier and