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 "Sydney"s fate was made public. 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 the battleship were sunk in separate incidents during the same two-week period — and was quickly eclipsed by Japan's attacks on Pearl Harbor and Singapore in early December. "Sydney" was the largest Allied ship to be lost with all hands during the war.