Service

On April 1st 1910, the last German cruiser with steam engine propulsion - named SMS Emden, after its sponsor city - entered the Kaiserliche Marine (German Imperial Navy). The ship was assigned to the East Asian Station Tsingtao in Germany's Chinese Kiautschou colony, from where it would never return to the homeland.

Bundesarchiv

SMS Emden in 1910.

The ship's career during World War I was short, yet impressive. Under the command of captain Karl von Müller, the Emden, disguised as the British HMS Yarmouth by means of a fake fourth smokestack, preyed on unescorted English merchant ships sailing the Indian Ocean. Its success caused a panic among Allied shipping agents in the area. Insurance prices increased dramatically, allowing the Emden to effectively shut down the Indian Ocean shipping on its own almost entirely. Increasing numbers of British, French and Russian cruisers were dispatched to hunt down the Emden, but von Müller continually succeeded to elude them.

Demise

By the end of the first year of the war, the Emden had captured 31 mostly British vessels and with as many as 60 Allied cruisers in its trail, it had become the most hunted ship in the world. While legend grew, the Emden's run finally came to an end on 9 November, when it encountered the much larger and faster British Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney.

After being struck by over 100 shells, Von Müller beached the Emden on North Keeling island (part of the Australian Cocos Islands) to avoid sinking. The Sydney fired several more salvos on the stranded ship, resulting in the loss of 131 German crewmen. Müller and remainder of crew survived as prisoners of war.

State Library of Victoria

The wreck of the Emden at North Keeling Island. Source: Green Collection, State Library of Victoria.

Class: Dresden-class light cruiser.

Yard: Kaiserliche Werft, Danzig.

Armament: 2 rapid fire guns, 2 torpedo-tubes.

Wikimedia Commons

Line drawing of the Dresden-class cruiser. Source: Jane 1914.

Although parts of the ship were salvaged in the years following its demise, a significant part of it has survived in situ, at a depth of around 8 meters. The site is classified as an historical shipwreck and is protected under the Australian Historical Shipwrecks Act from 1976.

Underwater Australasia

The SMS Emden wreck site.

Underwater Australasia

The propeller of the SMS Emden at the wreck site.

• Underwater Australasia article on the wreck of the SMS Emden.
• Wikipedia article on the SMS Emden.
  Wikipedia.
• Jane, Fred T., ed. (1914).
  Jane's Fighting Ships.
  Brown & Co.