The cruise of the German light cruiser S.M.S. Emden was among the most romanticized and notable incidents of World War I. In the latter half of 1914 the Emden raided Allied shipping in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, sinking or capturing thirty Allied merchant vessels and warships.
Early service
The S.M.S. (Seine Majestäts Schiffe or His Majesty's Ship) Emden was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) on July 10, 1909. She was the last piston engine warship to be commissioned into the German Navy, and her sister ship the S.M.S. Dresden was equipped with steam turbines. Like most ships of the time her twelve boilers were heated by burning coal, which had to be constantly shoveled into the fireboxes manually by stokers. The Emden was named after the German town Emden on the Ems River that sponsored the ship.
On April 1, 1910 the Emden officially entered the German fleet and was assigned to the German naval base and garrison at Tsingtao, in Germany's Chinese Kiautschou colony. Never again would the Emden return to Germany. Once in Tsingtao she acquired the nickname "Swan of the East" because of the graceful lines of the ship.
The Emden saw her first action suppressing the Sokehs Rebellion on the island of Ponape in the German colonies of the Carolinas Islands in January of 1911. Together with the German cruiser S.M.S. Nürnberg she shelled a rebel fortification with her 4.1-inch guns and then sent an armed landing party of seamen ashore to capture the rebel stronghold.
In May 1913 the Emden received her last, and finest, commanding officer, Korvettenkapitän (Lt. Commander) Karl von Müller, born in 1873. The chivalry and honor of Captain von Müller would earn him much respect even from his enemies. An enigmatic and quiet man, von Müller suffered from reoccurring attacks of malaria and would eventually die from it in 1923.
A few months after von Müller assumed command the Emden was sent to put down another revolt of Chinese along the Yangtze River. In August 1913 the Emden joined several other British and Japanese warships on the Yangtze River and shelled a rebel fort into submission on August 13.
The first war cruise
Captain Karl von Müller was a profound student of naval history, and he was only too aware of how the Japanese fleet trapped and destroyed the Russian fleet in Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War. Thus when news came from Europe that war was imminent, Captain von Müller was determined not to let history repeat itself. On July 31, 1914, the Emden left Tsingtao and was at sea when news of the beginning of World War I was received by wireless telegraphy on August 2.
Two days later on August 4 the Emden captured her first war prize, the Russian steamer Rjasan, which was boarded by German sailors and taken back to Tsingtao. Later the Rjasan was turned into an auxiliary cruiser but had no successes and eventually surrendered.
The last cruise of the Emden
Germany's colony at Tsingtao was surrounded by enemies. The Russians, Japanese, British and French all had bases and warships near Tsingtao, and the deep-water port with its advanced shipyard facilities were coveted by the Allies. Captain von Müller knew that Tsingtao couldn't possibly hold out for very long against so many enemies and so the Emden left Tsingtao for the last time to join up with the German Asiatic Squadron, commanded by the cunning Admiral-Count Maximilian von Spee.
On August 8, 1914, the Emden rendezvoued with von Spee's squadron at the German island of Pagan. Admiral von Spee wanted the Emden to stay with the squadron, but von Müller convinced the admiral to let the Emden go to the Indian Ocean to raid British merchant shipping. Taking along a collier for fuel, the Emden departed from German territory for the last time on August 14.
Quietly the Emden slipped through the Dutch East Indies and into the Indian Ocean, fooling the Dutch battleship Tromp which had intercepted the Emden and demanded that the German ship leave neutral Dutch waters immediately. Once in the Indian Ocean the Emden began to prey upon the hundreds of unescorted and defenseless British and Allied merchant ships there. In 1914 the Indian Ocean was sometimes referred to as a "British lake" because of the high traffic of British merchant vessels.
Great successes
In September of 1914 the Emden captured seventeen ships, all British except for two which were neutral, Italian and Norwegian, and duly released. Most of the British ships captured were sunk quickly either by gunfire from the Emdens 4.1-inch guns or by placing explosive charges deep in the ships hulls. Captain von Müller was always the perfect gentleman to every captain of the ships he captured, and he made doubly certain that every captured British sailor was treated well and kept safe.
The Emden began to cause great panic among the British and Allied shipping offices in the Indian Ocean. Insurance prices for merchant ships skyrocketed and no captains could afford to leave harbor. It was a source of much embarrassment to the British and the Allies that a single German cruiser was effectively putting the entire Indian Ocean into a hopeless gridlock.
Dozens of warships were dispatched to hunt down the Emden, but von Müller cleverly avoided them all. By putting a dummy fourth smokestack on the ship, von Müller made the Emden closely resemble the popular British cruiser the H.M.S. Yarmouth. Some captains of British merchant ships, seeing the Emden approaching, would salute the Emden thinking it was a the friendly Yarmouth passing by. Instead, the Emden would fire a shot over the bow, hoist the German naval ensign, and signal "Stop at Once."
Raiding and daring
Late at night on September 22, 1914, the Emden quietly approached the city of Madras on the east side of the Indian peninsula. Once in range the Emden opened fire many large fuel oil tanks that the British kept near the city. After firing 130 shells the oil tanks were burning and the city was in a panic. Although the raid did little damage, it was a severe blow to British morale and thousands of people fled Madras, thinking that the Emden might be planning another attack.
Captain von Müller returned to raiding regular merchant shipping again for about a month, working his way south-east towards the British port of Penang in Malaysia. On October 28th the Emden entered the harbor at top speed, raised the German flag, and began shooting at the Allied ships in the harbor. The Emden fired a torpedo at the Russian cruiser Zhemchug, a veteran of the Battle of Tsushima, which exploded spectacularly. Other ships fired back at the Emden but missed, and several shells ended up hitting other friendly ships in the harbor!
As quickly as the Emden had arrived, von Müller turned the ship around and made good his escape. The French destroyer Mosquet followed the Emden, unwisely, and was quickly sunk by the Emdens much heavier guns.
The end of the Emden
By now no less than sixty Allied warships, Russian, Japanese, and British, were combing the waters of the Indian Ocean in search of the Emden. A critical part of ship-to-ship communication by wireless in the Indian Ocean was the British communications station at Direction Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Captain von Müller decided to send a landing party ashore to destroy the station's radio tower and equipment.
The Emden reached Direction Island on November 9, 1914. Fifty seamen with rifles and machine guns were sent ashore but the British civilians did not resist and the Emdens landing party even agreed not to knock the radio tower down over the island's little tennis court.
Unfortunately for the Emden, the people on Direction Island had seen the Emden coming and had radioed a frantic plea for help. The Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney was dispatched from a convoy a mere 50 miles away from Direction Island and arrived there in about two hours.
When lookouts on the Emden spotted the Sydney approaching, Captain von Müller had no choice but to raise anchor, leave his landing party still on Direction Island, and engage the Australian cruiser.
Almost immediately the fight went badly for the Emden. The Sydney was larger and faster than the Emden, but still the fight went on for nearly an hour and a half. After taking extremely heavy damage and suffering hundreds of casualties Captain von Müller beached the Emden on North Keeling Island to avoid sinking. Captain von Müller and the rest of his surviving crew were captured by the British, and the Emden was destroyed.
