On 28 October 1914, the German cruiser Emden sneaked up on the British military port of Penang in the colony of Malaya at night. After the Emden escaped, the question was: Who was the next target? The German Navy had realized the strategic value of global communication in World War I, so the German Navy's attack ships, in addition to attacking captured Allied merchant ships, another important target was the Allied communication base station of the Allies, especially the United Kingdom, around the world. In fact, during the Battle of Falkland, one of Admiral Spey's goals was to destroy the communications facilities in Port Stanley.
The captain of the Emden, Lieutenant Colonel von Müller, made a similar plan. He targeted British submarine cable communication base stations in the Cocos Islands. On 9 November, emden approached Direkshin Island in the Cocos Islands. At 6 a.m., the Emden raised its false chimney again to cover 47 Marines landing on the island to destroy the communication base station.
This time the islanders were not fooled, and they immediately sent a distress radio signal. Such a call for help was soon interfered with by the Emden. However, after landing on the island, it was difficult to find these communication facilities. Despite Captain Müller's repeated urgings, the Marines were able to search slowly on the island.
Just as Captain Müller urged the Marines, an unexpected fleet was approaching emden. It turned out that after Britain and Germany declared war, the British Dominions also entered the war, including Australia and New Zealand. At this time, the Anzac transport convoy, escorted by the Australian cruisers Melbourne, Sydney and the Japanese armored cruiser Ibuki, was heading for Europe. The fleet received a distress call from Direxion Island at 6:55 a.m. The light cruiser "Sydney" immediately went to the sea of the incident, preparing to fight the "Emden".
USS Sydney
At 9 o'clock, the "Sydney" approached the "Emden". The soot from the Sydney boiler happened to be hidden in the mast of the coal ship Emden, so Captain Müller did not find the Sydney at all. It was not until 9:15 that Captain Müller noticed the figure of a cruiser flying the British naval flag suddenly appear in front of him!
At this time, Captain Müller was too late to be shocked. He immediately ordered emden to raise its anchor and accelerate, preparing for battle. It was a very unbalanced duel. The Sydney was ready, the boiler steam engines were in the best condition, the Emden had to take a long time to accelerate at the beginning; the Sydney had a displacement of 5400 tons, and the Emden was only 3650 tons; the Sydney was equipped with a 152 mm naval gun and the Emden was equipped with a 105 mm naval gun; the Sydney had 100 mm of side armor, and the Emden had only dome armor and no side armor at all. Nevertheless, the Emden is open to the challenges that lie ahead.
152 mm naval gun position on the cruiser HMS Sydney
When the two sides were 13,000 meters apart, sydney turned to the right and sailed side by side with Emden. At 9:40 a.m., when the two ships were 9,500 meters apart, the weak Emden first fired at sydney. The level of artillery skills of the German gunners can be described as quite good. Emden's third salvo destroyed Sydney's rangefinder. When the eighth salvo was in progress, emden's high-explosive shell hit the Sydney's secondary ammunition magazine directly and ignited some of the ammunition. Thanks to the British sailors running to the deck with burning ammunition boxes to extinguish the fire, the Sydney would have been in danger of being martyred.
After about 20 minutes of fighting, the commander of the Sydney realized that the roles of prey and hunter might be replaced. So the Sydney changed tactics, using the speed advantage to distance itself from the Emden, and then used the range advantage of the ship's guns to fight the Emden. This trick really worked! Emden began to be hit by 152 mm shells in succession. First the communications module was hit, then the near mast was shot, then the combat command post was badly damaged and the electrical firing commander was destroyed. Subsequently, the first chimney of the Emden was blown up, and the smoke quickly poured down the ship, and the gunner could no longer aim under the smoke.
At this time, the shells fired from the Sydney continued to hit the Emden. The damage to the Emden continued to increase: the steering gear was badly damaged, some of the gun positions were blown up, and even part of the ammunition depot was martyred. By this time, the Emden had been fighting for more than two hours. Captain Müller understood that it was only a matter of time before emden was sunk, so he ordered at 11 o'clock that the Emden ran aground. Fifteen minutes later, emden ran aground on a reef on North Keeling Island.
The Emden ran aground on the reef
During the confrontation between emden and Sydney, German naval personnel on the coal carrier Emden telegraphed the emden to correct the landing point. After emden ran aground, the Sydney immediately turned its bow and ran to the coal carrier. The German naval soldiers on the coal carrier then destroyed the documents and weapons, and then all of them moved to the rowboats and surrendered to the Sydney.
Sydney then fired again at Emden. Captain Müller knew that the tide was turning, and he believed that all the crew had defended the honor of the German Navy in battle, and that there was no point in continuing to resist except for the loss of their crew. So he ordered the white flag to be raised and surrendered to the Sydney. When all the surviving Emden crews were transferred to sydney, Captain Müller was the last to leave emden.
The stranded Emden was once a mecca for battlefield nostalgia
The Emden was the most successful of the World War I raiders. In less than a hundred days of operation, the ship captured 33 merchant ships. By September 1914, sea freight traffic in the Indian Ocean had fallen to 22% before the war! Such achievements allowed emden and its crew to gain the respect of both belligerents. The captured Emden crew were given clean clothes, food, tea and even cigarettes, and the wounded were well treated. When Captain Müller boarded the Sydney, he was greeted by sailors on board the Sydney. The captain of the "Sydney" personally welcomed him to the captain's room to rest. The city of Emden conferred on Captain Müller the title of Honorary Citizen. The German government stipulated that every surviving member of the Emden had the right to append the word "Emden" as a suffix to his surname. Since then, "Emden" has become a traditional ship name, appearing repeatedly in the German Navy's ship sequence.
The Emden and Captain Müller have become legends of the German Navy
The 105 mm naval gun, now in Sydney Park's collection, is the last relic of the Emden